MechWarrior Online: National Multiple Sclerosis Society 48 Hour Fund Raising Event

So, I had decided last week I was going to take off October 3 and 4 to catch up on some reading, relax a bit, and play some MechWarrior Online (MWO). However, on Wednesday, October 2, I received an email from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society notifying me about a 48 hour long fund raising event (I have been doing MS fund raising events for the past 6-7 years). Basically, an organization was matching every dollar donated (up to $10,000 for $20,000 total) through 10PM Pacific Friday, October 4.

Since I didn't have plans set in stone, I decided to try to raise some money for a good cause. I also figured this would be a good chance to get warmed up for the Extra Life 25 hour event on November 2. So, I put in a little over 9 hours of streaming MechWarrior Online on Twitch Thursday and another 9 hours on Friday.

Thursday... I started about 9:30AM Pacific and had to take a 45 minute break due to a MWO hot fix patch at 10:00AM. I started the stream back up around 10:50AM. I wasn't expecting to get much attention because I usually only have about 10 people watching my Twitch stream at any given time, but then Garth Erlam (yes. The Garth) from Piranha Games showed up in Twitch chat. Before long I have 40+ people watching my channel (personal best, by the way).

Bryan Ekman was there for a while and shared some info with the people in chat (Locust cockpit screenshot he posted to Twitter and some stuff most us of already know). Garth dropped with me for a few matches before he had to get back to "work". Phil and Daeron from No Gut No Galaxy (NGNG) made appearances in chat throughout the day and evening. And they were all helping to get the word out about what I was doing through Facebook and Twitter. Phil even put a message up on the NGNG TS server so everyone who logged in would see it.

The highlight of the day (technically evening) was when xImpalerx (Impy) from NGNG came into the Death's Hand Brigade channel on the NGNG TeamSpeak server and asked if it would be ok to do a simultaneous Twitch stream to help get the word out. Of course I accepted and grouped up with him and others to about 10PM Eastern. Impy is a great guy and came across as really wanting to help the cause. I even taught him how to pronounce "Multiple Sclerosis" properly (he kept calling it "Muscular Sclerosis"). :)

Overall, a very good day and our Extra Life goal was helped out some due to Garth getting confused on which event was happening. :D

Friday... I started streaming again a little after 10AM Pacific and things stayed pretty laid back for the day. I didn't have any "celebrities" show up and my viewer count floated between 20 and 35 people. Not very impressive, but it allowed me to group with random people on the NGNG Team Speak server and stay more engaged with the viewers who were there and I had a great time doing it.

I finally stopped streaming on Twitch a little after 7PM Pacific and headed over the official MechWarrior Online stream to thank Phil and Daeron for helping promote the event. They were very gracious and invited me to join them for a few drops. I took them up on their offer, but could only stay for one game. We won, I didn't die, and it was fun.

However, while we talking, Daeron offered to help out on promoting any future charity events, but give them a little warning. So, seeing an opportunity, I told them about the Extra Life 25 hour event on November 2 Death's Hand Brigade will be participating in. Daeron then gave me his email and said to send him the details. So, expect to see some promotions for the event over the next month. :D

Overall, Friday was a good day. Not as exciting as Thursday, but no less productive. The important things are I had fun, met some new people, and raised some money for a great cause.

The downside to this particular MS event was there is no way to track how much money had been donated through my efforts because it is an impromptu event (MS events are usually planned out many months ahead of time and you have personal fund raising pages to take donations). Not a big deal, but would have been nice because people were curious to see how much money had been raised. Oh well, maybe next time.

I would like to thank everyone at Piranha Games and No Guts No Galaxy for helping to get the word out on this event and especially to Piranha Games for the donation to the Extra Life event.

Also, thank you to everyone who watched my broadcast and a special thank you to those who made donations.

I would also like want to thank the other DHB members who dropped with me on Thursday and Friday:
Wynce
Dr Deimos
Batwing
Thermal Scorpion
Uncaused Ryan
Hatchet Jack

There were also a number of people from the NGNG TeamSpeak server who also dropped with me and I would like to thank them as well. I know I'm not remembering everyone, but you know who you are:
Fourth Oracle
Mavek
Bearlysane

Again, thank you everyone. I really, really appreciate it.

If you would like to learn more about Multiple Sclerosis or the MS Society, please visit the National MS Society web site.

Update (October 7): I called the Multiple Sclerosis Society to see how the fundraiser went and they confirmed that they did meet the goal of raising $20,000. Apparently, they were going to be about $2000 short as of 9PM Pacific on Friday, but someone approached them and offered to make up for any difference. So, $20,000 raised in 48 hours. Not too bad.

Again, thank you to everyone who helped out and who donated to the cause.