Q: Who is this Nick guy?
A: Click here for more about Nick.
Q: How the heck can playing video games raise money for charity?
A: It’s simple. See that donate button on the top of the screen? You click there to make a donation. As a reward for your donation, you get to watch a pair of immature and sleep-deprived fools spend an entire weekend playing games, socializing and playing the way Nick always loved. You don’t have to watch us every second as we play of course, but feel free to check in when you can. If you don’t like the look of our faces but want to support our cause anyway, go for it!
Q. How was last year’s marathon?
A: Awesome! For some info and video from our 2008 and 2009 marathons, click here.
Q: But wait, what happened to 2010?
A: Nothing happened. We just found January to be a better month for everyone to get together and away from holiday craziness, family obligations, etc.
Q: What exactly will we be watching?
A: You’ll see a live feed from our home base. It’ll be one video stream, in a picture-in-picture mode. You will see a direct feed of the console game, as well and a live webcam showing all of us playing (the less visually pleasant feed – we are nerds after all) – which we’ll have in the corner. We’ll be playing and broadcasting for as long as it takes to finish the video games on our games list.
Q: Why did you pick these charities?
A: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, The Ronald McDonald House, and Child’s Play are three wonderful charities and they all relate back to our cause in some way. Nick suffered from leukemia, he participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony as a child at the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park, NY, and Nick always wanted to have video games on hand during his prolonged hospital stays. For more on these charities, visit their respective websites, or visit our DONATE! page.
Q: How much should I donate?
A: $1. $18.75. $300. Whatever you would like or can afford to give. That’s entirely up to you. Just keep in mind that every little bit helps, and you don’t have to be rich to make a difference. But… any donations of $100 or more will get a snazzy Nick’s Marathon tote bag mailed to them at no extra charge! Oh, but since we’re paying for the bags and shipping out of our pockets (not from the donations fund), we’ll have to limit it to residents of the continental USA. Sorry!
Q: I want that tote bag! Do I have to give $100 to one charity, or can I divide it up?
A: You can split it up anyway you please – as long as your grand total of donations is $100 or more, you will get a Nick’s Marathon tote bag as a gift. The charities will be providing us with lists and totals, so we will keep a running tab. And since we’re all former mathletes, we’ll have no problem working with the numbers.
Q: How do I donate?
A: Click on the “Donate” Link at the top of the page. That allows you to pay securely to any of the charities directly, on behalf of Nick.
Q: Didn’t you guys used to just have a single Paypal account that we could donate to? That was simpler; why did you get rid of that?
A: It may have been simpler, but we were losing a chunk of our donations to Paypal’s fees. By working directly with each charity, we ensure that all of teh money donated goes right to them. Child’s Play uses Paypal as their collection tool, but we are still cutting down dramatically on the amount of fees that will come out of your donations.
Q: OK, I’ve donated, but I want to do more to help you guys. What else can I do?
A: Help us spread the word of Nick’s Marathon! Tell your family and friends about us! Join our Facebook Group! Follow us on Twitter @nicksmarathon! Tell your family and friends to join our Facebook group and follow us on Twitter, too! And if you’re in the greater New York area and actually want to play video games with us in person, let us know!
Q: How did you pick the video games you’d play?
A: We used Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principal. OK, that’s not true. We picked games that feature co-op (or co-operative) modes. In other words, two players work together to beat the game, as opposed to battling against each other or taking turns. This can be viewed as an analogy of friendship and teamwork in life, but it’s also just a fun way to play video games.
Q: Why didn’t you pick such-and-such other game that I like?
A: We picked games that we liked and know, but if you would really like to have a say on which games we play, tell us in the forums! See, we picked the first few games of the weekend, but we’re asking people to submit choices in the forums and we’ll consult the posts in the forums to see other people’s suggestions.
Q: Will there be breaks for sleeping?
A: What’s the fun in that? Well, seriously, there will probably be “shifts.” The marathon will be continuous, 24 hours a day, until we finish – there will be different people playing though. Al and James will definitely be there the entire time, even if you have to watch us sleep on the couch while others plow through Streets of Rage 2…
Q: Where did you get this idea?
A: We aren’t the first to do this and we totally want to give credit to the original people who thought of this. That would be Loading, Ready, Run with their Desert Bus of Hope marathon in November 2007.
Q: What equipment will you be using?
A: We’ll be using a webcam and a Dazzle Capture Card to broadcast both the webcam and the Wii feed. We will be using http://www.ustream.tv/ to broadcast the video.
Q: And who are you guys?
A: Alan Noah and James Brief primarily run the event. Alan knew Nick since childhood. James went to college with Alan and knew Nick through him. Alan is a television producer and worked on such nerd-friendly shows as “When Star Wars Ruled the World.” James is a resident physician at a hospital in Brooklyn, and lives in New York City. Well, Alan lives on Long Island with his wife, son, and dog. We are also supported by Nick’s family, and the rest of Nick’s gang of friends from high school: Dominic Monfre (who designed the Nick’s Marathon logo that will be on our tote bag), Steve Kopleff (who has helped us with some technical issues AND brought us a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii in 2009), Aaron Neuman, Lauren Feldmann, Steve Cofsky, Ben Srulevich, Tony Lu, not to mention everyone’s wives and significant others.