If you caught MJ’s latest Massively Uplifting, you probably noticed that Extra Life is ramping up across the gaming industry, and particularly among MMORPG studios. Indeed, the massive fundraising effort kicks off this very weekend, hoping to add more donations to the $87M total raised for sick kids between 2008 and 2020. Here’s a quick spotlight on some of the teams organizing game streams this weekend in the service of raising funds for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals – and how you can help them do it, either by donating yourself or joining the team and helping them stream on Friday.
Guild Wars 2 studio ArenaNet is hoping to raise $80,000 this year to bring its lifetime total to half a million bucks; the company has said if it raises at least $25,000, it’ll match the amount to bring it to $50,000. It’s got a super-team set up, so you can bring your team to join it.
Multiple Daybreak substudios are taking part this year, with each team putting in $5,000 and hoping to raise an additional $15,000 more, for what would be a total of $60,000 between them. EverQuest and EverQuest II team Darkpaw Games and PlanetSide 2 substudio Rogue Planet Games are both streaming for Rady Children’s hospitals in San Diego, while the DC Universe Online team Dimensional Ink is signed up to support Dell Children’s Ascension in Austin, with plenty of rewards in store. In fact, PlanetSide 2 players have already blasted past that goal, so we’re expecting Daybreak will hit its targets handily.
LOTRO and Dungeons and Dragons Online studio Standing Stone Games is also aiming to raise $20,000 for the Boston Children’s Hospital and donating $5000 to kick it off. (In fact, it looks like they’ve already raised $15,000 before the event event starts, which is amazing.) SSG is handing out prizes for those who donate, so if you play LOTRO or DDO, take a peek at how to claim them.
Ashes of Creation developer Intrepid Studios is also raising money for Rady Children’s hospitals; it’s set a goal of $25,000. “Not only will we be playing a LIVE tabletop pen and paper game set in the world of Ashes of Creation, but you’ll also have chances to win Alpha Two access, unlock new lore, and more!”
Pirate101 and Wizard101 company KingsIsle Entertainment is back in the mix again this year, raising $10,000 for Austin Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. Did I say $10,000? Well, they’ve already raised around $15,000, and the more folks pitch in, the more goodies they’ll be earning in the games, so there’s something in it for everyone.
We spied a few more not-so-massively studios and groups in the mix:
- Spellbreak studio Proletariat is more than half the way to its $20,000 target.
- Ark Survival Evolved’s Studio Wildcard has an ambitious goal of $50,000.
- Ubsioft Quebec’s team is angling to raise $10,000.
- Kabam is raising $10,000 too.
- And famous MMO guild Gaiscioch has already raised half of its $5,000 goal (it’s been participating since 2011!).
And finally, but perhaps most intriguingly, a popular rogue server appears to have gotten the green light to promote the charity. We’re talking about City of Heroes: Homecoming, which announced this week that it is releasing Issue 27: Page 3 to the beta server on Friday, specifically to give City of Heroes streamers something new and exciting to do and help support the Extra Life cause. “We’re excited to be able to provide an opportunity for everyone to support this awesome cause while exploring the new content in Page 3, and we’re looking forward to tuning into your streams and providing some developer commentary along the way,” the player team says. The patch includes a level 35-50 strike force called Chasing Fool’s Gold from Dr Aeon.
“The supervillain genius Dr. Aeon has begun to take notice of suspicious unscientific activity going on within Aeon City! Such things are inconceivable! None can be permitted to befoul the glory of his utopia! In his unparalleled brilliance, he has decided to enlist the service of local villains for the purpose of helping him maintain and enforce order! Definitely not to deflect any potential responsibility or liabilities from himself! Never! However, even his immaculate mind couldn’t predict the culmination of this plot. Decades of planning sees the rise of an unexpected threat of which Dr. Aeon played no small part in helping create, in more ways than one!”
The move is particularly notable since the Homecoming server has been negotiating with original studio NCsoft since 2019 in an attempt to secure legitimacy in the wake of the game’s sunset and code leak to the community, and this turn of events, coupled with the resumption of streaming earlier this year, sure makes those negotiations look productive indeed. As they say, not all heroes wear capes. (Thanks, Yrys!)
If you’re participating in this year’s Extra Life or you want to promote your team or a studio we’ve missed, let everyone know in the comments! Good luck to everyone streaming!
