Game Marathon for Charity

Azisien · 09-08-2011, 08:05 PM

Mod Note: I wasn't 100% sure where to post this. While it is game-related, this is more about the concept of online marathon charities and logistics and brainstorming than it is about actual video games.

The Backstory

Years ago I was a wee sparkle-eyed lad visiting a friend's house. While in his living room he handed me an Xbox 360 controller and told me to play a game. "I don't know what this game is!" He nodded towards the TV. "It's Mass Effect, of course!"

Here I am in the present day. That light in my eyes is long gone now, dimmed by the weight of nihilism, spiced rum, and M Night Shyamalan. I do look forward to some things though, like Mass Effect 3 for instance. Several discussions with my other Mass Effect loving friends evolved into talk of a marathon, or race, around the launch date of Mass Effect 3. We could take the week off work and play all three games, timing our vacation with Mass Effect 3's release date! And then it dawned on me.

I'm a selfish, asshole, non-contributing zero that essentially wastes perfectly good oxygen and fixed carbon. Wouldn't it be better if we had some sort of cause for our immature gaming adventures? Thus the tentative title was born: Three Massive Effects on Cancer.

The Idea/Point of this Thread

Because I'm a dickhead, I don't know the first thing about even donating to a charity, much less running, and much much less running an online one. In fact, the only thing I vaguely know how to do is stream a game. And I don't even really know how to do that, I was lying just now! Demonspawn!

Since I'm completely out of my element, I thought I would bring this idea to the wise minds working the cogs of NPF. There are approximately five of us, myself and four friends, currently involved in the brainstorming phase. Literally almost everything is flexible right now. Here are some things we've come up with:

-Using Paypal or ChipIn or both to fuel donations
-Charity target currently leaning towards Cancer. No specific one at the moment, or place. We want to avoid "Big Name" charities if possible, or even donate direct to research centers. Assholish as we may be, we're well aware of "administration fees" that sap a lot of charitable donations.
-Running a Mass Effect 1 & 2 marathon with sufficient time to beat the games by the release date of Mass Effect 3, and then marathon that as well.
-Three to four simultaneous streams. One Paragon, One Renegade, One Player's Choice, One Viewer's Choice.

-Someone in our initial brainstorm was quick to point out there's at least an outside chance of experiencing heart failure, especially if the goal is a Completionist run of THREE Mass Effect games, in one or more of the players. I disagreed, my cardiovascular system, however, did not. That spawned our idea for donations.

-Donations by Torture. Our idea here is that each player has to beat Mass Effect 1 in one sitting, and at which point, the player is entitled to 8 hours rest. People can pay money to the charity fund to force players to do side quests or achievements, thus prolonging their playthrough. Or everyone starts on Easy difficulty and viewers can to increase the difficulty. Viewers can donate additional money to reduce their sleep entitlement, either to zero or some non-life-threatening minimum. For example, every $100 donated reduces one player's sleep entitlement by 30 minutes. It would take $1600 to wipe out their sleep entitlement completely. We torture because we LOVE. Aside from the torture angle, viewers could of course donate just to donate.

I guess...that's actually the jist of a lot of it. Obvious ideal deadline for this project is March 2012, which is a while, but there are many logistics involved. Like getting past brainstorm and/or giving up, to things like creating a website or something.

What do you all think? Worthwhile idea? Should I just enjoy Mass Effect without additional effort and let people keep dying painfully of cancer [myself included, in however many years it takes me to get it]? Any ideas to contribute, or criticisms to our thoughts so far?

Would you like to help in some way?

09-08-2011, 08:05 PM	#1
Azisien wat Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,177	Game Marathon for Charity Mod Note: I wasn't 100% sure where to post this. While it is game-related, this is more about the concept of online marathon charities and logistics and brainstorming than it is about actual video games. The Backstory Years ago I was a wee sparkle-eyed lad visiting a friend's house. While in his living room he handed me an Xbox 360 controller and told me to play a game. "I don't know what this game is!" He nodded towards the TV. "It's Mass Effect, of course!" Here I am in the present day. That light in my eyes is long gone now, dimmed by the weight of nihilism, spiced rum, and M Night Shyamalan. I do look forward to some things though, like Mass Effect 3 for instance. Several discussions with my other Mass Effect loving friends evolved into talk of a marathon, or race, around the launch date of Mass Effect 3. We could take the week off work and play all three games, timing our vacation with Mass Effect 3's release date! And then it dawned on me. I'm a selfish, asshole, non-contributing zero that essentially wastes perfectly good oxygen and fixed carbon. Wouldn't it be better if we had some sort of cause for our immature gaming adventures? Thus the tentative title was born: Three Massive Effects on Cancer. The Idea/Point of this Thread Because I'm a dickhead, I don't know the first thing about even donating to a charity, much less running, and much much less running an online one. In fact, the only thing I vaguely know how to do is stream a game. And I don't even really know how to do that, I was lying just now! Demonspawn! Since I'm completely out of my element, I thought I would bring this idea to the wise minds working the cogs of NPF. There are approximately five of us, myself and four friends, currently involved in the brainstorming phase. Literally almost everything is flexible right now. Here are some things we've come up with: -Using Paypal or ChipIn or both to fuel donations -Charity target currently leaning towards Cancer. No specific one at the moment, or place. We want to avoid "Big Name" charities if possible, or even donate direct to research centers. Assholish as we may be, we're well aware of "administration fees" that sap a lot of charitable donations. -Running a Mass Effect 1 & 2 marathon with sufficient time to beat the games by the release date of Mass Effect 3, and then marathon that as well. -Three to four simultaneous streams. One Paragon, One Renegade, One Player's Choice, One Viewer's Choice. -Someone in our initial brainstorm was quick to point out there's at least an outside chance of experiencing heart failure, especially if the goal is a Completionist run of THREE Mass Effect games, in one or more of the players. I disagreed, my cardiovascular system, however, did not. That spawned our idea for donations. -Donations by Torture. Our idea here is that each player has to beat Mass Effect 1 in one sitting, and at which point, the player is entitled to 8 hours rest. People can pay money to the charity fund to force players to do side quests or achievements, thus prolonging their playthrough. Or everyone starts on Easy difficulty and viewers can to increase the difficulty. Viewers can donate additional money to reduce their sleep entitlement, either to zero or some non-life-threatening minimum. For example, every $100 donated reduces one player's sleep entitlement by 30 minutes. It would take $1600 to wipe out their sleep entitlement completely. We torture because we LOVE. Aside from the torture angle, viewers could of course donate just to donate. I guess...that's actually the jist of a lot of it. Obvious ideal deadline for this project is March 2012, which is a while, but there are many logistics involved. Like getting past brainstorm and/or giving up, to things like creating a website or something. What do you all think? Worthwhile idea? Should I just enjoy Mass Effect without additional effort and let people keep dying painfully of cancer [myself included, in however many years it takes me to get it]? Any ideas to contribute, or criticisms to our thoughts so far? Would you like to help in some way? Last edited by Azisien; 09-08-2011 at 08:15 PM.