This past weekend a unique event took place at Montclair State University. The 48-Hour Gaming Marathon was sponsored by the Montclair University Gamers who have held this event annually for the past five years. The Montclair University Gamers, also known as MUG is a Class One Organization of the SGA. They are proud to be able to contribute to a special charity through playing the games that they love that people love to watch.
The 48-Hour Gaming Marathon lasts the whole weekend long begins on March 11th on Friday at 3 p.m. and ends Sunday the 13th at 3 p.m. No breaks, no commercials, just constant games. It is streamed through a site called Twitch, which is often used to stream Gameplay. In the marathon players scheduled time slots to play their favorite game(s), and switch out with other members. This allows them to get food and sleep in between games. Some of these very dedicated gamers brought their sleeping bags and stayed in the Student Center Lounge over-night. Other’s came to support their fellow gamers, and came and went as they pleased. Some players did full run-throughs of games and others just played for fun. The best part of this lengthy event? A donation button is set up on the page and all of the money raised from the stream goes to charity.
Last year MUG raised $2,500 for a special charity known as Child’s Play. Child’s Play is a charity, which seeks to improve the lives of children in hospitals and domestic violence shelters through generosity and kindness of the video game industry and the power of play. This year the Montclair University Gamers raised about $2,800 for Child’s Play!
In addition to the games, they were many quirky mini-events, which kept the viewers engaged. For example, there was a sing-along after Portal’s run-through to the ending song, Still Alive. Alan Vallee-Guerrero and Christian Tanion competed in their fourth annual Shamrock Shake Chug-Challenge. Alan was the winner again this year and was awarded a special shamrock shake bead sprite!
Speaking of sprites, also known as pearlers. Dedicated MUG Member Alex Jesperson created 70+ sprites by hand as an incentive for people to donate to the stream. Every half-hour a different pearler was entered into the raffle. To have a chance to win that specific pearler you had to donate a certain amount at a certain time according to the schedule. After donating 5 or 10 dollars you would be entered into the raffle. Alex generously put a copious amount of time and hard work into the bead sprites and worked on them since Christmas Break. He donated them all for the Marathon and they served as a great incentive to donate to Child’s Play.
The Gamers hold this event yearly because they believe it is a great cause. MUG holds this event annually because; “We want to do it for the kids."
