The Community Gives Back
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much – Helen Keller.
I doubt there is one person in this country – or quite possibly in the world – who can say that cancer hasn’t touched their lives in some way. I myself lost my father to it many years ago at the age of only forty-eight and I have three aunts who are breast cancer survivors. I have lost friends and family members to it over the years, as I am sure many of you have as well.
Home is a virtual community, we are all well aware of this; therefore it doesn’t exist in the real world, even though it is populated by real people everyday. I have heard many people put this community down as irrelevant or even a big lie, as many times there is no proof but the faith we give to our friends that they are who they say they are. This might even be true in some cases, but I would say it is the same in real life.
So when this virtual community we have embraces a real life cause like it has in this past month, the cause of breast cancer awareness, I think something needs to be said about it. I believe the fact that this is occurring is proof that we are far from irrelevant.
Last year, Loot introduced their Save The Tatas clothing line of t-shirts and hoodies. A small portion of each sale is donated to breast cancer research and in this they currently stand alone in Home. They are the only developer in Home right now who has stepped up and done something like this, and I for one applaud them for their concern and ingenuity. There are many good causes that gaming people would be more than willing to contribute financially to, I am sure. The recent gaming marathon for the Children’s Miracle Network – Extra Life – that brought in over a million dollars in revenue in twenty-four hours is a good indicator of that.
Hurricanes event
There were a few events last year for breast cancer awareness, one was held by Nujin at FXO Productions, another I learned of was held by a small group called PPP productions. But this year the fire really took hold. It seemed like pink colors were everywhere, and not just on females either. There were several events that took place this time, and I have probably missed quite a few for lack of having a resource to find them out. Hopefully the new community event calendar being added to the Hub will alleviate this issue next year. But I decided to cover a few of these events, to show how much this community is as real as any in the real world when it comes to caring about other people and their families.
The first event I covered was held by the Louisiana Hurricanes at the Rachet and Clank public space on October 22nd. It was a huge success I would say, as the server got filled quickly and everyone wore pink clothing or changed their ID color to pink in honor of the event. I was able to be a part of this one, and enjoyed it immensely. They gave away several codes for Uncharted 3 special gear by having the people think of a number and the first one to the number they had specified became a winner. I think the whole event was wonderful and I take my hat off to lsutigersfan72 and his group for pulling it off.
PPP event
Another event I heard about through a friend is the PPP productions one. They are a small club but they had their own event in a clubhouse owned by LadyStorm their leader. I met with Lady and she said this is the third year that they have held some sort of event for breast cancer awareness. They had small events where they gave away a $10.00 PSN card the past two years. This year it was a smaller affair at her clubhouse, but twenty-eight people attended. This shows me that the size of your group is irrelevant; it is the intent and caring that we as a community show that counts in my book.
The last event I am covering is one that is organized by my good friend Nujin at FXO Entertainment. This is the second year the walk has been held and it was an amazing success both times, in fact quite a few people participated even though it was held in the middle of the day. Nujin stated at the event a close friend had contracted breast cancer last year and this is what spawned the idea for the awareness walk. Nujin also made a point of telling everyone to be checked once a year and to do self exams on a monthly basis, this kind of information saves lives.
The walk
We all walked around the plaza three times slowly, with our pink shirts and lettering above our heads. I called on a few online friend at the last minute and several showed up to support this worthy cause. This shows me that a lot of people have a stake in increasing awareness of this particular kind of cancer. I believe many have been touched by it in their real lives as I have, so it is close to their hearts.
We can only hope that these kinds of community events become the norm instead of an oddity, as Home grows and the people who inhabit it become more involved. It is a great gift we all have here; life. Let’s celebrate it each day and help those who are struggling by becoming better Home citizens and showing our love and concern. Hats off to all of those who participated in any of these events, you are what I hope Home will become.
November 5th, 2011 by Burbie52 | 5 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
Humanity is an interesting species; we are communal by nature, yet once we build up our societies, we seem to almost delight in tearing them down. We visit unspeakable cruelties upon each other, and yet we show amazing acts of charity and altruism to strangers.
Is it any wonder, then, that our virtual lives are just as wondrously complex as our real ones? It’s good to see Home citizens coming together for a greater cause — particularly when that greater cause is each other.
I do want to thank you for showcasing the Breast Cancer Awareness walk in this article. I feel that I did that event for my friend and I wished to give back to the community again.
Thanks HSM.
This is very good for the community, I wished I could have made it to the walk! I am glad you all had a great time!
Nice article Burbie. Yes, I think its great how users of the PS Home community have come together this past month for several causes. Of course I was one of the several survivors of Extra Life and I also participated in various BCAM events hosted by StephieRawks, Julie_Love, and Y2David. Stephie had started a great thread on the PS Community forum for BCAM where she posted a new pic everyday of her rocking pink. The events were posted there and the last one was last Saturday, Pink Hair Project party, where we all cumlinated in the PS Mini space and finished off with us spelling out BCAM with our avatars (still waiting to see the pics for those). I agree that I hope that this becomes the norm. There is power in numbers for important causes and the PS Home Community is no exception.
I believe that the new ability to list your events in the Hub will help get the word out to people. Even if they can’t be at your particular event it may inspire them to do something of their own.
The only limitation I can see with this new calendar they have given us is our friends list capacity. Mine is maxed with no real squeaking room, so how is a person interested in my event supposed to come there if they can’t follow me? They can message me of course and ask questions, but a 200 person list would be a much nicer solution for those of us who are busy community members and club leaders. Oh well, maybe someday that will happen (hint,hint).