SDA Summer Marathon Topic (August 4-6)

2011-05-08 06:57:48 pm

Weegee Time

As much as I don't want to keep pointing at TSG for guidance, you can't really deny that this most recent marathon has been really low donations. There's been a super-saturation of marathons in the past year, and even more so in the wake of Japan. Gamers can get behind Japan, you know? I'd like to say we could support three, but two looks like a better figure.

Perhaps instead of doing an online marathon for charity, we could just do it as an exhibition? In that way, we could kind of give back for all the generous donations.
[/offtopic]

puwexil

2011-05-08 07:30:09 pm

Professional Second Banana

I think the Metroid marathon TSG is doing right now was hurt badly by their not being able to accept donations from outside the US for their first day or so, though oversaturation may have a hand too.

My 2 cents are that even if we only raise $2000 or so, that's still $2000 going to a great cause on top of a fun weekend for the participants/viewers, so we should still go for it.

romscout

2011-05-08 07:51:08 pm

that Metroidvania guy

Yea, a lot of the TSG thing was definitely from not getting foreign donations. Even though we generally have far less viewers than TSG, we probably have close to as many potential donors since our target audience is a lot older. I wouldn't be worried about donations. We will raise plenty of money whether we have 1, 2, or 3 marathons in a year.

Like, half of the participants signing up so far for the Utah marathon actually live in Utah, and the vast majority of those do not seem like they will be coming to the winter marathon. As long as someone is always willing to host, I think it'd be pretty hard to stop a Utah marathon, or at least Pacific/Mountain marathon, from happening. Not everyone can afford to go to DC for the main event, so it's good to have an alternative, even if it's not officially hosted on the SDA main page after the upcoming Utah marathon. Euro SDA doesn't seem to want to hold their own separate event, but if they did, then I'm sure we would have to start discussing how to handle the "side marathons" differently. As it is, I think our current plan is fine.

Also, I'm pretty sure we can safely say that CARE and Child's Play are not likely to be involved with SDA marathons anytime in the near future... go back and read some of the old posts from the CGDQ days if you're not sure why.

Yea, a lot of the TSG thing was definitely from not getting foreign donations. Even though we generally have far less viewers than TSG, we probably have close to as many potential donors since our target audience is a lot older. I wouldn't be worried about donations. We will raise plenty of money whether we have 1, 2, or 3 marathons in a year.

Like, half of the participants signing up so far for the Utah marathon actually live in Utah, and the vast majority of those do not seem like they will be coming to the winter marathon. As long as someone is always willing to host, I think it'd be pretty hard to stop a Utah marathon, or at least Pacific/Mountain marathon, from happening. Not everyone can afford to go to DC for the main event, so it's good to have an alternative, even if it's not officially hosted on the SDA main page after the upcoming Utah marathon. Euro SDA doesn't seem to want to hold their own separate event, but if they did, then I'm sure we would have to start discussing how to handle the "side marathons" differently. As it is, I think our current plan is fine.

Also, I'm pretty sure we can safely say that CARE and Child's Play are not likely to be involved with SDA marathons anytime in the near future... go back and read some of the old posts from the CGDQ days if you're not sure why.

Rakuen

2011-05-08 07:54:59 pm

Weegee Time

Ah, I didn't realize the donation tracker they were using would prohibit out of region donations. Now it all makes sense. Haven't really been able to pay attention to it with all the scrambling to get projects and finals taken care of.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2011-05-09 09:40:54 am

mikwuyma: 2011-05-09 09:36:45 am

mikwuyma: 2011-05-09 09:36:34 am

2011-05-09 09:36:07 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

What romscout said about donations. TSG had to setup a paypal option for international donations. No matter what donation tool we use (I don't know why we would go off chip-in though), we'd have to make sure it accepts international donations, because they're at least 30-40% of our donations.

About what rom said about Utah, extend it to the West Coast. It's a lot cheaper for someone in California, Oregon, or Washington to drive/fly over to Utah than it is to DC. Also, I'm seeing some games that are a lot different than the ones being offered during AGDQ and JRDQ, so I don't think game choice will be stale, if nothing else.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about over-saturation until we started going over 3 marathons a year. Since Europe seems to be stream-averse (I don't know why), and I haven't heard of anyone else on SDA trying organize a marathon, I don't think this will be a problem (for now at least).

BTW, people didn't seem too tapped out only 3 months after AGDQ. Lips Sealed

Kryal

2011-05-09 12:25:58 pm

from red to blue

anyone fancy a marathon with slow-ass NES and SNES games?

Grin

no-one?

D;

dballin

Edit history:

dballin: 2011-05-09 02:54:39 pm

2011-05-09 02:54:30 pm

Balls jerky

Quote from mikwuyma:

BTW, people didn't seem too tapped out only 3 months after AGDQ. Lips Sealed

I am now

mikwuyma

2011-05-09 03:21:04 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

It's your fault for wanting Sonic. Tongue

duckfist

2011-05-10 03:40:12 pm

Why don't we consider a charity that promotes some kind of advancement in general scientific research and development? Not an organization that targets a specific ailment like cancer, but instead general fields such as biology, chemistry, and physics.

An example would be the Carnegie Institution for Science.

I think funding the general advancement of these fields would accomplish more as a whole than research into a particular issue. Advancing our knowledge in the physical and natural sciences is guaranteed to improve our way of life and our understanding of the universe over time, as history shows.

arkarian

2011-05-10 05:22:27 pm

gamelogs.org

i agree. many people would probably be less inclined to donate though.

Flip

2011-05-10 07:08:40 pm

1-Up!

Quote from arkarian:

many people would probably be less inclined to donate though.

This big time. There's no sense of urgency and likely less potential donators will feel they are directly connected like they did with cancer, for example.

InsipidMuckyWater

2011-05-10 08:19:44 pm

Visit my profile to see my runs!

Hmmm. I'm surprised no one agreed on autism. I had a bunch of people that liked that idea for AGDQ. :/

arkarian

2011-05-10 09:00:20 pm

gamelogs.org

also keep in mind that cancer research is something that can significantly improve human life in general over time. it kills over 10% of people iirc.

Caleb Hart

2011-05-10 09:16:53 pm

SDA Represent!

Also, when you run your game, offer to accept challenges to make your run more fun, and to help entice people to donate. However taxing it will make the run, we are there to have fun.

InsipidMuckyWater

Edit history:

InsipidMuckyWater: 2011-05-10 11:46:32 pm

InsipidMuckyWater: 2011-05-10 11:42:58 pm

InsipidMuckyWater: 2011-05-10 11:42:26 pm

2011-05-10 11:41:11 pm

Visit my profile to see my runs!

Quote from arkarian:

also keep in mind that cancer research is something that can significantly improve human life in general over time. it kills over 10% of people iirc.

Right. I know. But ... well this is awkward talking about pros and cons. To me, autism is just as pervasive a problem, because recent studies are suggesting extremely high frequency, and also the danger with autism is that it affects the way you live your entire life, as opposed to causing deaths (so comparing death rates isn't really a fair argument, and there isn't really a way to compare the 'amount of pain and suffering' the two cause in any meaningful way). Also, I know the problem of cancer is not solved and won't be any time soon but uh... we just did cancer this winter.

I hope no one takes this post as attacking the genuine and good-natured intentions of those who would like to donate to cancer research. I'm just doing what I can to try and get something for autism going at some point. If it doesn't work, I'll try for the next marathon. No big deal. Just my perspective.

[quote="arkarian"]also keep in mind that cancer research is something that can significantly improve human life in general over time. it kills over 10% of people iirc.[/quote]

Right.  I know.  But ... well this is awkward talking about pros and cons.  To me, autism is just as pervasive a problem, because recent studies are suggesting extremely high frequency, and also the danger with autism is that it affects the way you live your entire life, as opposed to causing deaths (so comparing death rates isn't really a fair argument, and there isn't really a way to compare the 'amount of pain and suffering' the two cause in any meaningful way).  Also, I know the problem of cancer is not solved and won't be any time soon but uh... we just did cancer this winter.

I hope no one takes this post as attacking the genuine and good-natured intentions of those who would like to donate to cancer research.  I'm just doing what I can to try and get something for autism going at some point.  If it doesn't work, I'll try for the next marathon.  No big deal.  Just my perspective.

ZenicReverie

2011-05-11 12:16:16 am

Waiting hurts my soul...

I think cancer has had more dramatic impact, which is why more people can get behind it. Autism is a good cause as well, but there are many charities, and deciding on which one should be left up to the participants and organizers of each marathon. I suggest starting a poll for causes and then a specific charity can be decided.

NXRunner

Edit history:

NXRunner: 2011-05-11 11:57:33 pm

2011-05-11 11:56:32 pm

Novice Speedrunner

Again though, if you constantly hammer on one single charity cause, you run the risk of becoming stale.

This will probably sound heartless, but as a donator I'd be thinking "didn't they just give $50,000 to cancer a few months ago? do I really want to donate to the same thing again? what about all the other causes that need money, like worldwide aid programs or other diseases or issues?"

You're talking about taking advantage of what more people will feel sorry for others about, and that's not how you should be looking at this. As was said above, what's important is getting money where it needs to go, and there are many other places, such as Globus Relief (worldwide humanitarian aid), or the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (self explanatory), or Heart to Heart International (medical aid, education, and disaster relief/response worldwide), or others.

Spread the love/wealth.

romscout

2011-05-12 01:55:01 am

that Metroidvania guy

I'm all for an Autism charity, btw. Which charity we choose is important, but the cause isn't the single most important thing as long as it's a good one. It's easy to make a good pitch to donors for practically anything that's disease research or humanitarian efforts. Perhaps Zenic is right, and we should have a poll for what cause to go for this time. I think I'd leave cancer off this time, because Uyama has hinted that there's no reason not to go with PCF for AGDQ2 and having that cause be the subject of 3/4 marathons is pretty weird.

I'll see about making a poll after class tomorrow if it's not made already. It'll probably be in a new thread so that it's more likely to grab additional attention, rather than someone just going "oh hey, the summer marathon thread has a new post, I'll just read it later".

Darkwing Duck

2011-05-12 03:02:16 am

Highly Evolved

So the local charity thing is out, then?

romscout

2011-05-12 04:35:56 am

that Metroidvania guy

Quote from Darkwing Duck:

So the local charity thing is out, then?

Why would it be? What cause we want people to donate toward doesn't dictate which charity we go to.

Darkwing Duck

2011-05-12 01:00:11 pm

Highly Evolved

Quote from romscout:

Quote from Darkwing Duck:

So the local charity thing is out, then?

Why would it be? What cause we want people to donate toward doesn't dictate which charity we go to.

I can't think of any local charity here that has global reach other than the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

puwexil

2011-05-12 01:16:27 pm

Professional Second Banana

Donating to a Utah-based charity sounds fine to me, as long as it's secular and has national/international reach.

If nothing else, Essentia/Denton/DW/etc might get invited to a nice reception of some sorts for all of their efforts. thumbsup

mikwuyma

2011-05-12 04:36:13 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

I will say that a cancer charity is not the best of ideas because we're going to go with PCF again for AGDQ2 (yeah, that's what it's being called, because Breakdown and I say so).

I think an autism charity is a good idea, as long as if we look carefully. Some of them are anti-vaccine. :-/

Essentia

2011-05-12 05:46:57 pm

Everything's better with Magitek

So it looks like a cancer charity is out. I'll have to see if there are any other local charities around here besides the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I think that an autism charity would be a great idea, especially since it's possible that my daughter Celise is mildly autistic (we haven't actually gotten her diagnosed). But, like Mike, I don't want one that is anti-vaccine.

InsipidMuckyWater

Edit history:

InsipidMuckyWater: 2011-05-12 06:18:57 pm

2011-05-12 06:18:12 pm

Visit my profile to see my runs!

^ Agreed. And yeah, if anyone's wondering, my brother (who has had three runs accepted on SDA, though only one remains) is autistic; he's somewhere between Asperger's and traditional Autism. Anyway, that's why I brought it up.

I think as the disease becomes more understood, we are going to find more and more people have it than we as a society ever imagined.