A livestream of what’s been called the “most boring video game on the planet” just passed a major milestone this week. The game is called Desert Bus, and the stream is hosted in Victoria, and their fundraiser Desert Bus for Hope just cracked $10-million USD raised for charity.
For the past 17 years, a group of gamers have been setting up an annual livestream of them playing the game to combat video game stereotypes and to entertain, but more importantly, to raise money to deliver therapeutic games and technology to kids in hospitals across the United States and Canada through Child’s Play Charity.
“We provide games and consoles to kids in hospitals across the United States and Canada, but we also have, mainly through the money raised by Desert Bus for Hope, been able to provide technicians in hospitals to provide the link between the technology and the patients,” said Garret Goody with Child’s Play Charity.
“You can help with medical compliance. For kids that don’t want to take their medicine you can say, ‘Well you can do a round of Mario Kart if you take your medicine.’ It works.”
The game Desert Bus itself is painfully simple, much like the graphics. Your only aim is to keep the bus on the road from Tucson to Las Vegas in real time, eight hours, as the bus perpetually leans right.
It was created by American illusionists Penn and Teller in reaction to anti-video game lobbyists in the 1990’s who were complaining that computer games were damaging young minds.
“This is the least violent video game ever made,” said Goody.
The first year Desert Bus for Hope launched in 2007, the gamers running the livestream tried pulling all night shifts.
“In our youth we realized, no, we can’t do that. So we have six hour shifts and people come up with as much fun they can do,” said Kathleen de Vere, one of the hosts and entertainers.
Each shift brings their own flavour, games, and fun.
And like anything that’s been going on for nearly two decades the fundraising livestream has their traditions: A button dangling from the ceiling induces random dance parties, there are giveaways of dozens of items people have donated, they even have the inexplicable ‘crab time’ which no one can pin the origins to, but when it pops up in the livestream chat or is shouted out, everyone has to stop what they’re doing to do a crab dance.
This week the team crabwalked over a major milestone.
“We have raised $10,312,452 in our lifetime,” said de Vere
A whopping $10 million U.S., raised by playing the worst video game ever, by a cult-like loyal, global community, all to help sick kids.
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Kori Sidaway
