Games Done Quick wrapped up last night after the show. If you aren’t familiar with that it’s a gaming charity where people raise money while playing games as fast as they can, usually with exploits and glitches. And oh man are there glitches. I’ve watched a few speedruns from time to time, but this was a marathon of speedrunning and it was insane to see some of the things pulled off. If you have a chance, take a look at some of the highlights from this year’s runs. Also, look for anything with TASBot – especially the run for Super Mario Bros. 2. That’s a game I hadn’t given thought to in a very long time but was blown away by the speedrun of it…and done by a robot no less.

Ultimately GDQ raised over 3.1 million dollars (a new record) for a cancer charity and I couldn’t be more proud of the gaming community for doing so. Seeing this all come together last night reminded me of just how much gaming gives back. There’s a stereotype of gamers and the gaming community and some it is, unfortunately, spot on while some of it is also completely insulting and has no basis in any sort of fact at all. There’s charity gaming events throughout the year that raise millions of dollars for all kinds of great causes. Extra Life, Child’s Play, GDQ twice a year, and plenty of others. Currently there’s been a lot of gaming devs and publishers who are selling special in-game items with all the proceeds going to the Australian wildfire efforts.

The whole point here is – there’s a lot of good in gaming. And if you’ve chosen to believe those negative stereotypes or for whatever reason look down upon the hobby, try finding the good in it, because it’s there. And you might be surprised.