ID:181860
 
A group of avid video gamers, aptly named "The Speed Gamers", are attempting to raise money for autism. At this point, they have earned almost $13,500 in less than 3 full days.

They have currently beaten Final Fantasies (is that the correct spelling?):

FF1, FF2, and FF6 have been beaten, they have FF5 at the final boss, and are starting FF3 as I do this edit. http://www.thespeedgamers.com/

Edit 1: Their fundraiser is going until this Friday.

I hope any BYOND members/people with PayPal accounts can help donate, as I can't get my own PayPal account operational. If you can't, try to spread the word for the sake of the autistic like I'm trying to do.
Why are gamers doing this for autism instead of something that's actually threatening?

Two, what's so special about these video game runs? Are they doing it REALLY fast, or something?
In response to Vic Rattlehead
About a week ago a very similar thing was done with Mario games where a group of people basically just sat there and played Mario for 5 days straight to raise money for Child's Play. A more appropriate charity.
Haha I just thought that'd be so funny to see them in the back busting lines to stay awake ^^. That's why they call them 'Speed' gamers!
In response to Danial.Beta
Danial.Beta wrote:
About a week ago a very similar thing was done with Mario games where a group of people basically just sat there and played Mario for 5 days straight to raise money for Child's Play. A more appropriate charity.
That's actually worth it. Next thing, I'll read people set up an event for playing Pokemon to raise money for ADHD. Because, obviously, that's serious.
In response to Vic Rattlehead
Vic Rattlehead wrote:
Why are gamers doing this for autism instead of something that's actually threatening?

Why do you feel the need to trivialize other people's experiences? For many families autism is a big deal. They can go through a lot of hard times and deserve help and support.
In response to Vic Rattlehead
I'd like to point out the fact that some people with autism (like my girlfriend's brother) need help living. Not to mention research into prevention and treatment for autism.

George Gough
In response to Ryan P
It's hardly that big of a deal. Do people raise funds like this for children with cancer, and such? Well yeah, but not in THIS sense.

Autism is just as preventable as ADHD and retardation. It isn't.
In response to Vic Rattlehead
Vic Rattlehead wrote:
It's hardly that big of a deal. Do people raise funds like this for children with cancer, and such? Well yeah, but not in THIS sense.

People do all sorts of fundraisers for cancer survivors, and not all aimed at prevention or treatment either. A good friend of mine works for an organization called Candle Lighters which helps families stay together and sane when a child is diagnosed with cancer. Even if the treatment is successful, strain on the family is tremendous: imagine trying to keep a career going while simultaneously trying to provide quality of life for your child during treatment.

Autism is just as preventable as ADHD and retardation. It isn't.

Even if Autism is shown to be completely unpreventable (research is far from conclusive on this point as of now) families still need help coping with the challenges of raising an autistic child, and the desire to help those families is just as legitimate as any sort of charity.

It's impossible to weigh hardships; noone who puts effort into easing the burden of a fellow human being should be admonished for making their contribution to someone whose hardship is "hardly a big deal."
In response to Ryan P
I'm not necessarily saying fundraising for Autism is a bad thing, but really... a video game competition for it?

I'm sorry to say this but, why is there no fund for the retarded then? I don't mean retarded as an insult, and two I'm not saying it's bad to raise funds for Autism.

I'm just saying, this seemed REALLY random. Again, I didn't mean to offend anyone.
In response to Vic Rattlehead
Autism, despite what you think, is pretty disturbing. Go read a book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. It was written by a man who works with autistic people and describes people with more severe cases good.
In response to Jeff8500
From what I was able to gather with my current medical knowledge, it seemed more like severe retardation. (I don't wanna get modded for using that term when medically, it has a non-offensive meaning >_>)
In response to Vic Rattlehead
Vic Rattlehead wrote:
I'm not necessarily saying fundraising for Autism is a bad thing, but really... a video game competition for it?

I'm sorry to say this but, why is there no fund for the retarded then? I don't mean retarded as an insult, and two I'm not saying it's bad to raise funds for Autism.

I'm just saying, this seemed REALLY random. Again, I didn't mean to offend anyone.

so your only complaint is "why autism, of all things"? that's a pretty dumb, random question. the obvious, assumed answer is that someone from the event is related to someone with autism, which affected them and inspired them to do this.

does that answer not come as obvious to you?
In response to Vic Rattlehead
Autistic individuals are intelligent and emotionally complex but many have severe trouble communicating. Some of them can only express themselves through sign language, or typing on the computer, or painting. Tragically, some never develop a way to communicate. That's why we need more research and families need more help and support.

You should realize that it's not your place to judge people with autism and it's not somebody else's job to educate you.

It's your privilege as a non-autistic person to ignore autism until it comes into your life, but that doesn't mean that being ignorant is the right thing to do.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/
http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/
http://www.globecampus.ca/in-the-news/article/ people-with-autism-ace-intelligence-test/
http://www.esteeklar.com/
In response to Vic Rattlehead
No, it's not retardation. It's pretty much having all your social skills and human contact abilities shrivel up and die. Most people with severe cases have fits if anyone touches them (in the book I mentioned, the main character, who is autistic, hits a police officer for touching him and can't even hug his own father, even though he loves him). Even people with very minor cases have terrible social skills.

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that the book's main character also cannot handle having many people around him at once, nor can he handle having too many different signs etc. around conveying many different things (all the sign's words blend together and become indistinct and confusing). Regardless, he's a math prodigy, he does puzzles like Conway's Soldiers on massive scales in his head without issues.
In response to Jeff8500
My step dad had autism when he was little and he actually got a lot better. Besides having a smaller, leaner, leg, he is in pretty good shape. Although he is a raging alcoholic. I guess I never thought of putting those two together.
In response to Vic Rattlehead
Excuse me, but I have a form of autism and I'm not exactly retarded.
In response to KodeNerd
depending on the person and the type, autism can actually be pretty serious, not in the lethal sort of way, but in the long term.
In response to Nielz
Considering I had just looked up autism for like five minutes... yeah.
Either way, the thread is a bit off-topic now, dontcha think?
I don't know, I don't think I'd want to give money to an organization because some guys sit around playing Final Fantasy really, really fast.

I mean, I understand, giving money to a charity is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with that, but it just seems the whole thing doesn't match well together. I'd rather give money to walk America or something then some nerds playing a RPG.
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