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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.
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.
My guess? While setting it up the first time, it was just Seattle, then it was the US, now it's the US, Canada, and UK...give them time, this is only the third year...
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.
Not so scary? My brother had a "My Buddy" doll, which looked uncannily like the doll in Child's Play. He saw the movie when he was maybe 4 years old. After several attempts (all unsuccessful) to give the doll to my sister, he eventually ended up leaving it in the closet. He never touched it again.
If only this charity had existed back then, the doll could have had the opportunity to traumatize another child.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
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
When the PA guys did the first Child's Play, it was almost a spur of the moment kind of thing in response to a newspaper column written about violent video games. They had absolutely no idea what they were getting into, and were utterly shocked when they hit $10,000. They finished that first year with over $110,000. This isn't an organized charity organization, this is two guys frontlining an army of gamers and geeks for a good cause. As another reply to your comment says, just give them time. :)
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.
Children in India, Africa and South America need medical care and food above a PlayStation 2. That said, I understand that since the organization is Penny Arcade, they are doing this charity as a twofold purpose:
1) To give to children
2) To promote the idea that games are healthy for kids and offer education, not violence
The second reason is because there is a lot of criticism over the gaming industry and this is one way that PA can approach the subject with actions, not just words, and help needy children.
Kids in the US, UK, Canada, etc. who Child's Play is geared toward are getting the medical care they need -- the problem is, many of the parents of those sick children might be seeing all of their income go towards medical bills and basic expenses such as food and utilities.
They might not have enough money leftover for a good Christmas. PA steps in and helps a little bit. Yes, toys and games are material and can't be as valuable as clean water and food for children in India and Africa. But it's about evaluating what these countries need. Kids in India and Africa need medical care more than they need toys. Kids in the US and UK in these hospitals are already getting that medical care. What they need is a little happiness during their illness.
"Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
Just because someone else may have a greater need doesn't mean people shouldn't help out those that have a lesser need. If you follow this logic, people would only donate to, say, earthquake relief in Pakistan, or hurricane relief in Lousiana. Just because there are people out there who have a greater need doesn't negate the fact that there are others with a need as well.
The tiny P-A team is doing far, far more than most people ever do, and the theme they picked reflects their interests - ie, showing the world that gamers aren't the rabid church tower snipers people like Jack Thompson make them out to be. If that's not right for you, don't donate to them.. but don't criticise them because you think there are people who are more deserving.
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.
I don't necessarily think you're wrong, but I do think your comment is misplaced, with regard to childsplay.
This was a spur of the moment thing they started before Christmas a few years ago. I remember reading the newspost - they were pissed that gamers were always shown as a bunch of demented teenagers running around with trench coats and black-tape pentagrams on their social studies book covers. They wanted to show these condescending media pricks what the gaming demographic actually is like.
And then they made $110,000 in, what, 2 months? Just for donations for the Seattle Children's Hospital (I'm not sure if that's the name, but it's the children's hospital in the seattle area, I believe). Games - not just video games, but board games and coloring books and crayons and whatever-it-is that kids play with. The response was staggering.
It was after this year that the letters started rolling in. Parents of children in these children's hospitals. Now-grown-up children who visited these hospitals. I highly, highly recommend you read the letters yourself. If you're not choked up at the end of it, then I posit the notion that you're a cylon. Or a heartless monkey. Your call.
Letters concerning childsplay
My favorite.
You do yourself a great disservice. You understand the real meaning of Christmas.
Technoli
...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
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.
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'm a huge fan of penny-arcade and I admire them a lot for doing what they are doing. However, why(1) 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(2) I am sure that there would be poor children in India, Africa and South America that are in far greater need(3).
1) Because they live in the USA, near Canada, both former colonies of the UK.
2) But you don't think they have it hard enough to deserve chartiy.
3) Yes, they have greater needs: Food, clean water, peace. When they have reliable electricity, they'll want videogames.
You can't take the sky from me...
Come on, I'm waiting....
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
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...
Having done recreation therapy at a large hospital, and been in charge of numerous things you'd expect to get stolen (VHS tapes, DVDs, craft supplies, a GameGear and games, etc.), you'd be surprised at how RARELY things get stolen.
Most of the stuff stolen from our hospital was stuff that wasn't going to adversely affect patients -- a package of gauze here and there, the staff microwave, etc.
-Jenn
Am I allowed a say in who gets hurt? 'Cause if so, I'm all *over* this action. I have a list drawn up and everything.
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