Child's Play Profiled by NYT

There's a very nice profile of the Child's Play charity up on the New York Times site. It goes into some detail on the history of the gamer's charity, and paints the participants in a positive light. Good press all around. From the article: "... Common purpose drew Bernie Burns to get involved. Mr. Burns is a member of Rooster Teeth, a troupe that produces 'Red vs. Blue,' an online comedy series based on the game Halo. Rooster Teeth attended the Child's Play dinner auction this year and successfully bid $9,000 to record dialogue for the coming video game Halo 3, a prize comparable to being given a cameo appearance in a movie. The game's developer, Bungie Studios, would probably have allowed the troupe to record the dialogue anyway, but 'it's for charity,' Mr. Burns said of the $9,000 bid." The article states that the charity has raised $2 Million over its lifespan, and the official site is currently this year's contribution to that number is around $885,000.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

It is not a question of if you can, but if that donation is tax deductable!!!

Re:

[patio11]

You can donate gold right now. Unfortunately, its probably IP and then you can only deduct your cost basis, basically how much you paid for the gold. If that cost basis was "sweat equity", then tough cookies, no deduction for you. n.b. I am not a tax adviser, I am just a programmer who has to tell other programmers "Just because you gave someone a program you made which sells for $100 does not mean you get $100 to offset your income with -- you can only deduct the cost of the CD."

It is awsome

[Thansal]

Watching Child's Play grow over the past few years has really been an awsome thing. Something about geeks and charity makes me happy.

Please!

[Rob T Firefly]

Wont somebody think of the... oh, wait.

Mr. Burns isn't all that bad.

[silentounce]

I know you children see me as some sort of "booger man", but I'm really not such a bad dude.

is it true?

[scatteredsun]

Is it true it's all going to be donated in Jack Thompson's name? That would rock.

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[-Brodalco-]

Idk if they're doing it this time, but one time Whacko Jacko promised to donate $10,000 to a charity of Take-Two's choice if somebody made a game based on his idea. When somebody did, JT was nowhere to be found, and Penny-Arcade stepped up and donated $10,000 to Entertainment Software Association's charitable arm. In the check's memo line was written: "For Jack Thompson Because, Jack Thompson Won't".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Video_Game_P roposal [wikipedia.org]

Read more.

Absolutely outstanding...

[Possibly Malignant]

I still can't believe that Child's Play raised $885k this year. That's ridiculous growth over the three years they've been running.

Kudos to Mike and Jerry, and everyone else who makes Child's Play possible.

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[ceejayoz]

It's not quite over yet, either. $885k was as of the 22nd, and they made $125k in that week. Their PA newspost that day stated they were on track for $1 million overall.

Pretty bloody awesome. $2112 of that [reliccommunity.com] is from the gaming community I'm a member of. We're pretty happy.

Name Change?

[KermodeBear]

When I saw the name the first thing that came to mind was that awful movie [imdb.com] featuring a killer doll. Ugh.

I'd love for Jack to see this.

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

If Jack Thompson saw this, you'd probably be able to fry an egg on his head.

JT: "The nerve of these, these, GAMERS! Actually trying to help children! Don't they know they're supposed to be the bad guys?"

Re:

[sgt.greywar]

Indeed, Child's Play beats the pants off of Jack Thompson's offer to donate 10,000 if someone programmed a video game to his specs... IIR someone did it and he reneged on the deal.

Re:I'd love for Jack to see this.

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed, Child's Play beats the pants off of Jack Thompson's offer to donate 10,000 if someone programmed a video game to his specs... IIR someone did it and he reneged on the deal.

Yep, that's correct. And PennyArcade donated the $10,000 in his stead, with "because Jack Thompson won't" on the "For:" line.

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[Satorian]

And the Penny Arcade guys coughed up the 10k for charity to spite him.

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[Anonymous Coward]

He even required that it use "Lawyers in Love" as a background song.

I was kind of disappointed though, I was going to actually take his script with a few minor tweaks at the very end and actually build it, but I'm no artist and not even a game coder, and by the time I had figured out the quake engine, he'd already gone off on his satire rant.

Whenever he comes up, I still think about dusting off the engine and giving it a shot though (even though the models will all be boxy crap ;). Mostly because I'm curio

Another profile

[ryry]

In the interest of blatant self promotion, I offer my own coverage of CP [jivemagazine.com] in JIVE Magazine [jivemagazine.com] :-)

Yeah, we're no NYT, but still :-)

Re:Another profile

[drinkypoo]

Yeah, we're no NYT, but still

What, you mean you still have journalistic integrity?

interesting edit...

[Rimbo]

...tfa doesn't really spend much time talking about the benefits, supposed or actual, of giving kids games to keep themselves entertained.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

CP is a general charity for children's hospitals, funded by gamers. Not a 'give kids games' charity.

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[Anonymous Coward]

CP is a general charity for children's hospitals, funded by gamers. Not a 'give kids games' charity.

They do promote video games. IIRC the hospitals draw up a wish-list of toys and books and then CP add video games they'd recommend too.

Who will Whacko Jacko demonize next?

[-Brodalco-]

Now that geeks and gamers are donating to charity, who will Jacko Thompson demonize next? Think he'll go after the gays and Mexicans, like everyone else? Or think of a new target, like llama breeders?

Actually...

[Astin]

The number on the site doesn't take into account all the pledged amounts from various auctions and donations. Mike and Jerry expect that the actual number for this year ALONE will exceed $1,000,000 [penny-arcade.com].