LOTRO PvMP 4 Extra Life: Recap & Winners

 

On September 5th, which was International Charity Day, I hosted a PvMP event on the Landroval server with the help of my kin, Away Shall Fade. We knocked it out of the park, and I'm here to brag about our success!

Let's face it -- PvMP doesn't get a whole lot of love in LOTRO, either from the devs or the wider community as a whole. Some of the servers have developed reputations for toxic players on one side or the other (and sometimes both). But that doesn't mean there aren't players who are out on the Moors all the time, enjoying every moment of it.

My History with PvMP

My very first experience with my current kinship, Away Shall Fade, happened over 3 years ago. I was starting fresh on Landroval since I had nobody to play with on Arkenstone, and I was randomly recruited through World Chat to Away Shall Fade. There wasn't much of anything going on at the time, as it was a Tuesday afternoon, but the officer who recruited me invited me to join them for PvMP that night. I had only tried PvMP once before on Arkenstone, but I figured I'd give it a shot -- it might tell me a lot about the kinship I had joined. 

Turns out that the kinship had also founded the monster tribe Nimrodel Exiles, and that night they gained a spider. The rest is history, because they made it so absolutely fun that I became a regular for a long while -- at least until a D&D game needed me on Tuesday nights. I've never forgotten the thrill of the hunt and being hunted, and really having to rely on your fellows to achieve victory!

That's why this year I decided I should take Extra Life to PvMP. I knew there were several members of Away Shall Fade who just about eat, sleep and breathe it, and they were enthusiastic about the idea when I pitched it a few months ago. I reached out to Cord, our community manager, and he was super awesome at providing some great loot rewards for participants.

Fast forward to this past Saturday! I was floored by the turnout of people, and I played on the Freep side for the first time ever. I died a few times, but even without turning in any quests I went all the way to Rank 4 in the course of 3 hours! Many thanks to everyone who rezzed me -- and I hope the couple of rezzes I managed were helpful!

We took breaks every so often to reconvene in Glan Vraig and give everyone the opportunity to make a donation. Donations began happening before I had a chance to run everyone through the specific directions I had posted on my donation page, and as a result I had to ask people who had donated anonymously to please e-mail me with their info and which side they had meant to vote for. This resulted me not being able to announce winners right at the end of the event.

The Good News

Together we raised $1,550.50 over the course of 3 hours from 49 donors! I had been sitting at $520 before the event, which was ahead of where I usually am at this point in the year, so my current total is around $2,099 (there's a Facebook donation from another country that is pending conversion, I think!).

This means I shot past all of my stretch goals...

...and have to make some more! I think $2500, $2750, $3000, $4000 and a $5000 will be good milestones so I'm not overwhelmed on having to deliver the incentives. Do you have any ideas for them? Think about it and let me know! I have done crazy things like eat the world's hottest chocolate bar or tried sushi for the first time.

The Bad News

I left some very specific directions on my donation page for the event competition, and... well... I'm sad to say that I had to disqualify some of the votes. Here's what my page has had on it for directions ever since the event was announced on Twitter:

• There were a handful of people who donated on both sides, which effectively negated their vote. And since they negated their vote, they were no longer eligible to partake of the winning of LOTRO Points. I am, however, going to let them have the cosmetic pet since they donated. 
  
  
• There were also a few people who did not donate the minimum of $10, so I did not count their votes either. I am going to let them have the cosmetic pet since they did donate, and this is for charity.
  
  
• There were also people who donated multiple times using the same e-mail address, and I had to disqualify their extra votes. Again, they'll still receive the cosmetic pet.

I have put in the request to Cord for more codes that I need, and when he gets those to me I will start handing them out to the donors and winners!

What You Really Came Here For

I know, you want to know who won. 

FREEPS! By an exact 3:1 difference, I might add.

However, I want to thank EVERYONE on BOTH SIDES for coming out and making the event successful! Not only did you help me raise a huge chunk of change for the kids and their families who rely on Children's National, but you showed everyone that PvMP is not a dead or derelict part of the LOTRO community!

More About Extra Life

I am on my 8th year of Extra Life, and started participating after LOTRO's former community manager, Sapience, brought it to my attention. I have played for the same hospital every year (Children's National) because they treat international children in need and also put a lot of money into researching childhood illnesses. The people who coordinate with them are awesome, also.

I encourage everyone who games to register for Extra Life and support your local Children's Miracle Network Hospital here in the States or in Canada!