Robert Morris students raise money for food bank with gaming marathon

A Robert Morris University student club is hosting a virtual gaming marathon this weekend to raise money for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Nearly 100 students and faculty will tune into the platforms Discord and Twitch to participate in the 48-hour marathon, playing a variety of games independently and participating in competitions. The event will began Friday at 5 p.m. and continue until Sunday.

The event is hosted by an RMU organization for cyber security students, called the Top Secret Colonials. Each participant must donate at least $5 to a GoFundMe account the group created. The competition had already raised more than $2,000 by Friday evening.

“Not all the people that donated are going to be doing any gaming,” said Evan Kinney a Top Secret Colonials member and organizer of the marathon. “They just donated because they feel really strongly about the cause.”

Kinney said the group’s fundraising goal continues to rise – originally, it had been just $1,000, but they quickly surpassed that. By Friday afternoon, the goal was bumped to $3,000, and Kinney said he wouldn’t be surprised if it was exceeded $5,000 by Sunday.

The event has existed for seven years. Typically, the students raise money for different children’s charities, including St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and Children’s Miracle Network. But when the group saw footage of lines backing up at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank food drives, they decided to contribute, Kinney said.

The marathon usually lasts only 24 hours and takes place on campus, in a huge ballroom where participants set up gaming consoles and monitors.

“We figured since it’s virtual, why not do 48 hours?” said Karen Paullet, assistant professor of computer science and the faculty advisor for Top Secret Colonials. “It’s not like we have equipment to move or anything.”

Participants will log into Discord or Twitch after paying an entry fee of at least $5 to the GoFundMe. They can play any game they choose, and they can also sign up for competitions with each other throughout the weekend. Analytic bots will track players’ progress in hours. Paullet said players can earn community service time – an academic requirement at RMU.

Competition winners will receive $25 gift cards, and there are also prizes for the player who logs the most hours and the player who posts the most tweets throughout the marathon.

The gaming marathon has always been popular, Paullet said – growing from 19 participants in its first year to more than 200 in October 2019. But now especially, she said, the marathon is providing a chance at social connection that RMU students are particularly missing.

“They love competing against each other,” said Paullet. “And being in quarantine, this gives them a chance to compete with each other and actually communicate. Right now, in life, we’re so limited.”