Extra-Life 2013 is coming! Are you ready? “Tyger’s Survival Guide” can help!

It’s a little less than two months until Extra-Life, and this is a good time to prepare for it. Oh, wait you don’t KNOW what Extra-Life is? Play your favorite fanfare music and I’ll tell you about it!

Extra-Life is a fund raising effort that benefits Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Every year, gamers from all over the world drive to raise money and it culminates into a 24 hour event where people play games for pledges and donations. Last year, we all helped raise more than $2 million to help sick kids. This year, we all want to pitch in and help a little more.

Sound interesting? Think you got what it takes to game for 25 hours? Oh, wait, 25? Yeah, this year’s event is on November 2nd, the same weekend as daylight savings, so we get one more technical hour of gaming. So you think you got what it takes? I’ll tell you now, you do. I did it last year, and if I can, you can. How? Here’s some tips I learned from last year:

Teamwork!

If you can’t go the 25 hours alone, tag-team with friends. Talk with friends on Skype or Ventrillo or Teamspeak as you’re streaming, it helps! Tag out and let them stream for a few hours while you nap or just make a schedule!  Schedules are NOT a bad thing.  This isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.  You need to plan stuff out here.

Plan ahead, HARDWARE STYLE!

It’s better to know BEFORE the event if this is gonna happen….

Stress test your computer. It’ll run fine for 24 hours, it’s the software you’ll worry about. My computer crashed last year while swapping programs and it was 30 minutes of sheer panic getting back live. If you’re livecasting (like I’ll be!) do a test stream and swap programs a lot in it. See what your computer can handle BEFORE the big event.

Plan ahead, the HUMAN element!

You might FEEL like this, but you’re still human!

You’re gonna need breaks. Every few hours, get up and move. Not just stretch, walk around, so some exercise, raid the fridge, don’t just sit in a chair for 25 hours – that’s not good for you. 15 minutes off won’t ruin the integrity of the stream, trust me. Build this into your schedule. Also foodstuffs. Cook up food the day before and warm it up day of. Much cheaper than ordering out for pizza and faster too.

Don’t rely on caffeine!

Avoid feeling like this….  it CAN be done!

Seriously, don’t. By the 12th hour it’ll start to taste like sugar in your breath. By the 18th you’ll be wanting to swear off the stuff for life. Drink water, a lot of water, and the occasional soda is fine. Also plan some energy friendly snacky things with some good-for-you stuff in it like GORP. I’m a fan of GORP. Throwback to the old days of hiking and mountain biking.

Get involved now!

It’s never too early to start fundraising and talking it up! The more people that know, the more we can help some kids and their families.

So as for me? Well I’ll be livestreaming my own show on twitch.tv/Tyger_WDR so come on by and check it out. If you’re so inclined to donate to Extra-Life, I have a donation page set up with them where you can get more info about Extra-Life, including how to sign up for yourselves if you want to jump into it. Either way, I’m getting amped up for it! How about you?