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Annual Child's Play Charity Drive Begins
Many, many thanks to the gentlemen at Penny Arcade for the kickoff of their now annual Child's Play Charity Drive. The drive is intended to hook up willing people in our community with children's hospitals across the country, to spread some geeky christmas love to young folks that need it. This year the drive extends across the country, and you can donate toys to hospitals in Seattle, Oakland, San Diego, Houston, and D.C..
Tycho has a little startup post on Penny Arcade, as well.
Some hospitals receive games free from the company. Since the bongos will get the most wear and tear that could be why they want a supply of them.
.sdrawkcab si gis siht
I hope these guys get lots of press this year. They are absolutely right in being indignant about the world's ills being laid at the feet of violent games, movies, etc. and a drive like this will give a good face lift to the public perception of gaming.
"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."
amen, go and dig through your pockets ppl, wait a little to buy doom3 and donate here instead.
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
In the same way I am proud of Stewart for going after the Crossfire idiots. No one has a moral responsibility to do good in the world. Life really is about survival of yourself and those you love and care for. However it is nice to see people who, when given a large mindshare of public trust, do something good with it.
I know some people in the past year have bagged on Child's Play because they didn't see it being altruistic enough or as self serving, but c'mon that they choose to do anything at all is great! By something as simple as coordinating the desires of gamers to occasionally do something nice for someone else a lot of kids are going to have much better holidays and the whole group of gamers end up looking better in the eyes of the public who are constantly flooded with negative images about gamers (OMG DOOM MADE ME KILL MY BROTHER WITH A CHAINSAW AND GRAB RANDOM GIRL TITTIES!@!!!!!!!!).
--- I do not moderate.
I surely hope they surpass that number this year. Its a great thing they are doing, someone is turning their large audience into a positive force for children.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
Hmm lets see. Their audience is a bunch of gamers who read their site because its game related. Sure they could hold a charity to donate food and clothes to children in Sudan (cos they sure as hell will not benifit from a game console), but they'd probably end up doing a whole lot less good since their audience would be spending a whole lot less.
Just because somewhere in the world there are people with even less, doesn't mean they shouldn't concentrate on an area where they cam do the most good.
East Coast Brewers
I knew there was going to be at least on naysayer about Child's Play. Here is a clue bat ... kids who are sick and dying is sad no matter where they live. The charity of this cause is no less because there are others out there that may be more "important". It's not like this charity takes away from other ones. It simply adds to the general prosperisty. Please remove yourself from your elevated cavalry.
"I can not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presents danger, the solution is ignorance" - Isaac Asimov
Back when I was 13, I was laid up in the hospital for about a month to have a pair of surgeries involving grafting a metal rod to my spine to keep it from going crooked.
If not for the fact that Nintendo's Gameboy came out in stores a month beforehand and I had one, I would've gone completely nuts. Video games are a very good distraction for children who are suffering and need release, need a break from having little to do but twiddle thumbs, watch reruns on daytime television and hope the pain will subside soon once the meds kick in.
Support Child's Play. It's not feeding the hungry, but it's bringing solace to people in dire need of it, and that's good too.
How about fighting for insurance for everyone
Sounds good. Let me know when you get this charity idea off the ground. Or, were you just shooting off your mouth and hoping that somebody else will bear the burden of "charity" for you? If this is the case, then go fuck yourself.
As for the guys at Penny Arcade, why flame them for choosing another charitable route? Face it, you can't help everybody with everything. But they're helping _somebody_ with _something_ which is better than most people do. Different charity organizations do different things. Some may be bigger, some may reach more people, but they all do some good (well, except the ones that are actually scams... but those are easy enough to avoid). Personally, my favorite is helping the Kiwanis International Foundation fight Iodine Deficiency Disorder. If you're looking for a way to stretch your dollar to help as many children around the world as possible, they're a good one.
http://publicvoidlife.blogspot.com
Who deserves a wish more, a kid in Sudan or a kid in a US hospital?
Are you implying that a sick child in the US is somehow less important than a sick child anywhere else? I didn't realize that children had a measurable value associated with them.
We're both going to get moderated into the seventh level of hell for this, but it's just too damn poetic for me to mod down. Way to vent your rage, motorcycle man. I salute you.
But next time, please use a blog for this.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
Is that the perfect toy or what?
I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
I'm not saying I don't agree to some extent, but when you say 'fix our country first', just when would you consider this 'done'? We CAN help our country and help others at the same time. But to put on a hold on help 'til our country is juuuuust right would be a hold to eternity. Child's Play is targeted to help sick children. Unfortunately, there will Always be sick children.
It's one big world and we're all in it. A little help to a neighbor in need (and we DON'T give that much help if you look at the figures) IS the right thing to do.