There are so many game marathons that go on that it is hard to support them all and it’s hard to just support a few. For fairness I stay away from most of them. That is, until this marathon came across my virtual desk. (email)

On May 5-9th, college Students, Matthew Paxton, and William Chase will go for world records  for the longest Mario play time, 50-hours, and longest RPG playtime, 44-hours (While playing Skyrim). Their main focus will not be on the record but raising money for Child’s Play. Like most events it will be lived streamed on the interweb.

Check out the interview below for more information.

PN: Can you give a brief background about yourselves?

Matthew: Well, we are a couple of college students. Will is a communications major, and I study anthropology. We thought we would end our college careers with a bang, so when the idea of breaking Guinness World Records came up, we pretty much jumped on the idea.
In terms of video games, I’ve grown up with Nintendo all my life, and Mario games were always my favorite.

William: I have been a Mario gaming fan since first growing up with the original gameboy and snes. I am also an avid sports fan, and have most recently playing games such as MLB 12 The Show on the ps3. I really got into Skyrim thanks in large part to the giant open-world, and many-to-do tasks that the game is popular for.

PN: What gave you the idea to go for a Guinness world record?

Matthew: I got the idea from watching the Guinness Six Pack event on Gameinformer, where six editors broke six gaming marathon world records in August. A month later, I was talking to my friend about which record we could see ourselves beating. I chose the Mario record because of the variety of games, and fun I have had playing them over the years.

William: I got interested in doing the marathon for myself, when Matt initially asked me about being a witness for his. He then thought it would be a good idea for me to try to attempt my own, and a few days later I had my attempt with Guinness sent out.

PN: Will Guinness be on-hand to verify the event?

Matthew: Unfortunately, no. It is pretty expensive to get a Guinness Representative on hand for the event. The service is somewhere around $6,470-$8,360. Since we are college students, and we didn’t win the lottery last week, we lack those kinds of funds.

PN: You are going for two world records. One for longest Mario play-time 50 hours and longest RPG 44 hours. The event takes place over 4 days. How will the event take place?

Matthew: The event will be live-streamed via our website http://sites.google.com/site/letsplayforchildsplay. The physical location of the event will be on our campus in an auditorium. A large projector screen will be provided for us, which will be split screen.

We have furniture, clocks, food, and people ready to go for the event.
We have people from the Gamestop in our area coming in and supplying us with game consoles and games. Our university is kind enough to let us use the media equipment they use for broadcasting their sports events (and I could barely contain myself when I saw it).
Regardless of whether we get the record or not, the event will last all four days. We have items to auction, call-in guests to talk to, and money to raise.

PN: Will the event be live-streamed? Is there going to be a chat room?

Matthew: Yes to both questions. Right now we are experimenting with different formatting styles for broadcasting the stream. I can’t say anything now because we haven’t decided on anything specifically, but I can say that I am very excited to work with the kind of equipment we are using for this event.

We will have a chatroom ready, so people are welcome to come into the event and say hi.

PN: Any special guest, prizes, or events during the event?

Matthew: Sorry, we don’t have any prizes for our event. However, we will have live auctions during certain points of our event. All the products will be hand-made by volunteers, and they will be video-game related in some way. I’ve got something cooking myself.
Anyone wanting to see what we will have for the auction can check out our website listed above and see the entries. Expect the list to grow over the next few weeks.
We don’t have anyone appearing live, but we do have people calling in. Right now, we are looking at for call-ins, including:
Graham Stark from LoadingReadyRun and Desert Bus for Hope

  • Jamie Dillion from Child’s Play Charity
  • Daniel Ryckert from Gaminformer Magazine (and current Mario record holder.
  • And of course James Higginbotham of Pure Nintendo.
  • We may have more callers lined up in the future, so stay tuned.

We will have a comment section ready for people to ask questions to the guest call-ins. Just go to the person’s page on the call-in section of the website, and enter your question.

PN: Why did you decide on Child’s Play as your charity?

Matthew: There were a few reasons that we decided on Child’s Play Charity for this event.
A lot of it had to do with Desert Bus for Hope, which is why our event’s format is so similar to Desert Bus. It’s really something else to see what kind of joy that these kinds of events bring to people. Desert Bus for Hope is a prominent example of this concept.
I think the crew at Extra Credits said it best, “…that by coming together and support those less fortunate, we may weather the worst, and come out the better for it.”

I love the idea of people coming together for a good cause such as Child’s Play Charity. The feeling I get out of events like Desert Bus for Hope, seeing all of these people getting together for a charitable cause, donating money, and having a fun time doing it is almost indescribable.
I may not have the money to donate to CPC right now, but if I can motivate others to donate money, or even inspire them to create an event of their own, then I feel like I’ve made some difference.

Video games brought me a lot of joy and good memories when I was a kid, and they still do. If it can make their times a bit easier while they are in an uncomfortable situation, then I have no problems donating to the cause.

PN: How are you planning on staying up that whole time? (You are stronger men than we are)

Matthew: As we speak we are stocking up on coffee, hahaha. We also hope that constant interaction with the audience both online and offline will help us keep our energy levels up.

The break-up of games will help me keep going, especially Galaxy and Galaxy 2, which I play standing up (just like in those Wii commercials).
I honestly have no plan past that. I’m sure a lot of weird things are going to go down to keep us awake.

William: I think as far as trying to stay awake, that caffeine, and just a good diet during the attempt will be what carries us through. I’m sure the adrenaline will kick in as well, but we know we don’t want just sugar and junk-food. Having the right food will be good so that we’re still getting the nutrients we need, but also to help make up for the lack of sleep.

PN: What Mario Games will you be playing? What RPG game/s will be played?

Matthew: Well, I think I am going to start out with Super Mario Sunshine. I know it is not a popular choice when it comes to Mario games, but I have never gotten all of the Shine Sprites, so I want to accomplish that during the marathon.
You’ll definitely be seeing Super Mario 64, one of my favorites. High chance you will be seeing all of the 2D Mario platformers from the NES and SNES. Galaxy and Galaxy 2 are on the list.
GameStop is also trying to set me up with Super Mario 3D land. I can’t wait to get my hands on that one.

Waiting in the wings is Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and a few of the Mario Kart entries.

Since Will’s record only allows him to play one RPG, he will be playing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. We are going to try to have the audience interact with him here by voting on major decisions in the game.

William: I have owned Skyrim since November, and have played the game on more than one occasion, however have held off from playing it the last month or two, for the attempt in May.

PN: What are some of your goals for the event? (Besides the obvious raising money for Child’s Play)

Matthew: The more we plan this event, the less we think about Guinness and the more we think about raising money for charity. So, as long as we raise money for Child’s Play Charity, I can walk away happy even through I don’t get the record.

Hopefully, we can learn a lot from this event, and can put it to good use in the future. 

William: My goal, aside for helping to raise money for Child’s Play Charity, is to get this world record for my own personal goal. It’s a once in a lifetime type of thing to attempt, but also to own a Guinness world record has its own illustrious desire. I grew up with the Guinness World Record books, so to see my name in one, would be a dream come true.

PN: Anything else our readers may need to know?

Matthew: Our website will have a lot of information about our event: where to donate, who will be calling, what we will be playing, who will be on staff, and what will be up for auction. The site is updated every so often, so be sure to check back every so often.

I also want the readers to know how hard my team worked on this event. From the chat forum mod staff, the volunteer craftspeople, the Gamestop and University staff, the auctioneer’s, the camera people, and the technicians, everyone volunteered their time in order to help us put this event together. I simply cannot thank them enough for their time and energy, especially since a lot of us are busy with finals and the semester wrapping up.