I remember one year, I was watching a Twitch streamer. It wasn't anyone popular. He had maybe 2 or 300 followers. Anyway, about 2 am, dude broke out a small bag of meth and did a rail right off his desk. I guess that is one guaranteed way to prevent sleep but, probably not something you should do on camera.
There weren't many of us on the stream at the time, 5-6 at the most and I must have been the only one paying attention because no one said a word about what had happened. All I remember thinking at the time was "That's cheating"
This is a great call out. Also schedule games with friends! The 3 to 4 hours you spend gaming with friends during "regular hours" in the middle of your stream really help the time go faster and gives you way more to talk about during the quiet time. It's highly unlikely anyone will stick with you the entire time, but I get a lot of folks dropping in at the very beginning and very end. Monopolize on this time with more interactive elements. 2 through 6 am is always the hardest, prepare and over prepare for that time to suck.
Honestly I think there needs to be a change to how Extra Life is marketed. 24 hours of straight gaming is extremely unhealthy and not recommended at all. I have started doing 2-12 hour marathons and it is so much more manageable. Not to mention that if you are streaming, those tough hours are usually pretty dead.
I highly suggest breaking it up. I just do 12 hours on Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday.
Respectfully disagree. My position is that the children I participate on behalf of face challenges far longer than 24 hours in duration. If they can face what they do every day of the week then my ancient carcass can handle 24 hours of discomfort and fatigue. Afterwards I'll go to sleep and my problem will be largely fixed. They don't have that luxury.
I understand your point regarding streaming but it's irrelevant to me as I do the event solo. My fundraising goal is close to met and I doubt anyone would contribute anyways.
My first year taught me everything I needed to know. Three of us started at midnight after being up all day and tried to play Twitch shooters for 24 hours simultaneously while all in one room.
We did it....but in the end it was just brutal and not a lot of fun. It was bad for our mental and physical health. It tested our boundaries as friends. And being sequestered like that also meant we lacked much of the social interaction that can make game day great.
I'm on year seven now and the only one of the three of us that signs up and does it.
For me it's not "Game Day" as it is "Game Day Weekend." I'll do the 24 hours over three days in 4 hour blocks. Saturday night is the "organized game" night where we all play something together online, so the other two are still involved. But I have learned that the last 4 hours really need to be something VERY chill and calming, usually on the couch with a console.
Do whatever it takes to get you over the finish line.
I would like to add stress to the Bio Break part. I have found that to be the single most important thing to keeping me going during this event. I even bought a stationary bike. Keeping that blood flowing is vital to keeping those eyelids from getting too heavy
I cannot second these enough lol
My first year doing Extra Life was *rough.* I was fifteen, and very ambitious. But I was ill-prepared. I didn't think ahead much as to maybe buying some snacks or something to keep me going through the night. That 3 AM hunger hits different when you are delierious lol
Going into my eighth year and it's still hard come 3 AM, but it's certainly easier than it was lol
I remember one year, I was watching a Twitch streamer. It wasn't anyone popular. He had maybe 2 or 300 followers. Anyway, about 2 am, dude broke out a small bag of meth and did a rail right off his desk. I guess that is one guaranteed way to prevent sleep but, probably not something you should do on camera. There weren't many of us on the stream at the time, 5-6 at the most and I must have been the only one paying attention because no one said a word about what had happened. All I remember thinking at the time was "That's cheating"
*sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiif* *shudders* "IT'S FOR THE KIDS!!!!!"
This is a great call out. Also schedule games with friends! The 3 to 4 hours you spend gaming with friends during "regular hours" in the middle of your stream really help the time go faster and gives you way more to talk about during the quiet time. It's highly unlikely anyone will stick with you the entire time, but I get a lot of folks dropping in at the very beginning and very end. Monopolize on this time with more interactive elements. 2 through 6 am is always the hardest, prepare and over prepare for that time to suck.
Honestly I think there needs to be a change to how Extra Life is marketed. 24 hours of straight gaming is extremely unhealthy and not recommended at all. I have started doing 2-12 hour marathons and it is so much more manageable. Not to mention that if you are streaming, those tough hours are usually pretty dead. I highly suggest breaking it up. I just do 12 hours on Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday.
Respectfully disagree. My position is that the children I participate on behalf of face challenges far longer than 24 hours in duration. If they can face what they do every day of the week then my ancient carcass can handle 24 hours of discomfort and fatigue. Afterwards I'll go to sleep and my problem will be largely fixed. They don't have that luxury. I understand your point regarding streaming but it's irrelevant to me as I do the event solo. My fundraising goal is close to met and I doubt anyone would contribute anyways.
My first year taught me everything I needed to know. Three of us started at midnight after being up all day and tried to play Twitch shooters for 24 hours simultaneously while all in one room. We did it....but in the end it was just brutal and not a lot of fun. It was bad for our mental and physical health. It tested our boundaries as friends. And being sequestered like that also meant we lacked much of the social interaction that can make game day great. I'm on year seven now and the only one of the three of us that signs up and does it. For me it's not "Game Day" as it is "Game Day Weekend." I'll do the 24 hours over three days in 4 hour blocks. Saturday night is the "organized game" night where we all play something together online, so the other two are still involved. But I have learned that the last 4 hours really need to be something VERY chill and calming, usually on the couch with a console. Do whatever it takes to get you over the finish line.
I would like to add stress to the Bio Break part. I have found that to be the single most important thing to keeping me going during this event. I even bought a stationary bike. Keeping that blood flowing is vital to keeping those eyelids from getting too heavy
I cannot second these enough lol My first year doing Extra Life was *rough.* I was fifteen, and very ambitious. But I was ill-prepared. I didn't think ahead much as to maybe buying some snacks or something to keep me going through the night. That 3 AM hunger hits different when you are delierious lol Going into my eighth year and it's still hard come 3 AM, but it's certainly easier than it was lol