Brainy Gamer

Many of you who frequent my blog know Ben Abraham. He's been a regular reader and commenter here from the beginning, and he's a familiar presence on many other game blogs. Earlier this year he founded Critical Distance in an effort to highlight some of the best writing about games from all corners of the 'net. It's an impossible task, of course, but Ben's devotion to the project and his efforts to build an inclusive aggregation site are commendable.

Ben lives in Australia where he's pursuing a Ph.D. and working toward a career in game criticism. In other words, he's crazy. So crazy, in fact, that he's decided not to let anything stop him, including his particular limited circumstances and the fact that nobody's quite sure if game criticism exists as a field of study.

My friend David Carlton and I are apparently crazy too because we've decided Ben needs to attend the upcoming Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. We're drafting him to serve as a roving reporter and generally soak up as much of the event as possible. I cover GDC each year, and it's easily the most important annual event for those of us who follow the creative side of the industry. Ben needs to be there, and we intend to help make it happen.

Gamasutra, which syndicates Critical Distance, is graciously providing a GDC 2010 all-access entry pass for Ben. So that's one big expense out of the way. David and I are working together to take care of lodging, so that leaves one more hurdle to overcome: intercontinental plane fare. And this is where I'm asking for your help.

If you'd like to support Ben and help us get him to GDC, I hope you'll consider clicking on the widget in the upper right corner of this page and contributing a few bucks. Any amount is helpful. All the money we collect will go directly to Ben’s travel expenses (except for PayPal's credit card processing fees). If you'd like to help publicize our effort by sharing this widget on your blog, just click on the ‘Copy’ tab.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Note: The ChipIn widget can be slow to update, so if you contribute but don't see it reflected immediately in the total, don't worry. It will appear soon.