Dear people that play games,

Let’s talk. We do a lot of things in our hobby for our own enjoyment right? Sure we create and share time with friends or family. We build stories or worlds, slay dragons, or rescue the princess. But we mostly do that for ourselves. Please don’t misunderstand, there isn’t anything wrong with that. But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a few times that I wish I could have told my mom that I had to play Ocarina of Time just a little bit longer because I was raising money for a good cause.

 Well now I can do that, (not that my mom is checking in on my video game playing time anymore. That would be weird.. right.. guys? Man, I miss pizza rolls…Mmm pizza.) Uh, anyways.

Doze Pizza Rollz Doe

 Extra Life is the brainchild of Jeromy “Doc” Adams. In 2008 while working a Radiothon for Texas Children’s Hospital, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in Houston he met a leukemia survivor named Victoria Enmon. Tori would eventually lose her battle, but her life sparked something in Doc, the realization that many gamers would love to give back to people while doing something they love. Extra Life was born, in it’s inception it only supported Texas Children’s but since 2010 it’s been a national program supporting over 170 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.  Here are some quick facts about Extra Life for you to peruse.

 

• Extra Life raised over $4.1 million in 2013. That’s more than the program raised

in 2010, 2011 and 2012 combined! Since its inception, Extra Life has more than

doubled in growth year-after-year thanks to a growing online community.

 

• In 2013, more than 43,000 players registered for Extra Life —– pledging to play

games and heal kids.

 

• Extra Life is attracting gaming developers and communities of all types. In 2013,

Extra Life’s major partners included PlayStation, Reddit, Twitch, Diablo III, XSplit,

KBMOD.com, Microsoft, Trion Worlds and Rooster Teeth.

 

• All proceeds from Extra Life directly benefit 170 Children’s Miracle Network

Hospitals across North America. These hospitals treat children for all illnesses

and injuries, resulting in 32 million treatments administered each year. To learn

more about Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, visit www.CMNHospitals.org.

Source – extra-life.org

Here’s one of the best parts, it doesn’t matter what you play. When most people think “gamers” they think that it means the marathon is limited to video games. But the key idea here is to raise money for the kids. So hike for 24 hrs, play dodge ball, run the longest consecutive Dungeons and Dragons campaign ever. But do something fun, and involve your friends and family. With a little more than two weeks to go, now is a better time than ever to pledge your time to playing some games on October 25th. Let your the people in your life know what you’re doing and spread the gaming love. Because every gamer knows what it’s like to need an extra life every now and then.

Disclaimer: The Author of this post supports Extra Life and CMNH through personal donations. He was not contacted by Extra Life or Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals to write this article.