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Child's Play 2005 Launch
It's that time of year again! Child's Play 2005 is underway. Child's Play is a charity run every year by Penny Arcade, the well-known online gaming comic created by Gabe and Tycho. Child's Play is your chance to give to the proto-geeks of the world who not only might not have the chance to play games otherwise, but find themselves sick in a hospital during the Holiday season. Child's Play gives money, games, and toys to children's hospitals in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.. Gabe's kickoff post was put up yesterday on the site. The Child's Play site itself is chok full of information, including a F.A.Q., letters from former patients who have been touched by games in hospice, and an order form for tickets to the second annual Child's Play charity dinner. This last is a swanky shindig with a silent auction, at which you can bid on one-of-a-kind opportunities like a tour of Bungie's studios or the chance to be in a Penny Arcade comic. Most important, though, are the links on the front page of the site to the various Amazon.com wishlists. There, you can purchase a book, game, or toy to have sent to a deserving kid at one of the participating hospitals. These folks are our folks, and if you have anything to give this is the place to do it. Thanks.
I thought Child's Play was a not so scary movie about a doll? ;)
Give until it hurts and then give a little more. It's worth it.
------- Code to try when you're bored: qsort( 0, UINT_MAX, sizeof( int* ), IntCompare );
Let's show Jack Thompson the what for!
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
Now to determine how much money to donate to it...
As a side note, anyone know anything about get well gamers? They seem to be asking for non-monitary donations, but as I recall, last year Gabe said they weren't allowed to give already used stuff (I could be wrong on this).
Am I open minded towards open source, or closed minded towards closed source?
Do they have an "open books" policy regarding what percentage of donations actually go to recipients?
A "for the kids" charity organization keeps blitzing my church with videos, and when I researched them I found that they give out less than 50% of their take!
Now I know what to do with my stockpile of Hot Coffee modded GTAs. There is nothing that hospitalized children need more than that.
I'm a huge fan of penny-arcade and I admire them a lot for doing what they are doing. However, why is it that they pick three of the countries in which children would be most likely to be able to afford gameboys etc. themselves in? I appreciate that there are lots of kids in US, UK and Canada who are having rough lives but I am sure that there would be poor children in India, Africa and South America that are in far greater need. Generocity is always great and reflects the same way on the donor nomatter where it is going to, however toys and money can do so much more for those who have even less.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
As the father of a cancer survivor, I can tell you that whatever you can give to this charity, and these kids, will have a more positive impact than it ever could have had you spent it on yourself, and will bring more joy and happiness than you can possibly imagine to someone who desperately needs it. The letters on the Child's Play site will give you some idea of that, but know that it's only a pale shadow of what you actually feel when you're in that situation. Donate, and know that you've done something wonderful.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Either that or the healing powers of a PSP is nothing short of miraculous.
Hospice: A program that provides palliative care and attends to the emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients at an inpatient facility or at the patient's home.
"(...)letters from former patients who have been touched by games in hospice(...)"
I was badly burned as child and was helped greatly by the Shriner's, Easter Seals, and St Jude's. This was all treament that parents would have been unable to afford on their own. While I find it touching that you want to give games to kiddies, I think it would be far more beneficial to make donations to pay for actual treatment. The games, toys, etc. are not a life and limb kind of thing. In many cases, the treatment is. I know that it certainly was for me. The doctors at our local hospital wanted to amputate my left hand and part of my arm because I was so severely burned. Yet I sit here, today, typing with both hands thanks to the help we got from people who specalize in treating children with injuries like mine.
I'd also like to remind everyone to give blood at this time year. It's something that many of the children need as they undergo surgery and its something that's normally in very short supply this time of year.
Probably not a popular sentiment and I'll probably be modded as a Troll.
2 cents,
Queen B.
HDGary secures my bank
And for every dollar donated, each kid will recieve the new iPod white 2006 Fruit Fucker! Ok, maybe not, but hats off to 'em for doing this sort of thing. It's an easy thing these days to take the money and run when it comes to internet profit.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
You know, there was nothing quite like the feeling I got when I read my Thank You letter from the (I forget which one) Children's Hospital I donated a gift to. I'm going to donate again this year.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
I can remember visiting my grandmother in the hospital a year or so back, and while waiting for her to wake up I took a walk around the hospital and found a group of kids sitting in a recreation room all playing games and having a great time. It's a phenomenal way to keep these kids happy while going through tough times.
Anyone want to go in half with me for a PS2?
And you know? You can only care so much, fix so much. You can't take the burden of the whole world on your shoulders. Nor can you, or should you, ignore a problem somewhere, just because there's a worse problem somewhere else. For example we should not stop giving food to soup kitchens in America until all the kids in Africa are fed first.
Also, there's a matter of making sure that the donations get to the intended recipiants. In a stable, first-world nation, that's pretty easy. I'd venture to say 99.9% of all Child's Play gifts go where they are supposed to, and the small fraction of a percent that don't are mistakes, not thefts. In Africa? Well try arranging that. That's always been a massive problem with aid over there. You drop off tons of food, only to have it seized by a local milita, and this is when the UN and governments do it and they can actually back their position up with guns, if they so choose. PA, well thy'd send shit there and just hope it got where it was supposed to.
There's also the matter of trying to do things others aren't. There already is aid going to Africa, lots of it. It's not enough, but as I said it's also due to reasons of it not getting where it's supposed to. But the point is, if you want to give aid to Africa, there are ways to do it. However this market, toys for hospitalised kids in teh states, seemed to be totally neglected. So they started it up. Rather than try to duplicate the effort of others, they started something new.
...so that they don't send a copy of Spyro: A Hero's Tail to an already-sick child? That's just cruel and unusual punishment...
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
Jack Thompson might show up dressed in a santa suit and green fur and try to steal all the toys.
Technoli
Do you also believe that all charity is essentially selfish because those bastard charitable people feel good performing their god damed charitable acts?
The truth is that there are millions of things that Penny-Arcade could do that would attract a greater readership; creating a highly efficient charity that helps sick children is probably the most selfless one with the lowest personal gain. I recognize that charitable acts make for good PR, but do you think the people who need the help (or benefit from said chaitable act) really care that it improved the image of the person/company that did it?
The fact that they're a very popular website, and that they take part in this so called 'self-back-patting' is what actually makes this charity possible; the attention that they generate actually causes thousands of people who don't normally donate money to do so because they like Penny-Arcade and they like the cause.
You do yourself a great disservice. You understand the real meaning of Christmas.
Technoli
Q: How can I be sure my donation is not stolen my some unscrupulous CNA or maintenance person?
I can't tell you how many times I have heard of things being stolen by the personnel in the hospital. It's typically the cleaning or maintenance crew that works at night, but the CNA's do it as well.
...but it ought to be said: anonymous charity doesn't set an example, and greater overall good is achieved by encouraging others to contribute. Do you really think humility is more important than helping more children? Is helping people wrong if you benefit as well?
... who I suppose are doing all their charitable work on the down-low (or on the wrong end of a community service sentence).
Now I'm not intimately familiar with Gabe and Tycho's financial situations, but this I do know: they're comfortable enough to throw down $10,000 to embarrass Jack Thompson. That may have been all their givin'-away money for the year, but let's assume it isn't, and in fact, they have $100,000 squirreled away to donate anonymously. Good deal for those kids, huh?
Except during their first year, Child's Play pulled over $110,000 and it was hardly organized at that point. I'm having trouble coming up with a concrete total for their second year, but anybody who follows the strip/newsposts can confirm they did a hell of a lot better than the first run, and they generated a lot more money than they could have donated on their own. Kobe Bryant might be able to personally compete with their totals, but comic strip artists don't make quite as much money as so-called sports heroes
The first year of the charity it was only for the local children's hospital in Seattle. It turned into such a huge success that the second year they opened it up to 2 or 3 children's hospitals throughout the US. Now, this year, there are multiple hospitals involved and for the first time, 3 different countries.
So, the charity is growing each year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it expanding into even more countries as each christmas rolls around.
You are who you are, let no one tell you different. But, never close your mind to a new point of view.
Your comment:
While I find it touching that you want to give games to kiddies, I think it would be far more beneficial to make donations to pay for actual treatment.
Gabe's comment:
These hospitals obviously receive plenty of donations year round but what we learned is that the money they get for the most part is spent on things much more important than toys. Things like medicine and equipment are a bigger priority than say Crash Bandicoot.
These Kids need toys though. They need games to play and crafts to make in order to take their minds off their situations. Something as simple as a Game Boy can make the stay in one of these Hospitals much more bearable for a kid. That my friends, is where we come in.
The fact of the matter is that most people that read PA aren't going to donate money to a charity simply because Gabe or Tycho mentions it. This, however, is a gift that many of the readers can connect with. You give someone $50 and you have no idea where your donation was spent. You give someone a Gameboy and you know that somewhere, in some hospital, a kid is playing a video game because you cared enough to get involved.
My Dad has a picture of some dirty guys with chainsaws and shovels that he feels sums up his civic organization. An elderly lady in the community had a stream that backed up several times a year and flooded her backyard and basement. Instead of reaching for their paychecks, so she could hire someone, they got their tools, showed up the next Saturday, and cleared out the area. Problem solved.
Anyone can write a check and pat themselves on the back, but no amount of money is going to solve every problem. It takes a special person to see a specific problem, create a solution, and take the initiative to implement it. That's exactly what the PA guys are doing and they're doing it extremely well.
...but I'm out of mod points, so I've got to use with my words: Tycho and Gabe are great and if I were to say why, I'd just be repeating the parent post. I had the opportunity to play Burning Wheel and Munchkin with Tycho a couple years ago at a con in New Jersey (ubercon I think?) and (as far as I can tell/I am not a psychologist/etc) he's about as genuine and decent a person as you could hope to meet. I tend to go the Toys for Tots route because I like to donate educational toys, but I'd feel totally confident giving Child's Play my money.
There's no need to create new words when existing ones will suffice just fine. The word is "chock". Look it up sometime.
I think someone has low reading comprehension ...
Yeah... Children's Hospital in Oakland, CA (my mom used to work there) also needs 30 copies of the best of the Hanson's Live!!!
Don't ping my cheese with your bandwidth!
I saw the headline and thought "Great, another stupid Chucky movie." What a relief!
Come on, I'm waiting....
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
What made it a troll? Here's why:
* Deliberate hyperbole in order to make certain readers angry.
* Message not completely based on author's own viewpoint.
* Drifting off topic early in the post.
* Insult of many of slashdot's readers at the end
I don't know why people would bother using their modpoints to mod someone down, but if you logged onto slashdot today hoping to "mod me down a troll YEEHAW!" I suggest that maybe you would be better to mod this post down as a troll, and maybe mod the parent up as overrated. The parent may not be right by many people's reckoning and the subject it is on is considered taboo by many, but I believe it was phrased in a very gracious way and is clearly on a subject worthy of discussion. A lot of people seem to have thought I was being a jerk, which I do not understand but I can assure anyone that I did not intend to be, I really like Gabe and Tyco and admire them for putting so much effort into giving something to those they consider needy.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
See subject (yes, I know it's my own post)
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
Funny that you got modded down for that.
Charity should be anonymous, not plastered all over a hugely popular website in a grandiose display of self-back-patting.
You're right. Perhaps, it should be plastered all over a hugely unpopular site where it's sure to generate all those donations in a more appropriate manner.
The Child's Play site isn't slashdotted yet. That means either a) they've got a really good server, or b) Slashdot readers are a bunch of cheapskates who don't care about charity. I know what my vote is...
Shame Amazon are still making a handsome profit on all the items in the wishlists. How about they chip in by agreeing to send double what has been bought?
PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
This year has a been a rough one for my family, both emotionally and financially, and when it came time to start discussing options for the pending holiday season, we came to a concensus: we wanted to give to others, not eachother. It's going to be a lean year, regardless, but there is nothing at all like a little altruism to help you understand what it means to help your fellow man. I know that I, for one, will be purchasing gifts off the wishlist for Texas Childrens of Houston through Child's Play, and I am actively petitioning my roommate, my brother and my sister to do the same. Just because I feel bad about not making as much money as I used to doesn't mean that I can't still do good things for the sake of doing them.
Cheers.
"How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
Did you click on the link? Strangely enough, the site for Child's Play has no ads, no links to Penny Arcade, no mention of "buy our shirts" or anything else. It's a separate site that focuses on the charity alone. Sure, there's pictures of Gabe and Tycho, and the e-mail addresses are their PA ones, but that's about it.
Also, can YOU donate $350,000 alone? I don't think they can either.
- In hell, treason is the work of angels.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2003-12- 03
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
The Canadian Red Cross won't take my blood. They think I'm tainted. I spent more than 3 months cumulative in Great Britan between the years of 1980 and 1996. They're worried about the risk of CJD and vCJD.
Now what am I going to do with all of this excess blood?
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
Who do you think is going to fare better - a sick kid who sits in a bed with nothing to do all day except think of the ailment that is eating him/her alive - or the same sick kid who has something fun, stimulating, and distracting to do?
Furthermore it shows people in these hospitals that people call about thier well-being beyond just immediate family.
It's a way to promote a more positive mental outlook which has documented and very positive effects on rates of recovery and general health. Yet hospitals just do not have it in the budget to provide for things like this, as they are seen by some people as overley frivolous. That's where the gamers come in and stick up for what they know is right and helpful.
Furthermore, how on earth are you supposed to "give" money to a hospital to buy them some hypthetical piece of equipment they do not have? The hospitals themselves charge for work, and use that money to buy the equipment they need. Hospitals are not (yet) run by the government; if they are lacking in supplies that is the fault of hospital managemnet and really not a problem you or I can address. So we do what we can and help the people that have to endure hospital stays.
To me there is NOTHING more noble than helping people directly. When you give money to some large group like the Red Cross it is kind of meaningless. It could go to help someone, it could be lining someones pockets. But those games I bought and sent to Hawaii are going to help real kids feel a little better about life. Similarily every year I take to heart another suggestion that Gabe posted some years ago, which is to find a Salvation Army tree (or equivilent) and buy fun things for the kids on the tree instead of the alternate request which is always something like "socks".
That's not to say I don't also give money to those giant faceless organizations (since really the Red Cross is better than most, though not perfect if you've ever voluntered for call center duty with them) but I think everyone should try and engage in more direct charity as well.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
lets give them 'americas army' so they can have fun and learn to be ter.... learn to be upstanding soldiers protecting freedom. penny arcade is pro war and therefore good for america. and so am i.
Just cause the kids are ill does not mean they are not strong enough to kick your uber-conservative ass!
Just to piss off Jack, I say break out the 2 Live Crew and Best of Howard Stern.
I HATE Jack Thompson and everything he does!
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
Thank you for your time.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
The FAQ says:
Q: When are you going to expand into Canada/UK/Australia/other countries?
A: 2005!
.. and yet I only see Canada/UK on the list of hospitals. If I donate it's going to be to an Australian hospital, so I guess I won't be doing it through Childs Play. Shame, it would have been good to contribute to the total figure.
Yes, I know, I can just donate directly (which I may still do).
I have to say, this was a great time. Not only did I have fun, meet Gabe and Tycho (who happen to be friends of a IRL friend of mine), eat great food, meet great people, and donate some money to charity, but another friend of mine who was with us won a tour of Nintendo of America during the live auction, and I almost won a tour of Wizards of the Coast.
To give you some idea of how much pull Gabe and Tycho have out there, Nintendo doesn't usually do tours...
People had come from all over to go to this event. I actually met a guy, a high-ranking doctor in the U.S. Army, who had come over from Korea simply to attend to this dinner for the auction.
Overall, it was a completely unforgettable experience, and I most ferverently recommend it to anyone who can come. I'm already planning to book my tickets for this year's event.
Her hospital isn't one that Child's Play provides stuff to, but there are a few local corporations that have pitched in, and anything that takes away from the boredom of a few weeks in bed is great. Most donations go towards stuff that helps the kids get better, but games can make the kids feel better.
chuk