Cancer Research - How you can help!

[TopSecret]

Hi there,

My name is Stuart and I am appealing to all you hardcore fraggers out there:

Cancer is one of the biggest killers known to man and our family has just experienced a loss due to this devasting disease. Most research into this disease relies on funding from sponsorship, donations etc. I want to arrange an event to raise funds for cancer research.

I have been in touch with an organisation who are based in the UK but they provide funding for cancer research internationally, and rely on donations, sponsored events etc. They are the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) and more info can be found on them here - http://www.aicr.org.uk.

I have contacted them for advice on organising this event, and I will outline my idea:

Basically, I want to arrange a sponsored gaming session. You would agree to play a certain game on a dedicated server for an agreed amount of time, for which you would raise sponsorship. As it would be an online event, all you would need is a copy of the game (we could use a free game, like America's Army for example), and be able to log onto the game server. We would need to verify each players times and this would be easily done using the server log files.

I am going to be in touch with some game server hosts tomorrow, to try and secure a server for the event. I will also be posting on some other websites to generate some interest in the idea. I have been talking to some business colleagues today and they reckon that some of the big industry names may be interested in showing support.

I know not everyone has the time to get involved in something like this, but if any of you are interested in helping me get this off the ground, I would really appreciate your help, no matter how little or much time you can give.

I would also love to hear from you if you are interested in participating, the event could really be fun and it's a great way to raise funds for much needed research.

My email is stuart@hexsys.co.uk,

Cheers,

Stuart

 

[PV5150]

Hi Stuart

I've now reinstated this post for you and wish you all the best with a successful event.

 

[PV5150]

PM sent:

Hello Sir

I'm Matthew and I am the administrator who moved your post for the time being. Whilst we don't have a problem supporting charitable events we do have a responsibility to ensure that things are above board and legitimate - especially if our members are involved and/or we are shown to be supporting it.

First and foremost I do not have a problem with returning the post but I would like a few more details on what you are proposing. If you would like to contact me then feel free to email me - pv@overclock3d.net, or alternatively you can catch me on msn - oc3d_pv5150@hotmail.com.

Please don't feel that we simply deleted the post as nothing could be further from the truth. We just want to know a little more about the event and yourself. It would probably be better in the future to consult with the administration team of a forum before simply advertising an event, regardless of how good your intentions may be.

Looking forward to hearing from you shortly...

Kind Regards

PV5150 (Matthew)

 

[TopSecret]

Thanks I really appreciate it, but I think the idea is falling flat on it's face

I had posted on other forums and got no response. I thought it would be a great way to raise some much needed funds, but it seems I may have to get the old thinking cap on and find another way to raise funds. It's a shame really, because it could have been fun and in light of all the bad press us gamers receive, it would have shown we are actually human

If anyone is interested, please do let me know. Or if anyone has any suggestions for raising funds (ideally IT related), then please let me know too.

Cheers,

Stuart

 

[mrapoc]

seems an alrite idea

basically a game tournament/match which we pay to play?

 

[llwyd]

Looks like a good idea and I know a lot of people would like to get behind something like that. Just maybe needs a bit more thinking through first. Have to spoken to any possible sponsors about backing it and making it more than just a little charity lan? If you could generate the attendance that lans like the i- series sees, while charging half the price, you could get a whole lot of cash to give to charity. Something like this could get pretty big publicity if you got it set up and then went to the bbc.

I think you should allow about a year to plan and advertise something of the right scale though.

 

[FarFarAway]

Someone like Asus/Abit/XFX/AMD/Intel might be good sponsors for something like this, and perhaps one of the big LAN centers?

 

[Pseudonym]

I like the idea of a lan too.

The trouble will be getting people to cough up help, support and prizes without lots of interest, and you won't get interest without the backing of prizes etc.

If you put some work in and ask open questions like "If X many people enter and we give you Y amount of advertising space in messages and banners, Tshirts etc, what kind of help could you give us? If you get a few large companies interested then you can play them all off for more prizes and such.

Best to test the water for now. draw up a proposal, then get in touch with the charity relations offivers(or whatever they are called) at quite a few different companies. Ask them if they are interested in principle, nothing definate yet.

Good luck with this, if you get it going i will gladly come along.

 

[wigseryc]

Where would this potentially be held?

 

[TopSecret]

Thanks for the input guys!! This is the best response I have had yet, and I appreciate your thoughts on the matter. I mean that seriously, I was beginning to give up on the idea.

Basically, I wanted to gauge other gamers opinions before I contacted any companies etc. By the sounds of it, it could work! I will definitely be putting some plans together now, but as it stands at the moment nothing is set.

I will put some ideas down on paper this week and test the waters with some of the industry players, hopefully I will get a good response.

Cheers,

Stuart

 

[equk]

Not sure how this would work, but I support anything to do with cancer research as all my grandparents were killed by some form of cancer.

Not sure I understand it properly, but it sounds like a sponsored walk etc where you are paid money each hour or so. Something like £1/hr ?

So you play a game for so many hours and get paid sponsorship (which goes to cancer research) for playing the game?

Not sure if I'm missing something here, but it doesn't sound very logical and looking at it from the pov of a sponsor I'm not sure why I would sponsor it. I would sooner just give money away directly to cancer research.

 

[TopSecret]

That was my original intention, but I thought about it and came to the same conclusion as you. People aren't going to want to sponsor gamers to play games. Thats where the LAN event come in, basically if I can get some sponsorship from the industry players and prize donations, the participants would pay an entry fee, and stand the chance of winning the prizes.

Whatever profit the event makes will be donated to a cancer research charity. That way the event isn't relying on public goodwill to become a success, it will be a success by offering gamers a chance to walk away with some blinding kit and the title. If enough interest is generated, I am sure I could blag the event location for free or a minimal charge.

I have put on paper my ideas and have emailed a few companies to see if there is any interest there. Hopefully I will hear back soon, and I will post here with details.

 

[kataras]

usually it is, that you pay the money to get into the lan, that money is given to the charity. prizes are provided by sponsors, as they get advertising out of the lan, which is good for them. so sponsors are happy, gamers are happy (if they win, if they dont, still quality spent time), charity is happy and everyones happy. and thats pretty much it. if im missing something or am wrong here, please correct me

edit: im too slow, answer's provided above

 

[llwyd]

Plus sponsors can set up stalls at the LAN, and could maybe agree to give a % of all profits to the charity, would certainly increase sales. I'm always willing to dig deep for cancer research. My grandmother has just had her cancer return and is in a pretty bad state in hospital, had several other family members suffer from it and thankfully they have all survived.

 

[TopSecret]

Yes that's it.

If anyone wants to get involved in the planning or can offer advice, please do let me know. I don't think I will be able to pull this off on my own so any help would be very gratefully received!

 

[TopSecret]

Looks like my idea isn't going to happen I am no expert at organising events like this and I didn't get any response from the companies I emailed. So I have had to admit defeat. I am now going to be doing a sponsored walk, from Doncaster to Sheffield (24 miles) and back in aid of the Weston Park Hospital Cancer Appeal. The original charity I intended raising funds for were one of those who didn't respond to my email

So when everything is official and set up, I hope some of you find it in you to sponsor me to help raise funds for a very needy cause! Any amount would be gratefully appreciated.

Cheers,

Stuart