How Gamers Can Help in Wake of the Japan Disaster

All gamers probably know of the recent natural disaster and unfolding tragedy currently going on in Japan. On March 11, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the northeast region of the country, not only causing damaging shaking to cities across Japan, but devastating coastal villages and cities with tsunamis, and even causing a nuclear power plant to become a danger to the countryside it resides in. Although the media of Japan and the West have conflicting reports on just how bad the damage to the country is, one thing is for sure: the tragedy has created much human suffering, and as a result our fellow human beings in Japan need our help.

Gamers across all cultural boundaries have doubtlessly been impacted somehow by the earthquake in Japan, with Japan being the source of many of the most treasured video games in gamer culture. Therefore, most of us as gamers are probably asking the question of: “how can we help?” There are many ways gamers can help, and there have been plenty of ways gamers and game developers have been helping. However, it’s important to note that gamers should not simply help Japan just because of its ties to the game industry – gamers should help Japan because it’s fellow human beings in need. Below is a short list of some game industry-specific organizations and efforts that are contributing to the Japan earthquake relief effort. Each has a short description of what they’re doing, and how gamers can contribute to their efforts.

• Play For Japan (www.playforjapan.org <- click here): Not to be confused with the music-affiliated Play For Japan (at www.playforjapan.com, although it wouldn’t hurt to check them out too), this organization is dedicated to “communicate and channel that passion and generosity [of gamers] into the overall relief effort.” In addition to containing links to donate directly to selected and legitimate charities doing relief work in Japan’s affected areas, there are also charity auctions and event listings. Some of the charity auctions are for some justifiably cool items, such as an ultimate edition of Halo: Reach, a statue of Eddie Briggs from Brutal Legend, and other such awesome Xbox 360-related items.
• Square Enix (www.square-enix.com <- click here): The Japanese game publisher Square Enix gets a mention here because one can donate to the quake relief effort directly through the Square Enix website via donating Crysta, the online currency used as the billing system. For each Crysta donated this way, Square Enix will donate $.01 to the Japanese Red Cross Society. Gamers can donate anywhere from 1 to 10,000 Crysta, meaning anywhere from a penny to $100, so Square Enix fanboys of all income levels can do their part!
• Gamers Outreach (www.gamersoutreach.org <- click here): Although Gamers Outreach themselves aren’t specifically helping the Japan quake relief effort (at least not that was mentioned on their website), they are involved in helping other organizations contribute. For example, they helped organize a 24-hour gaming marathon along with gaming news website www.SFX-360.com to collect donations for the Red Cross that went directly to the quake relief effort.
• GamesAid (www.gamesaid.org <- click here): A United Kingdom-based charity, GamesAid primarily funds children’s charities in the UK, but they too are supporting the Japanese quake relief effort. They mostly fund the small- to medium-sized charities associated with their causes, although in the case of the quake relief effort they’re working with the British Red Cross.
• Gamers Heart Japan (www.gamersheartjapan.com <- click here): This is actually an upcoming TV special being put together by a collaboration of the video game and broadcast industries to raise money for the Red Cross. Their website isn’t complete yet (as of now it just has their logo), but until it’s complete you can check out more about the effort via their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/GamersHeartJapan.
• The American Red Cross (www.redcross.org <- click here): This may seem like one of the obvious choices despite not being gamer-specific, but it’s worth a mention here because one way to donate to them is mentioned right on the Xbox Live Dashboard: texting REDCROSS to 90999 gives a donation of $10.

This list is obviously not all that gamers are (or could be in the future) doing to help Japan recover from the quake. It is just a tiny amount, but hopefully this will be enough of an inspiration for other gamers out there reading this to contribute whatever they can to the relief effort (maybe skip that next new release and give that money to one of the organizations above. What are you doing to help out the Japanese in this time of crisis? PlanetXbox360.com is doing everything it can to help send money and provide support for victims of the natural disasters (and now Radiation) over in Japan; post your contributions below in the comments section.