For those not already familiar with this, the family of community member Jason "Quickgloves" Selby was recently struck with tragedy when his son Weston was born prematurely. Since then, he has been staying at the hospital with his wife and child, praying for Weston's recovery. While doing so however, he has been unable to work and would be unable to pay for their stay near the hospital.
Looking to support their friends, Christina Lockerd and Kimberly Bullock set up some fundraisers to help support Jason so he could stay by his child's side. News quickly reached the Dust community and a thread was stickied with details on donating. Donations started coming in along with a large amount of well wishes.
Shortly after, a fundraiser event was announced by drunk night organizer "DS 10". Donations of money to the fundraiser gave people a chance to win in game currency (ISK) for both EVE and Dust from a lottery. Billions of ISK were given out to those helped raise around $3000 in just a few days and the overall amount of money has now passed the $8000 mark.
It seems so surreal that I was talking to Jason a few weeks ago about he and his wife Amanda playing Diablo 3 together. I can't imagine what it's been like since then and I can only hope it all works out. I've already donated what I can, but the fundraisers and forum threads are both still open if anyone wants to send him some support.
This for me is the single brightest point in DUST 514. This impressive show of support from the community demonstrates exactly how far the game has come in the most important measure; the player base. A game is suppose to bring people together and DUST 514 doing that despite the issues and complications the game has experienced to date. New relationships are forming, friends are being made and lives are being enriched because of a game.
ReplyDeleteYet, these days are games really just games anymore? How many of you have meet close friends through a game? How many of you have friends that you confide in online? If your social and community needs are being met in a virtual environment then is that any different than the real world? Especially, when those relationships often spill over into the real world as this outstanding example did.
It is my sincere hope that this story catches in the media. Not only to bring some positive attention to DUST 514, but to also show the real power and importance of community. They say "EVE is real". Well, DUST 514 is real too.