About Play 2 Raise and Child's Play Charity
Play 2 Raise is a group of friends dedicated to playing video games to raise money for Child's Play Charity: a non-profit that donates toys, books, and games to children recovering in hospitals worldwide. Play 2 Raise was founded in 2011 and was originally known as "Halo Marathon" before expanding to other game marathons and coining the name, “Play 2 Raise" in 2013. While playing video games is the focus of the event, we try to make the stream as interactive as possible for our viewers. A live chatroom displayed on a second screen in the living room ensures that our players see everything viewers have to say. Another feature of the chat room allows viewers to "react" to events on stream simply by typing a command such as "lol" or "boo." Depending on the number of people who react at around the same time, a sound clip associated with that reaction will play in our living room. A bot that moderates the chat room will also play small games allowing viewers to collect a virtual currency, “coins” that they can spend by making the players do silly tasks.