The Minecraft Hunger Games

Minecraft.  AND the Hunger Games.  Yes!

Recently, I was talking to my friend Brian Conklin (who is very funny and should be followed on twitter if at all possible) and he brought up a charity that he and some of his friends had started for Child's Play that combines popular book series "The Hunger Games" and the indie smash hit "Minecraft."

So that I don't make any mistakes in describing what is really quite an ingenious creation and for those who 
haven't read "The Hunger Games," here's what Conklin had to say about the project:

"So, the Hunger Games is this tournament between 24 kids, a boy and a girl from each 'district' in this alternate version of the US. Basically, these kids are forced into the games not knowing what will happen, except that only one of them will walk out alive. At the start, there's this really big cornucopia in the center of the arena that has weapons, sleeping bags, anything else they'd need to survive. After that, they are forced to live in whatever environment they are thrown into, whether it's desert, patch of rocks, big open meadow, etc.

The game runs for as long as it needs to until one of the players, called Tributes, are left. Outsiders watching the games can donate money and supplies to help out their favorite tributes to live. Also, the Gamemakers like to change things around to keep things interesting... for example, they might hold 'a feast' at the cornucopia, and offer things that will help everyone... however, that forces everyone to meet in one spot, thus meaning people will get killed."

How this will all translate to "Minecraft" is actually quite clever, as the 12 tributes will be represented by 12 "Minecraft" players who will fight to survive in a harsh environment, and the people who are watching can make donations toward the player of their choice, which will end up going to Child's Play and give the player a certain item that they need while in the game.  There will be live webcam feeds of the players as they go about their task, and viewers can decide who they want to root for.  Ideally, Conklin said that the project would have all 12 spots filled by gaming community-backed players.

"We would LOVE to have a big game of 12 different developers/websites/online communities each having a sponsored Tribute, and then them all bringing in their own people to watch and donate their money to their team to help them win."

I would personally love to see this awesome project come to fruition, and I have no doubt in my mind that it will because of how cohesive, supportive and appreciative communities of gamers can be when they come together.  The only thing that can be done now is to spread the good word, so by all means, please tell your friends, family, pets, giant fighting mech suit, stuffed animals that you whisper to in your sleep and anybody with access to ways of disseminating information on the internet (pretty much everybody).

More info on the project can be found on their website, their Facebook page or you can follow their twitter feed, so by all means check it out!  According to Conklin, the next major event should occur sometime in December, and anybody with any questions should shoot either of these guys an email.

Until December then, good luck and godspeed to all of the guys that are working on the project, and to all of my readers, remember to tune into those webcam feeds and donate (if you can) when the event happens!