It is beneficial to show young gamers that they can be a constructive sub-culture in society. Certainly the stereotype of the overweight man who lives in his parent's basement persists, and there are instances where this may be true.
But many more gamers adjust to the rest of reality and are successful individuals.
Some dynamic individuals have seen the creative and passionate power that gamers have for their hobby and have directed that energy towards charitable efforts that are making a marked impact on the world.
Child's Play
Child's Play is a charity organization started by the creators of the Penny Arcade webcomic, a thrice weekly comic strip about gaming culture. Child's Play focuses on providing toys, games, and gaming systems to children who are stuck in the hospital battling terminal diseases.
Participants can purchase the items directly off a list, or donate the general fund. Many other gaming companies get involved by donating portions of their sales of games to the fund, offering special deals to their customers. Other individuals and "gaming celebrities" and "internet personalities" have also offered special content and shows as well as charity giveaways in order to raise money. Child's Play has been running strong since 2003 and has no signs of stopping anytime soon.
As a point of interest, Child's Play was actually started out of spite. Back around 2004-2005, the media went on a large anti-gaming witch hunt. An article written in a local Washington state newspaper prompted the creators of Penny Arcade to prove to society that gamers can be a positive influence on society. For a more detailed account, check out their "about" article: http://www.childsplaycharity.org/about.php
ExtraLife
ExtraLife is a project created by the founders of the SarcasticGamer gaming community, a group that does game reviews, commentary, and comedy. The founder, Jeromy "Doc" Adams, was a volunteer at the Texas Children's Hospital, and met a young girl, Victoria, fighting cancer who loved to play video games, but whose family could not afford to get her new ones to play because of her medical bills. Doc put out a call to another video game community for donations, asking to send either games that we no longer played, or cash donations to buy new ones.
I remember when this happened and donated fifty bucks.
The result was astounding. I don't remember exactly how many games were donated, but it was a veritable pile. Victoria and Doc were touched by the outpouring, and ended up distributing the extra games to other children in the hospital.
Unfortunately, Victoria did not survive her battle with cancer. Doc, however, saw the power of gamers in action, and created ExtraLife.
ExtraLife is a 24 hour gaming marathon. Participants get sponsors to donate for every hour played. At first, the goal was similar to Child's Play, providing games and toys for children stuck in the Texas Children's Hospital, but it has since grown beyond that goal and donates money directly to the Children's Miracle Network hospital for cancer research.
Like Child's Play, ExtraLife has become an annual event that unites the power and money of the gaming community like never before. Last year's ExtraLife generated $470,000 for cancer research.
And many, many participants are young gamers.
See their about page for more details and information:http://extralife.sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2010/04/all-about-extra-life.html
Gamers can be a powerful force in society. They just need a little inspiration and direction. Instead of treating student's passions for games and other media as a fad they will grow out of, we should find ways to connect that passion and drive them forward to do great things.
