Child's Play

Last year around this time, Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade rand across an article online that said, essentially, videogames are stupid and evil and all they do is teach kids to be stupid and evil. This, understandably, pissed them off. So they started Child's Play, a toy and donation drive for the Seattle Children's Hosptial. In about three months, they raised more than two-hundred fifty thousand dollars in toys games and cash for sick kids stuck in intensive care over the holidays. There was so much stuff, they had to move to a larger warehouse not once, not twice, but thrice. It started as a way to spite the people and media who look down on video games and video game culture, but ended up being one of the most worthwhile things I'd seen in a long time.

This year, they're doing it again, but they've expanded it to include children's hospitals in Oakland, San Diego, Houston and Washington, D.C.

Visit the Child's Play site. Check out the Amazon.com whishlists that each hospitial has set up and buy something for sick kid. Gifts range from four bucks for a coloring book, to $170 bucks for an XBox. They'll also take cash donations through PayPal.

Also, spread the word. If you have a site or a blog or whatever, tell people about Child's Play. If you're able to, donate some server space for the charity. If you're in the neighborhood of one of the hospitals, give them a call and see if you can volunteer your time in some other way. You'll feel good, I promise.

BTW, the guy who wrote the article apologized, and I soon as I figure out how, I'm gonna put a CP banner up instead of just a text link.