Child's Play 2005: Gamers Unite!
Wydren and I are both huge fans of a little web comic strip called Penny-Arcade. Having brought laughs to gamers around the globe for years, Penny-Arcade is now making Chrismas for sick and institutionalized kids across the US a bit merrier. The creators, Mike 'Tycho' Krahulik and Jerry 'Gabe' Holkins, have created a gamer supported charity called Child's Play and, for the past two years, have helped thousands of sick kids while away their post-Christmas days in a Child's Play-sponsored orgy of games and entertainment.
Do your part! Donate via Paypal or check out the Child's Play site, where a dozen or so Amazon Wish Lists from children's hospitals throughout the US are listed. Join gamers and game companies across the US in sharing a bit of that holiday cheer (and thumb your nose at Jack Thompson while you're doing it)!
From the official site:
For two years now we’ve set up and organized a charity called Child’s Play. We set it up because we were angry the media decided to blame all the world’s problems on games and gamers. Basically they said that gamers were bad people, and we thought that wasn’t right. Apparently, you guys agreed: through Child’s Play you sent nearly a million dollars in toys, games, and cash to the sick kids in Children’s Hospitals around the nation.
That was awesome. You guys have proven over and over again that you are an overwhelming force, and you really came through and made a real difference to the millions of kids that Children’s Hospitals care for each year. So we’re doing it again this year, only this time we’ve expanded Child’s Play to more hospitals around the U.S. and even some across the globe so you can send toys to a hospital a little closer to home.
Child’s Play works the same as last year. With the help of hospital staff we’ve set up Amazon Wish Lists full of video games, toys, and movies. You can go to each hospital’s list and buy a toy, and that toy will be sent to the hospital. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shapeÑimagine being stuck alone in a hospital over the holidays--so getting something from a fellow gamer would really raise their spirits. Some of the stuff the hospital will give away for kids to keep, while other gifts (like consoles) will be kept by the hospital for patients to use throughout the year.
Penny Arcade has a readership of something like four and a half million gamers across the world. We are arguably the largest community of gamers on the internet. The important word there being community. We are not a faceless corporation and you are not just a number tracked by a database and then relayed to hungry advertisers. You guys have proven yourselves to be a powerful force when stirred into action. Here is your opportunity to use that power to do some real good.