Tyger's Open Letter to "Gamer Santa"

Dear Gamer Santa,

I'm writing this with about two months to go before you pull the all-nighter to end all all-nighters.  I actually think you spend your entire year preppring for it, LAN parties with the elves, sharpening reflexes playing HALO 4 or Call of Duty into the wee hours of the morning.  And something tells me that milk and cookies aren't the fuel that keeps you rolling well into the night.

Every year you get millions and millions of letters from everyone giving you their "wish list" of what they'd really like for the holiday season.  I guess this is no different, as there are a lot of things I'd like to ask for.  I know some will be out of your jurisdiction, but I'm hoping you can pull some strings.  I mean your SANTA, and a gamer at that!  So, here's my list.

The strange thing is that for me, my holiday came early.  Trion studios has already given a gift to everyone who's playing in "Extra-Life" in the form of donating "Defiance" and a starter pack for "Rift".  X-Split is giving gamers who are playing a month of premium airtime.  Diablo is giving players some pretty sweet incentives to jump in and help sick kids too.  So instead of me, I'd like to ask for gifts for others.

They even gift wrapped it and EVERYTHING!

I'd like you to thank the dev teams at every major MMO out there.  Look, they go through a LOT of hell every year trying to make us happy.  They have to deal with gold spammers, trolls, twitter fights and even worse.  And a lot of players tend to forget that they do a lot of work so we can play their games.  So if ya can, drop them some extra candy canes in their stockings.  They really deserve it.

The whole "Extra-Life" thing has me thinking too.  There's another charity out there you might have heard of, Child's Play.  The gaming industry gets together and donates games, consoles, and other wish list items to hospitals throughout the year.  A lot of people don't think about what it's like to be a kid in a hospital, especially a really sick kid in a hospital.  A lot of them could use more than a distraction, they could really use stuff to let them be kids again.  So if you could, I don't know, encourage some people in the industry to keep supporting Child's Play, that'd be awesome.

I'd also like to lobby for some buddies of mine who are sitting in what they lovingly call "the sandbox".  A lot of men and women are away from their families right now serving in our armed services.  They play a lot of video games too, mostly as an escape from the outside world.  Could you send a couple of PS4's and X-Box 1's their way?  I think the X-Box lifted a lot of their restrictions, so they can play them now.  And do what you can to keep the internet connection going for them too.

There's other stuff I'd like to see happen too, but I don't think you can do it.  I don't think I could convince you to smack people like Glenn Beck in the head for saying video games are a gateway drug into a violent lifestyle.  Could you get Blitzen to tea-bag him tho?  On second thought, no, don't do that.  The irony might break Mr. Beck.

Some gaming things too, for the players anyway.  If you can, try to make the PS4 and XBox 1 half as awesome as the hype promises they will be?  Hopefully released on time too, if some of these guys don't get it by the 25th they might implode.  While I'm at it, for people getting those consoles?  Can you give them something "Extra" to keep them happy with what they have and not want to bash the "other system"?

If I have to ask for anything for myself, it's going to be practical.  I could really use new glasses.  Seriously, while playing some MMO's lately my nose is almost on the monitor to try to read text.  I'd love some Gunnars considering how many hours I log on this box but I'll take "S-Mart Specials" too.  New hardware could be nice, but not necessary.  What I have works.

But honestly, I'm happy with what I've got for the most part.  I mean you of anyone would know about the season of giving, and that's what this is.  It's not all about asking for the world for yourself.  It's about sharing.  Receiving is nice, but it's far better to take time out and help people who could really use the help.

Santa, seriously, if you ever need me to fill in for a 10 man again, skype me.  I'm there.

Anyway, I'll let you go and get back to the other letters.  Thank you for reading mine, and I hope you have a safe trip this year.

-Tyger

PS : Oh, and if you think of it, can you pass a message on for me?  Extra Life is coming up this weekend, and I'm trying to raise money for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.  Could you pass a link along for me if people want to donate and help me raise the $500 I'm hoping to get?  http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=46294  And tell people that even if they can't donate, passing the link along and getting other people to do so will help a lot too.