City of Heroes HeroCon spawns Real World Heroes
City of Heroes players are decent people, as evidenced by a charity they helped create called Real World Heroes. This six week charity drive will help raise funds for three organizations dedicated to real world heroes and heroic and lofty causes. The charity will also get the support of NCsoft, who will help promote its efforts with the City of Heroes MMO. The idea for a charity drive was conceived by Joel and Karen Garcia, long-time City of Heroes players, after attending the HeroCon 2009 fan event hosted by NCsoft and Paragon Studios, the development studios behind the game.
The charities getting the proceeds from this drive include Child’s Play (an organization created by Penny Arcade creators Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins donates toys, games, books, and cash for sick children in hospitals across the U.S. and the world), Donate Games (a charity dedicated to funding research and support for children with “orphan” diseases) and Operation Gratitude (a charity dedicated to sending 100,000 care packages annually filled with snacks, entertainment items and letters of appreciation to U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions).
This time of the year is particularly important to charities around the world because it is when people tend to be the most generous and giving. As gamers, we should show the world that are hearts are as big as our dedication is to playing games. I encourage you to check out www.RealWorldHero.com, see the great work they are doing, and get involved.
NCsoft’s NorCal studio, the division that created the City of Heroes MMO, has been renamed Paragon Studios.