By Pminton

Being a gamer around the Christmas season is like being Augustus Gloop in the Wonka factory minus the Oompa Loompas. Seriously, there are so many things I would love to play but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. If I didn’t have to work I might get through them all.

This time of year every game company wants to get their product out by Christmas. That means that every game I’ve been looking forward to is coming out within two or three weeks of each other. For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to figure out a way to play World of Warcraft, Super Mario Galaxy, Rock Band, Guitar Hero III, Portal, Team Fortress 2 and Legend of Zelda: The Phanom Hourglass at the same time to maximize my gaming. So far all attempts have been unsuccessful. Picture it: A dude with a DS stylus in his mouth and the DS itself attached to a harmonica neck brace, drumsticks taped to his feet, a GH III controller in his hands rolling his face around on a keyboard that is controlling two computers (one with Portal running and the other with World of Warcraft). You understand my conundrum.

I sat down the other day to make a schedule so I wouldn’t leave anything out. It turned into a 2 hour Excel-spreadsheet session with a lot of cross-referencing, re-doing and swearing. Honestly I think that I would have to move to a 37 hour day, stop sleeping and maybe even stop blinking. Just since I started writing this article four more games have dropped that I feel I must play. This shows no signs of slowing until well after the New Year. I may very well have died and gone to gaming hell. I get to play 20 minutes of a game and the Gaming Devil comes by, cracks a whip and I have to move on to another game never to finish the first. Not only that, but I have a long whip-mark on my back.

The problem gets compounded by having to go Christmas shopping for folks (which I usually enjoy), attending my mother’s graduation from Master’s study (grats, mom!), working, spending time with family and friends, etc., etc. I found myself getting angry about having to do anything. I was getting terribly irritable. I actually snapped at my wife because she couldn’t make Firefly come back to television. I was beginning to resent Real Life (not the excellent comic by Greg Dean). I was becoming a jerk.

But, inevitably there comes a moment of clarity. No matter what, when my emotions get too extreme I have these humbling, head-clearing moments. This time it came in an email from a friend. Her brother–also a dear friend of ours–had to go to the Emergency Room and is going to need some unexpected and expensive surgery. Unfortunately, his new insurance policy doesn’t take effect until January 1st, and this surgery won’t be covered.

Running the risk of this post turning into schmaltz, I still have to say it: there are more important things in this life than Mario Galaxy and World of Warcraft. Family, friends, being alive to see another Holiday season and maybe most important: helping people. My video games will all still be right there waiting as long as I need them to; the chance to spend time with friends and family might not be. If I miss a Mana Tombs run, I can get on board the next one. If I miss a gathering with people dear to me, I can never recreate those moments.

So I want to take a moment to ask for help from you. We want to be able to help our friend with his medical bills, but as you’ve probably guessed, writing a blog doesn’t pay all that well. We can’t do a whole lot alone, but we’d like to ask for your help in raising whatever money we can.

If you haven’t already made a charitable donation this holiday season, please take this chance to help someone who needs and deserves it. Absolutely anything is a huge help, and the smallest donation is as welcome and appreciated as the largest.

Look to the top right of this page and you’ll see a PayPal donation button titled “The Surgery Fund”. That’s where you can give. It’s completely secure, and everything donated will go directly to the family of our friend to help with medical costs. We’ll be making a more formal post about this soon, but it’s never too early to give a little.

If you’re like me and the biggest problem you have this holiday season is not finding enough time for video games, then things aren’t too bad, right? Please consider giving. Any amount will be very much appreciated. Maybe you’ll find your moment of clarity.

(Also, if you don’t, it’ll make kittens cry and Santa will probably leave a festive lump of canine turd in your stocking. Seriously, I just talked to him. It’ll happen.)