Child’s Play – Charitable Gamers Unite!

Prologue

Flashback to my 14 year old self sitting in a hospital lobby trying to pass the time until my 10 minutes of viewing time with my grandmother would come around.  We all knew what was coming but I spent 12 hours of the day sitting alone while the adults took turns visiting her all day or taking smoke breaks to talk amongst themselves.  It was agony to be completely segregated from the adults, not knowing what was going on 12 floors above me.

I  was a kid without nothing to do in a fairly scary part of my life with only my over active imagination to keep me company.  I spent a few days like that until an angel decked out in scrubs and a huge smile asked me if I liked video games.  I just nodded my head and took her hand as she began to lead me through a few halls in the hospital.  I immediately realized we were walking towards the pediatrics wards as I saw more and more kids in hospital gowns in the rooms we passed.

We finally stopped at a brightly colored room that looked like a set for an episode of Romper Room.  Smack dab in the middle of this room was a SNES with a half dozen games stacked next to the TV.  It felt like coming downstairs during Christmas, which was probably written on my face because she gave me a slight shove towards it, smiled, and went out the door.

Games and Gamers Can Make a Difference

Those days were rough for my family but that one nurse’s simple gesture made all the difference for a few hours when I was feeling my worse.  I remember being able to escape the harsh solitude of losing a loved one by replacing it with a little fun.

That memory is what drew me to Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity.  It’s focus was to put more games into hospitals around country so that that kids within them have a little more joy in their lives.  It began as just raising money Seattle Children’s Hospital back in 2003 and has grown into a nationwide project.

Child’s Play was the first charity that came to my mind when my job began offering the ability to have donations to automatically be taken out of your paychecks to the charity of your choice.  I am proud to say that around $200 of my own money was part of the $1,434,377 raised this year alone for the charity.  I definitely plan to donate even more next year because I think every kid deserves fun in their life and games have a way of providing just that.

Tagged as: Amazon Giftlist, Child's Play Charity, Games, Penny Arcade, Romper Room, Seattle, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Video game, Worthwhile Charities