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hey house 2014 treating you so far for
us seeing another year roll to an end
gave us a little time to look back and
think about our community where we've
grown from and what we've become to me
games were always a place where the most
outcasts the most misfit of us could
find a home the game community I grew up
with embraced those who didn't fit in
elsewhere there was always a seat at the
table for anyone who wanted to play it
didn't matter if you didn't meet society
standards of what was cool or hip or if
the challenges in your life were
something that most people weren't
comfortable dealing with the gaming
community embraced you with open arms we
didn't see those things because when you
sat down at the table you weren't
awkward or overweight you didn't stutter
or speak with an accent you weren't in a
certain race or creed you were an elf a
heroic Knight an intrepid space Fair or
a wizard of unimaginable power and while
today much of what we see in the media
focuses on some of the negatives of
gaming projecting the stereotype that
players are lazy or anti-social
unhygenic unhealthy that we rage and
foster bigots misogynists and the worst
kind of trolls what I see is the exact
opposite I still see the community I
grew up with the community that accepts
the others with open arms no matter
their problems and yes without question
as the medium has grown so has the
visibility of a few bad seeds but as the
medium has grown so too has the spirit
of generosity and acceptance today I've
seen players embrace communities of all
types banding together to help wherever
possible and all the while never losing
that sense of unmitigated joy that
gaming is all about so in this episode
we'd like to acknowledge a few of those
groups doing some good for the world
from within the gaming community in fact
what we've chosen to cover here just
represents the diversity of groups
players are reaching out to help for
each one we name today there are dozens
more we don't have time to acknowledge
here so let's begin
PDX LAN this year the folks who throw
one of the greatest LAN parties on the
west coast decided to help the poor and
the hungry and they did it in style the
best way they knew how with a LAN party
and you know what over the course of
that Ford a LAN party amidst all the joy
and the excitement the shouting and the
revelry players donated 15,000 pounds of
food I just think that 15,000 pounds
that's 7.5 tonnes according to the
Department of Agriculture that's enough
to feed 90 people for a month
then of course there's child's play for
the past 10 years people from across the
globe have donated to make the lives of
sick kids just a little more palatable
over those 10 years of players and
members of the industry have given more
than 17 million dollars to buy toys and
games for hospitals around the globe
it's an effort to bring joy to where
there is simply too little and to give a
little relief from the fear and pain
this year was child's play's biggest
year more people gave more than ever
before and no matter how tough the
economic times the amount our community
gives to see that children have
something more for them waiting at the
hospital than sickness and frightening
tests just keeps increasing
then there's operation supply drop
operations supply drop is the effort of
a former captain in the US military to
send care packages with games to the US
military members serving in combat zones
or who have been hospitalized in the US
care packages have always meant a lot to
most of the members of the military I
know they add normalcy to an insane life
and remind them of some of the comforts
of home and games do a lot to relieve
stress and provide an escape from a
reality that might get too heavy
sometimes and my favorite part about
this is actually a story from their
website apparently the fellow who runs
its unit was sent a care package one day
while in Iraq and it was filled with
used Harlequin romance novels which a
few days later became target practice
but this made him realize that someone
should set up a charity that sent
soldiers something they really wanted
games and when he got back that's what
he did and finally the humble origin
bundle we have often called out EA for
some of its practices on this show so
it's only fair we give them credit where
credit is due this year they ended up
working with the Humble Bundle folks to
package a bunch of their origin games
for sale and it raised millions of
dollars for charity they brought in
funds for groups as far ranging as the
Red Cross Human Rights Campaign and the
San Francisco AIDS Foundation of course
it made them some money too and it did
give Origen a much-needed boost to its
install base but you know what there is
absolutely nothing wrong with a company
doing something that's both good for
itself and good for the world sometimes
it's easy to feel embarrassed about this
part of one's life when the news reports
on the worst aspects of gaming or tries
to reinforce stereotypes that were never
really true in the first place if the
news even reports on us at all that is
but as we get further into this next
year remember what it is we do as a
community just because you love games
it doesn't make you lazy or aloof it
doesn't make you detached from reality
or I'm concerned with the plights of
other people in fact quite the opposite
our community has a history of embracing
those much of the rest of the world
leaves behind and this year we've held
up that tradition by giving millions to
the poor the hungry and people in need
let's keep that going catch you next
week
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