Let's Do the Extra Life 25 Hour Charity Event Together! Nov. 2nd

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GamersWithJobs Team Page

What is the Extra-Life 25 Hour Charity Event? For 25 hours gamers everywhere stream their efforts to play video games (or board games) for twenty-five hours, or a similar event such as holding a 25 hour board and video gaming party. If you sign up to take on this daunting task, then it is up to you to find sponsors for your efforts in friends and family. They offer to sponsor for $X per hour, so $1 per hour would be a total of $25, OR a flat-rate (so you can just contribute $25 total).

More information can be found in the site's official FAQ.

So what's the plan? I shall be running the event and will be the primary fellow staying up 25 hours in order to stream what I can. However, we all know that when GamersWithJobs gets together as a community, we can accomplish some amazing things. Imagine if we not only all get together and sponsor ourselves, but if we encourage each of our friends and family to sponsor as well? I'd say that's bound to be a successful charity.

On the whole, we figure we get what games we can together that members of the community would like to play. Even if you can't stream, I'm sure we can get a bunch of folks together for a private match in, say, Halo: Reach and Team Fortress 2.

You can view the team page here.

So where do you come in? Do you have a game you'd like to play? A game you'd like to see played? The ability to stream games on a platform one of our primary players are unable to do? Do you have money you can use to donate to the cause? There are a variety of ways to help out.

Who is involved so far?
ccesarano
ParallaxAbstraction
Kamakazi010654
Merkaba
harbichidian
gamerparent
Xeknos
Wing-It
sometimesdee
ShynDarkly

Sounds cool, I will watch/donate!

Syndicate is a great game for co-op...:)

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

I'll be streaming my 25 hours on my individual Twitch channel (no breaks, that's part of the insane challenge for me!) but I think I have the bandwidth to broadcast to two channels at once so if we are able to tie in to the GWJ one, I should be able to do that as well.

This does not sound like what you told me when we discussed it.

I haven't announced my individual campaign yet but I will check with Extra Life on how the team thing works. I think the way it works is people create their own individual profiles to solicit donations and then the totals tie in to the team one. I'll be streaming my 25 hours on my individual Twitch channel (no breaks, that's part of the insane challenge for me!) but I think I have the bandwidth to broadcast to two channels at once so if we are able to tie in to the GWJ one, I should be able to do that as well. I'm hoping to do another themed campaign with stretch goals like I did last year. I'm also hoping I might be able to get some sponsorship to help boost the donations, including getting my employer to match all donations but we just had layoffs so I don't know if that will fly with management yet.

My idea was to try to theme my campaign around co-op stuff so this community effort might actually fit into that really well! There's a bunch of co-op stuff I both have played before and haven't played enough of that are common in the community that I thought we could hit up:

-Left 4 Dead 1/2
-Payday 1/2
-Killing Floor (I've still never played this and want to!)
-Battlefield 3
-Tribes: Ascend
-Warfame (More people need to play this F2P gem!)

Those are just a few ideas. My idea for my individual stream at least would be to play these whenever people were available to and if there were any points where I didn't have any co-op partners available, I'd switch to something single player (thinking a combination of racing games and space stuff like Take On Mars and Lunar Flight. I can also neither confirm nor deny that one of the stretch goals may involve the sequel to a certain title I live streamed earlier this year. Ahem.

I'd certainly be up for this! I actually was planning to do a 25 hour Okami HD stream after being inspired by Parallax Abstraction's Extra Life stream last year.

Definitely interested in donating and/or playing with whoever takes up the mantle.

EDIT: Diablo II/III, Borderlands 1/2, or Torchlight II would probably be a good co-op thing.

EDITx2: Monaco and Magicka if you want something that's a little bit less mainstream

While I likely can't play 25 hours straight, I would love to participate and donate to someone who is willing to give that a shot.

I'll be updating the main post, but there was some confusion when I spoke with PAbstraction and I made more assumptions than I should have. So I shall be heading this up, though I'll certainly need help. I can primarily stream console, but PC is....a different beast. So when people say "Left 4 Dead", I pump a fist in the air until I realize you probably don't mean Xbox.

So yeah, that'll make things a bit more difficult.

I'll look up the rules on how working like a team operates.

I'm not really equipped to stream myself but I would love to participate in some co-op gaming for this. Though I didn't get to actually join much due to the horrible online, tagging along with your Dark Souls stream was memorable.
L4D / L4D2 Co-op would be a good one. I've played Killing Floor here and there but barely understand what is going on most of the time.

Borderlands 2 & Torchlight 2 are also good choices.

Magicka would be a good late-hour choice, when people are good and drowsy :-p

I would be interested in helping out with this.

imbiginjapan wrote:

Though I didn't get to actually join much due to the horrible online, tagging along with your Dark Souls stream was memorable.

Let's give credit where credit is due, that was all Certis and Demiurge. I had nothing to do with those particular streams.

I'll find out what sort of games my computer can run. I know I have Killing Floor and haven't really played it online yet. It seems the fatal flaw in my plan is that I forgot how many gamed on PC right about now.

ccesarano wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

Though I didn't get to actually join much due to the horrible online, tagging along with your Dark Souls stream was memorable.

Let's give credit where credit is due, that was all Certis and Demiurge. I had nothing to do with those particular streams.

I'll find out what sort of games my computer can run. I know I have Killing Floor and haven't really played it online yet. It seems the fatal flaw in my plan is that I forgot how many gamed on PC right about now.

I was actually talking to PXA :p

Well then, I'll just show myself out.

I'll talk to the missus and see if this is something I could theoretically do. Of course I'm also considering Nanowrimo so not sure I could do Nov 2.

Personally, I might try to make progress in Rome 2 and Skyrim - there are some great mods already improving Rome and by November I'm hoping it's patched enough to be worth playing for say 12 hours straight.

Now that I have tons of extra time, I wouldn't mind trying a 25 hour run. No idea what I'd play though.

What about Diablo 3 on console?

That is certainly a possibility. I'll come up with a list of games I have across different platforms, as well as plan on having, by time of the event that might be worth streaming. Use that as a starting point. Maybe we could have a rotation of platforms going between different games with different community member highlights or something.

Actually, I think I'll sleep on that idea in particular. A rotating schedule of platforms could help keep a steady stream of different members of the community engaging while also possibly giving some the chance to sit on the sidelines and spectate.

EDIT:

Okay, so I did a bit more diving, and what I found is that several streamers can form a team, but it does not look like we'd be able to do the system I was anticipating where some are on and some are off. I'll see what the plausibility is of streaming to multiple accounts in case we can still have the GWJ Twitch stream bouncing around, but otherwise, the official GWJ team is going to have to be individual streamers doing their thing for all 25 hours.

BUT, I think we can still coordinate this to involve the entire community. In fact, it actually is a relief for me, as I was worried that, trying to spearhead everything, I wouldn't be able to participate or would have to limit games due to the fact that my PC isn't much of a gaming machine.

In the next few days I'll be updating the main post with more accurate information, as well as starting a GamersWithJobs team on Extra Life. For anyone that has done it in the past, your assistance would be appreciated in helping organize things.

I figure a Google Doc Spreadsheet can be used to organize who are the streamers, what games they plan on playing, and scheduling multiplayer matches to involve the community. This way anyone not interested in streaming or being a part for all 25 hours can still participate. For example, let's say both PAbstraction and I decide to stream The Last of Us multiplayer around 3pm EST. Anyone else wanting to play can join in at 3pm EST, or they can join someone streaming Mass Effect 3 PC multiplayer on Other Person's channel at 3pm EST.

So if you were planning on doing Extra Life this year, please let me know.

I'll be creating the spreadsheet around the same time I update the OP, but it will primarily contain games I would be interested in streaming and providing commentary for. I'd like you guys to overall vote on which games you'd like to see or play.

I'm definitely doing it this year so I can join the team for sure and I'm happy to try to organise stuff as well. From what I've read, everyone who is streaming (which by the way is optional, you can still participate and not stream) does have to run their own independent stream. If the powers that be were willing, the GWJ official channel could be used in shifts by the streamers but keep in mind, that's a lot of work as everyone would have to know the broadcast key, everyone would have to know and stick to their assigned slots and also, you need a lot of bandwidth to run two streams at once. I have 10MBit upload now and I don't even know if my connection could handle that so you'd have to be prepared to cut off your own stream to switch to the GWJ channel which might be too big a pain for some people.

I was already planning to make co-op games the theme of my stream this year so actually, this is fantastic as it gives everyone a big group of people to play with! I've got a ton of co-op focused games available to me but it would be good to see what games people have/are interested in and maybe create a set group that everyone would play from so there's always people available. I will likely principally be on PC but I do have consoles available too. I'm just not sure I can switch between the two without cutting the stream off first so I'd want to minimise how many times I move back and forth.

I'll be launching my Extra Life campaign in the upcoming week I hope. I'm trying to see if I can secure a bit of sponsorship from both my employer and a couple of clients of mine, either for myself or the GWJ team. I'm not sure what I'll be able to drum up but we'll see.

From what I can tell, the Team is just adding up everyone's individual sponsorships together, so basically you'll just be getting it for yourself anyway.

I'm looking at doing this and would certainly be up for some community stuff.

Battlefield 4 comes out mere days before this event so that would be my primary game most likely.

I would definitely be up for joining people in other games though. Some of the games I would probably add to the list would be:

BF4
Mechwarrior: Online
Rome 2 Total War (MP Battles!)
League of Legends
Sins of a Solar Empire

Then some I would like to do but would be harder to get groups for:

Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Wargame: AirLand Battle
Guardians of Middle Earth
Age of Empires 2

I think it would be really cool to start off the 24 hours with some sort of big GWJ event in a game with all the GWJ streamers before we break off on our own or in smaller groups, something that could house everybody in one game environment, L4D2 is always a popular choice if we have < 10.

I like that idea of everyone starting in a game, but it might have to be something that can run on crappy systems (case in point: mine).

Then again, I can actually run Planetside 2, so perhaps my system isn't as bad as I think it is.

That said, perhaps we should consider some Planetside 2 action? I haven't touched it since it was in beta, sadly.

I'd be up to join in on some of the games, and to donate.

ccesarano wrote:

I like that idea of everyone starting in a game, but it might have to be something that can run on crappy systems (case in point: mine).

Then again, I can actually run Planetside 2, so perhaps my system isn't as bad as I think it is.

That said, perhaps we should consider some Planetside 2 action? I haven't touched it since it was in beta, sadly.

PS2 is good, could get everybody involved no matter how many gamers/watchers there are.

Has the GWJ team been created yet? I went ahead and created my campaign profile.

Not yet. I'm going to try and get to that tomorrow.

ccesarano wrote:

I like that idea of everyone starting in a game, but it might have to be something that can run on crappy systems (case in point: mine).

Then again, I can actually run Planetside 2, so perhaps my system isn't as bad as I think it is.

That said, perhaps we should consider some Planetside 2 action? I haven't touched it since it was in beta, sadly.

I was going to put PlanetSide 2 on the list. I've played it a bunch and quite like it but I've fallen off with it the last little bit and would love to get back into it again. Also, Blacklight: Retribution is another free-to-play title that's quite good. It also has a co-op focused Horde mode.

Alright, primary post updated. PAbstraction, Kamikaze, post links to your fundraising pages here and I'll link them in the main post.

I have not created the Team Page yet, because there are a couple of hang-ups. For example, which hospital should the team as a whole donate to? It seems most fitting to donate to one of the International hospitals, but I'm not certain which would be best. In addition, I had been under the impression a team was a group of players and nothing more, so having to choose a hospital makes it seem as if the team's donations are separate from each individual's, which seems a bit... off.

So I'm going to look a bit deeper into that, as well as create that spreadsheet I mentioned of games I'd be interested in streaming myself. I'll note games I'd like to play as a community as well. I don't exactly know how I'll go about deciding on anything, though. This is turning out a bit differently than I expected, but, well, I suppose it'll be all the better for it.

EDIT: Just spoke with support at Extra Life and evidently an individual creates the team and acts as Leader. So I suppose that will be me.

Links will be updated once the page is up.

My link is http://extra-life.org/participant/wl...

One of my awesome friends have already donated before I even really advertised it.

My friend also donated, but I suppose I was misunderstanding something. He put in $2 so it would reach the $50 total after a 25 hour gaming session, and I figured the donation goal would take that into account. It looks like the "goal" is supposed to be multiplied by 25.

I don't know if I'm misreading things, but their website does not seem to communicate this information as well as I would have hoped.

Here's the link to my portal page. I haven't written the text for it yet so it's just the boiler plate stuff for now. I'll be writing it and recording a Geek Bravado Ramble video to go with it very soon!

Team page has been added! And yeah, I plan on doing a quick RamblePak snippet myself soon, Parallax.

This will probably be a constantly changing process as I've never done Extra Life. I'll probably be scheduling a Twitch time for me to test what streaming on my Twitch channel is like. I might need to be adding my second monitor, actually, now that I think about it. Whee! Either way, I want to make sure streaming works well. I'll probably be choosing an inconsequential game to stream.

EDIT: Do you want to help me prepare for Extra Life? Well tonight I'll be doing my first stream! I'll be streaming the Beyond: Two Souls demo on my Twitch channel tonight at 9pm EST, but I'll be doing prepwork around 8:30pm. So feel free to watch and listen in on my backseat game designer chatter.

Just a quick note guys, you can authorize people to stream on your own channel. Twitch will then e-mail different keys to each authorized person.

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