Starting on Saturday, May 5 at noon in Jeffers Auditorium, two Longwood students, Matthew Paxton and William Chase, will attempt to break two different Guinness World Records for "Longest Video Games Marathon." Paxton will be attempting to break the "Longest Video Games Marathon Playing Mario (series)," which is currently set at 50 hours by Daniel Ryckert. Chase will be attempting to break the "Longest Video Games Marathon Playing an RPG," which is currently set at 44 hours by Bryan Vore.
The event is teaming up with Child's Play Charity, which works with hospitals all over the country to help ease the stay of children who are there for extended periods of time. The charity provides books, toys, games and other ways to help ease the stay of hospitalized children. Another component of the event the duo is arranging is something called the Giving Works program. Individuals pick an organization they want to contribute to and put an item they would like to auction off up for bidding. The money the item accumulates goes toward that organization. For this event there will be a live as well as a silent auction component.
The idea was sparked back in September 2011, according to Chase, when Paxton, who is also his roommate, came to him and asked if he wouldn't mind witnessing him break a Guinness World Record. In an email interview, Chase said, "I was intrigued by the idea and before too long, he ended up asking if I would want to attempt my own record as well."
For Paxton's attempt, his rules are that he is allowed to play any game with "Mario" in the title. For every hour that he plays, he banks up to 10 minutes of break time. Once you start your break, though, you do not have to use up all of time and you can still save it for later. Paxton is also allowed to switch games during his breaks. He must also have two witnesses every four hours for the duration of the attempt.
A group Paxton has formed with his friends, called Room 310, will be helping out with monitoring the event and filming along with several individuals from various groups at Longwood. The Game Stop store in town will be providing the games, consoles and controllers for the event as well as helping to drum up publicity within the Farmville community. Security, provided by the Longwood University Police Department, will also be at the event and provide their services for free. Chase was not available to speak more about the rules regarding his particular attempt.
Paxton was able to speak a little about how he is preparing for the event as the date approaches. "Oh it's going to be tough. The cool thing is people will be there to help keep me awake and keep me entertained. Hopefully that will give me a little bit of an edge in beating this record," said Paxton.
The biggest problem the event has run into at the moment is getting witnesses. According to the Guinness World Record company, Longwood students are not allowed to be witnesses for the event. This is because the students can't have something to gain from the record. In this case, the school would gain a title if all Longwood students were to attend the event. Faculty and staff are allowed because they are a part of the community.
Longwood students can help out with this event in a number of ways. Donations will be accepted through a Paypal account, which will also be tax deductable since cash will not be accepted at the event. Students can also contribute items that can be auctioned off in both the silent and live auction. Paxton and Chase urge the Longwood community to join the Facebook group named "Let's Play For Child's Play: Longwood's 2012 Guinness World Record Project."
Students can also visit the website https://sites.google.com/site/letsplayforchildsplay or contact Paxton or Chase at podcastasticpro@gmail.com to find out more.
Paxton commented, "The more we plan this event and the more we think about it, the less we think about Guinness and the more we think about the charity and helping it out."
