WEBVTT - Extra Life, Video Games and Charity 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:12.240 Get in text with technology with text Uff from dot com. 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:15.600 Hey there everyone, and welcome to text Uff. I'm Jonathan 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.520 Strickland and today I've got a special treat for you guys. 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.919 There's a great charity called Extra Lights that has a 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.040 near and dear placed to my heart and I've been 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:30.320 really lucky. Uh. Michael Kinney, the manager over an Extra Life, 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:34.240 and Jeremy Adams, the founder of Extra Life, have kindly 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:39.160 agreed to appear on the show. Hi guys, Hey, how's 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.080 it going. It's great, it's great. Thank you so much 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:45.120 for joining us. Our listeners are going to absolutely love this. 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.959 I know they might not even be aware of this 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:52.120 charity and it's an awesome, awesome thing. So the first 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:55.680 question we have to jump into is what exactly is 0:00:55.880 --> 0:01:01.840 Extra Life. Extra Life is um basically just like a run, walk, 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.560 or bike ride type fundraising event, except we sort of 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.880 don't put so much emphasis on moving around. It's it's 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.360 about video games. So whereas one person might sign up 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:16.080 and to run a long distance or to bike along distance, 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:18.360 we ask gamers to send up and do what they 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:20.760 love to do, and that is to game for a 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.360 pretty significant period of time. It's a twenty four hour 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.400 marathon at its core UM and you get friends and 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.600 family to sponsor you, just like you would any other 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:33.840 type of fundraising event. Now, UH, this has been something 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.240 that I had heard about for a couple of years. 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.000 I actually participated last year and I'll I'll talk more 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.320 about my experience towards the end of the show. And UH, 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:43.759 I know that there are a lot of people who 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.640 are getting involved in this and the the money that's 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:50.320 raised benefits the Children's Miracle Network. Can you speak a 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:54.400 little bit about what exactly that is uh. Semen Hospitals 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.000 is basically one D and seventy children's hospitals in North America, 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.600 in the US and Canada. UM. We serve every child 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.720 that comes through the door of our hospitals, regardless of 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.160 their family's ability to pay an Extra Life is a 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:11.040 program of Salmon Hospitals UM. And so in two thousand 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.120 and eight I found it Extra Life in my living room, 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.400 along with help from some friends of mine and my 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.400 wife UM and it quickly grew to where benefiting just 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.960 one hospital was really no longer an option, and so 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:26.360 two thousand ten I donated the intellectual property of Extra 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.560 Life to Children's Veerticle Network Hospitals, and we had an 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:31.760 agreement that they would help us to grow this and 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.520 to reach more kids, and now we're able to benefit 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.840 a hundred and seventy children's hospitals. Um. There, it's basically, 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.080 if you live in North America, there's one near you, 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.040 and everything you raise as an Extra Life participant goes 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:49.040 directly to that hospital to help kids. Now that's phenomenal, 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:53.120 and so it's it's really for anyone in North America 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.160 who can participate. It's not something that's uh, that's regionalized 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.480 at all in that case right now. That's but we 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.720 do have some localized stuff that I can tell you 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.560 about in our Guild program, which is a new initiative 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.440 this year. Oh wow, yeah, I haven't heard anything about 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.639 the Guild program. Yeah. Absolutely. Um. So just to touch 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:12.839 based real quick on that, we actually have people from 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.680 around the world participating in Extra Life. It's not just 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:19.160 people in North America. UM. I mean, there's there's ways 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.239 for them to play for some of our hospitals who 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.760 really do have a strong presence abroad as well. Um. 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.320 But going back to the localness of the program here, 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:31.240 we started something called the Extra Life Guild program, which 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.160 is basically just a physical movement of the Extra Life 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.880 program um taking place in local cities that already kind 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.520 of had that strong presence with Extra Life there. Um. 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:44.880 So it's really just better and Extra lifers who who 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.000 love what it's all about, who love gaming, whether it's 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:51.400 video games, board games, yard games, whatever, um, they're on 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.080 board with Extra Life and they and they want to 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.240 help us spread the word. So they get together monthly 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.520 and and just talk about local conventions or festivals or 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.680 concert or movie releases that are coming up that they 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.080 could go and and have a presence at and represent 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:09.640 their local Children's Miracle Network Hospital desolite cool. Yeah, We're 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.360 We're in twenty five cities here in the United States 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.000 and three up in Canada. And as Extra Life continues 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:18.240 to grow, so will that program and will be launching 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:23.000 more guilds and in a city near almost everybody. Now 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.480 the a lot of a lot of Extra Life is 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:30.360 centered around uh, the uh the idea of National Game Day. 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.599 Although of course the people who are participating in this, 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:35.480 you don't you don't have to tie yourself down to 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.600 any given date, but when is National Game Day? In 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:43.080 two thousand fourteen, perfect questions. So our official game day 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.920 for this year is gonna be October Saturday. Um, we're 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.360 gonna be starting at eight am Central Time and going 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:52.599 tell eight am on Sunday morning. You don't have to 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:54.640 if you're I mean a lot of people, especially that's 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:58.080 football season two. We understand m A lot of folks 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.839 have issues that have worked day something comes up. Extra 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.200 Life is really sort of an open source movement, meaning 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:06.560 you can do it the way you want to. Once 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.480 you sign up, you can customize your fundraising and page 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.440 and say, look, actually I'm doing it on on you know, 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.400 the next Saturday, or I'm I'm gonna have I'm gonna 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.680 do a different kind of spin on extra Life. There 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:19.240 are a lot of people that are doing extra Life 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.640 in ways that we never even imagined. Um, everything from 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.880 bake sales to all kinds of other things. Uh So 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.760 it's it's really about making it your own. The core 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:32.080 mechanic is, yeah, you signed up and on October you're 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.680 part of like this this quietness in the streets that 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.800 occurs as everyone stays in and plays their games. Um, 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.080 but but really you can do it when you want to. Yeah, 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.240 it's uh, it's it's fun because I remember last year, 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:48.000 I think it fell on the end of daylight saving time, 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:52.320 so it ended up being twenty five hours. Let me 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.800 tell you this year, but they we got a lot 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.320 of pushback because that this year it's the day after 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.880 Halloween and everyone was afraid they would not be able 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.919 to participate after Halloween. I don't know. I love the 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.320 idea of a bunch of gamers on Twitch wearing wearing 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.760 costumes and subsisting mainly on candy as they're trying to 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:16.360 play through. So, Jeremy, you you alluded to this a 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.800 little bit about the beginning of Extra Life. Can you 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.719 go into more detail about about how this all got started. 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.520 It's a really emotional story. Uh yeah, I mean yeah, 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.520 it's the story of Extra Life. Really kind of starts 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.520 before a couple of years before Extra Life was even 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.919 a concept, and that that was when I met a 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.840 little girl in my radio career named Victoria Edmund and 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:41.000 we were doing a radio fon for Texas Children's Hospital 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.440 at the time, and each year around Christmas time, we 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.039 would do this radio thon where we'd go in the 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.200 air and and we'd share these stories. And my job 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.920 at the radio station was an audio production, and so 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.159 I was responsible for recording these stories with these families 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.720 and getting into the kids and helping us get all 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:58.920 the materials we needed for the radio thon. And my 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.279 first interview was with Victoria and Men and her family. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:06.400 Her name everybody calls her Tori, and Tori came bouncing 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.839 into our studio at eleven years old or are actually 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.720 at the time, I think maybe ten ten years old 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.640 and just comes be bopping in. She's considered a survivor 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:18.280 of leukemia and life was good, and we had a 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:20.240 great interview with them about all the things that the 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:21.960 hospital did for them, and they went on their way 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.960 and had our radio thund that Christmas time. And then 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:29.120 the next year, my I was getting ready to to 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:31.680 do the radio THUUGHNT interviews and I saw her name 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.880 come back up on my list and I noticed that 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:37.000 I recognized her name, and I turned to the person 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.520 from the hospital and said, this little girl, we actually 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:41.320 talked to her last year. We already have an interview 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.920 with her, and my friend at the hospital said, well, 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.640 this is a follow up story. And instead of bebopping 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:49.600 into the studio, we were actually doing the interviews at 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.360 the hospital this time. She came in in the hospital, 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.920 gown in a wheelchair with no hair and very thin, 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:00.840 hooked to a million machines, and uh, and I was 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.600 floored the difference in the little girl that I saw 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.800 just a year before, and and the little girl that 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:13.760 came rolling in was incredible and heartbreaking, frankly. And she 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:15.600 hopped up out of her chair though, and and kind 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:17.840 of shuffled over to me and gave me this big 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.000 hog and said hi, and remember my name. I went 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.720 by Doc on the radio, and that name still follows 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:26.040 me a little bit to this day. And I just 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.320 kind of decided that point that that that little girl 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.280 was had just a special place in my heart. It 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:33.719 was supposed to be in my life. And so UM 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:35.800 got to know her and her family over the course 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.240 of their fight with leukemia, where she beat it again 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:44.000 through a bone marrow transplant, and then it's very sadly 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:47.840 got a call the following summer from her mom, who 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:49.840 they had just gotten the news from a scan that 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:53.960 the cancer in her blood had returned. And at this 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:55.760 point the only thing they could do was one more 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:58.839 bone marrow transplant, which had about a five percent chance 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.240 of working. In Tori decided she wanted to fight, and 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:05.040 they all decided they'd fight with her, so she went 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.680 into the hospital. Ended up being in the hospital UM 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:11.240 for almost I think seven months. I think she got 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:12.920 to go home a couple of times here and there, 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.600 but always something flared up or something went wrong when 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.240 she had to go home again. And during that period 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.440 of time, I spent a lot of time hanging out 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.839 with Tori in the hospital. We would play games together, 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.400 we would watch TV together. I'd give her mom a 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.080 break since her mom was living practically at the hospital 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.240 with her UM, so I would, you know, let mom 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.400 go out and run errands and just get some coffee 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:35.760 and decompressed a little bit and really got to know 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.480 Tori and UM. I was running a video game website 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.199 called Sarcastic Gamer at the time, and I put the 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:42.839 word out to those gamers that I have this friend 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.760 of mine. She's super cool. She's played every game that 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.560 they have in their PS two's here in the hospital. UM, 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.920 does anybody have anything they're not using? And order games 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:54.720 are done with and they wouldn't mind sending them over 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:57.640 What was supposed to be, you know, a trickle of 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.240 a couple of things to keep her occupied and up 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.520 being an avalanche for this like outpouring of love from 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.480 the gaming community. We received things from all over the 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.520 world and uh so much so Tori was actually having 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.760 to offload the games to other kids because it was 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.760 just too much bos just ridiculous how much stuff came in. 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.360 And that was the sort of the first glints into 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.480 the generous nature of gamers who I was one of. 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.280 But at the same time, I still kind of had 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.080 that stereotypical you know, like you judge gamers by some 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.160 of the comments you read under articles, and you don't 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:33.720 get the best picture and so um. Later that year, 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:36.960 tor Uh developed a fungal infection in her lungs as 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.600 a result of her suppressed immune system. That was you know, 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.880 the effort to get her ready for a bone marew transplant, 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.439 and um, she was still in the hospital. At the 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:49.120 radio thon in December, I got got her on the 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.240 on the radio and and did an interview with her 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.000 and talked to her a little bit afterwards and asked 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:54.920 her what she wanted for Christmas, and she said she 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:58.199 just really wanted to go outside and see um Christmas lights, 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.280 and I didn't and think about being able to accomplish 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.720 that for her, because you know, she was so sick 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.920 and frail. But a nurse overheard us talking and actually 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:09.840 just showed up with a huge pile of blankets, a 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.120 really special wheelchair that had all the pump hook ups 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.280 for her. Um got her parents permission, doctor signed off, 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.320 and we rolled out into the Houston Medical Center at 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.199 about ten o'clock nine and nine at night. And uh, 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.480 we got a chance to look at Christmas lights together 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.559 and just me and her walking around looking at lights, 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.720 and rolled it back upstairs, took it to a room. 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.120 We stopped on the way up. We stopped back by 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.480 the radio Thon area where there was this big Christmas tree, 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.439 got our picture made there. And I'm actually sitting here 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.800 with that picture right now. I know your listeners can't 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.280 see it, but I have turned my camera on the 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.920 skype here so you can see it. Um, but um, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.480 this is uh, this is Tory, you know, if you 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.959 can see it very well. We had that picture made 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.240 right there, and that picture is uh, it's always here 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.719 with me. Michael old Tests, I've actually brought it with 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.480 me who are broadcast last year for Extra Life And 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.000 and he sat in the front seat of my car 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.760 with a seatbelt on it. Um and uh, and it's 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:09.600 it's special to be for a lot of reasons. Not 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:11.880 only is it has Tory had an immense impact in 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:16.080 my life, but that specific picture is important because that 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:17.959 was the last time that I ever got to see her. 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:25.160 So Tori died right after the New Year. And UM, 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.880 grief does some things, and sometimes it renders you, you know, 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:33.280 unable to move or finger talk, and then sometimes it 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.360 just pisces you off and you just want to do 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:40.560 something about what's happening you children who are sick, and 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.440 kids like Tory and and and parents like Joel and 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.040 her mom who have to be harry a thirteen year 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.760 old kid, the fifteen year old child in the Tori's case, 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.920 but I mean children and their parents who are going 0:12:53.920 --> 0:13:00.280 through just horrible things. It's uh. It made me angry, 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.439 and UM, I wanted to do something in Tori's memory. 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:05.200 I wanted to keep her alive in some way, And 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.680 so UM got together with my buddies and Sarcastic Gamer again. 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:10.960 We put the word out and in two thousand eight 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.120 we launched Extra Life. In October and October fifteenth, two 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.880 thousand eight, we raised a hundred twenty thousand dollars for 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:21.200 the hospital that Tory was being treated at, a Texas 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:23.640 Children's The next year we raised a hundred seventy thousand, 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:25.839 and that sort of brings us up to where I 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.640 was sharing with you about how um it's now see 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:30.840 him in Hospitals program. We made the donation to see 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.679 him in hospitals and they have been UM incredible. We 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.480 we this has just been a fantastic program that's doubled 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.360 every year since then. So we went from uh four 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:43.839 and fifty thousand and ten to a million dollars and 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:48.600 eleven to two million and twelve to four million last year. 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:53.080 UM all all because gamers are who they are. They're 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.400 the most social people on the planet. They're just like 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:00.439 everyone else. Mom's, dad's, aunts, uncle's, brothers and sisters, um, 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:02.680 and almost everyone has been touched by a children's hospital 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:05.840 at some point. And and so we just find that 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.800 it's a perfect fit between the people who are the 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:12.319 big biggest kids at heart and the kids that we're 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:16.960 here to. Sir, that's just such an incredible story and 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.360 I think an amazing tribute to someone who sounds like 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.680 she was an amazing person. UM and I'm very pleased 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:28.440 to have played a very tiny role in that, so 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:32.840 thank you for sharing that with us. And if someone 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.240 wants to get involved, there are lots of different options. 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.160 So can we talk a little bit about some of 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:42.360 the ways people can support Extra Life, whether they are 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:46.000 supporting it as pledging for someone else or actually participating 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.840 as a gamer. What are the different options? All right, 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.160 I'll take that one. UM. So when you get involved 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.320 with extra Life, you you can sign up and participate yourself, 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.240 um as an individual, or you can even start your 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:00.480 own team and get your buddies or co workers or 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.440 family and friends involved. UM. And you can all kind 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.920 of participate an Extra Life under your team umbrella. UM. 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.560 You know, if if maybe gaming isn't your thing, or 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:11.760 or you want to do something else and and still 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.880 contribute to somebody's Extra Life campaign. It's super easy to 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.440 donate as well. You can just go to the website 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.160 and search for a random player or somebody that you know, 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.640 UM and just make a donation. There's also a way 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.080 to just donate straight to that hospital as well. UM. 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.360 So I mean, it's participating, it's spreading the word, it's 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.080 making that donation, it's making me ask. Um. There's just 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.200 tons of different ways that you can you can help 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.520 kids in your neighborhood, right. I. When I was creating it, 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.280 I remember that you could make a you make an 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:48.239 essentially a web page for your h for your participation, 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:50.880 and that keeps you informed as well as other people 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:52.600 if they want to visit your web page to see 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.920 how well you are doing. Uh. And that was really 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.280 helpful for me because I participated in a team, so 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.240 I could see how I was doing compared to the 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.520 rest of my team. And the team I joined was 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.800 the largest of all the teams. It was the one 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:08.840 that ended up raising the most money last year. It 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.360 was the Rooster Teeth team. Uh. I'm a big fan 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.560 of the Rooster Teeth guys. I've had Bernie Burns on 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:20.400 the show before, Fantastic guy. Uh. And so I participated 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.880 with them, and uh I came in number fifteen, so 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:30.080 not bad. Yeah, I was pretty pleased with myself. That's awesome. Well, no, 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.120 that was fifteen out of the Rooster Teeth, not out 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.000 of everybody, I should say that, because the Rooster Teeth 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:39.000 raised about three thousand something like that. Yeah, total, So 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:41.440 I was Um, I don't remember exactly how much. I 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:43.720 just remember my rank was fifteen. I was so proud. 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.840 Uh for a while I was beating Jack Potillo, who 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:48.520 was the captain of the team, and that then I 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.240 was Then Jack surpassed me and I had he just 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:56.000 passed you because he did the truffle shuffle. That's true, 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.640 Uh so he The neat thing is, of course, like 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.720 you were saying, gamers are very social, and so if 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.080 you are a gamer out there and you have a 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:07.280 gaming group that you like to play with, like people, 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.959 maybe you have, you know, your old buddies from your 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.560 old Halo to guild, then this is a great way 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.439 to represent and join together and do something as a 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.160 group and give back to a community in a really 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:20.320 meaningful way. It's one of those things that I thought 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.400 it was a great way of leveraging that sense of community, 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:27.480 and it gives gamers a feeling that the skill that 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:32.720 they have, uh is meaningful. It's beyond being entertaining yourself 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.120 for you know, schooling a nube. It's all about it's 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:41.080 also about doing something that actually has a visible positive 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:45.560 impact on the community at large. So I've immediately uh 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.880 latched onto this idea. I thought it was fantastic. So 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:51.960 let's say we've got some folks out there in tech 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.280 stuff land who want to end up joining in, they 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.800 want to participate. Do you have any tips for people 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.640 who want to try to go out and raise pledges, 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:05.480 any best practices. We've seen a lot of really cool 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.880 stuff happened. I think I mentioned a lady who did 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:12.160 the bake sales. So she ran up on a hard 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.000 time doing the online ask and she just didn't feel 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.520 comfortable asking for money. And while we do have some 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:22.000 tips for that on on our website. UM, the what 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.800 she did is she put out basically brownies that she 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.919 made with a jar next where she worked, and you 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.520 just kept it stocked with brownies all the time and 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.760 just said, hey, put a donation in here for my 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:35.880 extra life page, and uh, it's going to sit kids 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.159 here in our area and take a brownie. And she 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.760 raised a significant amount of money that way. UM, And 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.520 there are folks out there that, um, we'll do some 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:47.600 fun things that have nothing to do with the actual 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.760 gaming in order to get the donations. I personally, UH 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:52.760 do a thing on my page where if you make 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.800 a donation of a certain amount, then it I will 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.880 sing a portion of a song for you on Facebook, 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:04.240 I you know, streaming video and posted on your Facebook page. So, 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:06.439 I mean there's a lot of different creative ways that 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.200 people do this, but it's uh, it's really um, it's 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.080 really kind of up to the creativity of the game. 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.840 I know Mike's seen a few things too. Yeah, I mean, 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:18.720 especially with this guilt program, I gotta work with some 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.720 of the most passionate extra lifers out there. Um And heck, 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.560 I just saw somebody from Alabama reach out to their 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.119 local daytime news and score an interview on there. And 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.080 so he was able to tell the news lady about 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.000 everything that Extra Life is. You know, how he how 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.239 he heard about it, how he got involved, you know, 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.600 the bigger story of how it affects Children's Miracle Network 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.440 hospitals across North America, and then at the very end 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:46.879 plugged his own fundraising page. I mean, it was gold. 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.399 It was It's a great way to rise up in 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:55.679 the rankings. What's also cool is that Extra Life takes 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.639 not just you know, it doesn't just help tap into 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.639 that game or culture. It feeds back into it. There 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.560 are a lot of things about Extra Life, uh, that 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.399 that are very closely tied to what it is to 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:12.040 be a gamer today. For example, the website has achievements, 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:16.120 so that really does tapp into that gamer psyche, those 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:20.200 of us who desperately want to get every single achievement possible. 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:22.760 And uh, I love that that is a part of 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.119 something that can pop up on profiles. There's also if 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.640 you participate, there's that you have the swag section as well, 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:34.040 so there's kind of almost like a crowdfunding approach. Um. 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.359 So it's taking some of the great ideas I've seen 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:40.920 used in other areas and really honing it for this experience, 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:43.639 to make it enjoyable and fun for the people who 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:46.320 are participating while still being meaningful. And that's one of 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:48.600 the best. That's one of my favorite things about the 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.760 approach you guys have taken. Thank you. Yeah, I mean 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.120 those those achievement badges you're talking about, those are those 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.520 are brand new this year. We had heard that feedback 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:00.919 from the community and those ideas coming. We're like, you 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.679