ALBANY, N.Y. – Although 12-hour gaming marathons may sound like a teenagers dream and a parent's worst nightmare, one such event was for a good cause, raising money for a local children's hospital.
Local gaming podcast Just Press Start hosted an event Saturday at the University at Albany's School of Public Health as part of Extra Life 2012, a national gaming marathon in support of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.
JPS's marathon donations will benefit the Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center.
But this isn't a first – for the last four years, thousands of gamers have joined together annually to play for Extra Life. The campaign has raised more than $2 million since 2008, rallying friends, family, and community members to sponsor players.
"It's gamers getting together to raise money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, and the way they go about that is they get donations, as if it were any other kind of other walk-a-thon or bike-a-thon or anything like that. But in our case it's a video-game-and-board-game-a-thon," said Jeff Ortloff, host of Just Press Start, about the unusual fundraiser.
The Just Press Start group has raised $1,590 as of mid-day Saturday, already exceeding their goal preset goal. With the event stretching until 9 p.m., they hope to continue to raise funds for the hospital.
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