Gamers bring cheer to hospitals worldwide

Children who are not at home but in a hospital, waiting for the next test or treatment, can still look forward to a happy holiday season thanks to Child's Play, a non-profit organization of gaming enthusiasts dedicated to spreading the joy of electronic entertainment.

Child's Play was founded in 2003 by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, authors of the popular Web comic Penny Arcade, in response to a perceived negative stereotype of gamers. "The media seems intent on perpetuating the myth that gamers are ticking time bombs just waiting to go off," Krahulik wrote when announcing the formation of Child's Play. "I know for a fact that gamers are good people... We are just regular people who happen to love video games." With that in mind, they began soliciting monetary donations with which to buy Nintendo and PlayStation goods for their local children's hospital.

Their motivation isn't just good PR; there's a scientific basis to support their actions. In 2004, psychology professor Dr. Bryan Raudenbush of Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia conducted research on "The Effects of Video Game Play on Pain Threshold and Tolerance". His conclusion: video games can distract patients from pain, thus making their hospital experience more tolerable.

Knowing gamers could make a difference, the Penny Arcade artists used their Web site, which attracts more than 55 million pageviews a month, to promote Child's Play. In the cause's first year, Krahulik and Holkins collected $146,000 in three weeks to donate to the Children's Hospital of Seattle. Child's Play has since grown to encompass a network of over 40 hospitals worldwide, including in Canada, the UK, Australia, and Egypt, for which they raised over $1 million in donations during the 2006 charity drive. An extremely successful fundraiser has proven to be the annual dinner and auction, with items up for bid including a voice acting role in Microsoft's Halo 3 video game and a dinner with former Star Trek child star Wil Wheaton. This year's event, held on December 11th, raised $225,000.

"The first three years that Child's Play was in operation, I was constantly surprised at the immense volume of the community's generosity," wrote Holkins in an auction wrap-up post on his Web site. "I must say that now, four years on, I am no longer surprised. That you [gamers] can generate million dollars in just a couple months - on an annual basis - is now, to me, quite ordinary. You are incredible, and changing the world is easy for you."

Donations to Child's Play can be made via check, money order, PayPal, or by purchasing directly from their online wish list. Only 2-3% of donations go to defray the costs of shipping and the like. Since Child's Play furnishes its beneficiaries with new hardware and software, donations of used products are not accepted. Those wishing to find a charitable use for their older gaming products can instead sell them via eBay, with the proceeds going to Child's Play.

Alternatively, such physical donations can be made to a separate organization, Get Well Gamers, founded by Ryan Sharpe in 2001. "That's the part where Child's Play and us kind of yin-yang each other," said Sharpe during an interview with the ChatterBox talk show. "If you've got new stuff, send it to Child's Play; if you've got old stuff, send it to us." It doesn't matter if the equipment is an old Super Nintendo or a new PlayStation Portable; "It gives the [kids] something to engage their minds intellectually besides 'I'm going to have surgery performed on me on me soon,'" said Sharpe.