Extra Life 2012: Join Team Vas Mani (Updated)
Some of you may recall that I participated in Extra Life last year. Extra Life is a charity event, held in late fall every year to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. Not unlike a charity event where runners collect pledges and then, on a set date, run a certain distance, Extra Life participants collected pledges and then, on a set date, attempt to play games for 24 hours straight.
Last year, I raised about $400 for the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, and that was just me doing it. This year, I’d like to put together a team — Team Vas Mani — of fans of Origin Systems games so that we can all work toward an even larger donation goal.
The way Extra Life teams work is: the team’s fundraising total is a simple sum of the fundraising done by each member. If a each member of a five-person team raises $200, the team is considered to have raised $1,000. You can donate to my campaign today, if you like, but what I’m hoping a few of you might consider doing is signing up as Extra Life participants to join Team Vas Mani.
It would be really, really sweet if Vas Mani wasn’t a one-man show this year…even more so because I’m going to have to divide my Extra Life gaming sessions between the 19th and the 21st this year (or else find some particularly inventive way to convince my wife that she should let me spend our 5th wedding anniversary glued to my computer). It would be nice to have some people on the Vas Mani playing during the majority of the Extra Life run (which is typically from 8 AM on Saturday to 8 AM on Sunday, either in EST or PST).
So…if you feel like playing games for a 24 hours (cumulative, or in a single continuous run) on or about Saturday, the 20th of October this year, sign up for Extra Life and apply to join Team Vas Mani! It’s quite common, I gather, for MMORPG guilds and groups of fans of various gaming series or developers to sign up large Extra Life teams; I think we should do likewise as fans of Origin Systems and their many excellent games.
The First Age of Update: Welcome aboard, Johnny Priest! And congratulations are in order as well; Johnny has raised a goodly sum toward his goal already!
Revenge of the Update: And welcome aboard, Kenneth Munson! Kenneth has also begun raising funds toward his goal; good show!
Updatodus: And a big Dragonly “thank you” to Jeff “Dungy” Hoeksma, for his generous donation!
Quest of the Update: Bandit LOAF from the Wing Commander CIC has signed up as well!
When I saw “Extra Join” I thought it said “Elton John”. Anyway, if my hiccups immediately go away after I post this, I’ll join.
Hmm, an excuse to marathon play videogames… um… f yes? Only if I can play ultima 4-5-6. And 7 if I have time or willpower.
Yeah, that’s right, I only got about 75% through ultima 4. I got caught up on the bell and the dungeon stones. I had MAYBE 1 rune left, one of the damn symbols or idols of principle, and maybe 2 of the dungeon stones. And I gave up like the quitter I am. Oh, and compassion was the only vitue I was maxed in.
Last time I refused to use a cluebook. This time, that I want to plau the apparently free GoG version of u4, I’m using the damned cluebook. Those old Ultima’s were kinda notorious for using, nay, NEEDING the cluebook.
It’s like, you have to go through ultima 4 atleast twice. Once to figure out the gameplay mechanics, twice to beat the thing.
I had a similar experience with Ultima IV but got a little farther. I wrote out names, conversations, places, painted my cloth map, but I still didn’t beat it. I had all the virtues maxed out and was still flailing around in the dungeons looking for things. V and VI were the same way, getting close but never really being motivated to see the end game.
VI at least allowed you to throw things through windows. Not too many games do that.
And my hiccups persisted, but now they’re gone.