One Special Day Aims to Raise Money for Gamers with Disabilities Today Through Sale of Certain Games

By Kyle McKenney | July 15, 2016 | 11:05am

Video Games News

Today, the charity organization Special Effect is hosting One Special Day, an event where the sales of 30 different games all go to help gamers with disabilities. Today only, when you buy certain games, including Dear Esther, Broforce, Not A Hero, OlliOlli 2 and many more, all or part of the sale will be donated to Special Effect. In addition, Special Effect has partnered with geek clothing outlet Insert Coin. Throughout July for every sale of this shirt, Insert Coin will donate £5.

Special Effect is also running a charity auction through eBay, selling unique gaming collectibles such as a LittleBigPlanet PS4 faceplate signed by the Media Molecule team or a limited-edition vinyl soundtrack of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture signed by composer Jessica Curry. One of Special Effect’s partners, the studio Ripstone, is doing a day-long Twitch stream to help raise money. The majority of the games they have developed, including Stick it to the Man and Knytt Underground, are being sold to support Special Effect.

Most able-bodied gamers never have to think about it, but playing games requires a surprising amount of physical ability. From games like Pokémon GO that require you to walk to play, to just holding a controller, the physical act of playing games can often prove impossible for people with disabilities. Special Effect works with individuals with disabilities to modify or create controllers specific to them so they too can enjoy this wonderful medium.

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“Our mission is to enable anyone, whatever their physical disability, to enjoy video games, leisure technology and communication,” their website reads. “But we’re not just doing it for the sake of fun. By giving people the means to participate, we’re kick-starting rehabilitation, inclusion and confidence.” And they do all of this free of charge.

Playing games is something we can take for granted. But watching Special Effect’s videos, it’s clear that being able to play a videogame can make such a huge difference to the people they help. The faces of the people they help, kids and adults, light up with pure joy when they can finally start playing games. With today’s event, One Special Day, they aim to raise £25,000. You can help by purchasing any of the following games on Steam or on Green Man Gaming, where they have a page dedicated to One Special Day and have discounted the participating games.

Always Sometimes Monsters via Vagabond Dog
Big Sky Infinity via Ripstone
Block’Hood via Plethora Project
Broforce via Free Lives
Cosmic Clean-Up via Ripstone
Dear Esther via The Chinese Room
Dream League Soccer via First Touch Games
Extreme Exorcism via Ripstone
Flyhunter Origins via Ripstone
Gods Will Be Watching via Deconstructeam
Gun Commando via Ripstone
Heavy Bullets via Terri Vellmann
Ironcast via Ripstone
Kitty Powers Match Maker via Magic Notion
Knytt Underground via Ripstone
Men’s Room Mayhem via Ripstone
New Star Soccer via New Star Games
Not a Hero via Roll 7
OlliOlli via Roll 7
OlliOlli2 via Roll 7
Pure Chess via Ripstone
Pure Hold’em via Ripstone
Pure Pool via Ripstone
Radial-G: Racing Revolved via Tammeka
Rapture – World Conquest via Tundra Games
Really Big Sky via Ripstone
Score Hero via First Touch Games
Shaman DLC via Nomad Games
Stealth Inc 2 via Curve Digital
Stealth Bastard Deluxe via Curve Digital
Stick It To The Man! via Ripstone
Stikbold via Game Swing
Super Glyph Quest, on iOS or Android from We Love Dragons
Table Top Racing via Ripstone
TerraTech Deluxe Edition via Payload Studios
Titan Souls via Acid Nerve

Even if none of these games appeal to you, you might consider donating directly to this admirable cause here. Videogames can bring so much positivity into people’s lives, and disabilities should never stand in the way of that. You can read more about One Special Day here and watch Special Effect’s video about their work below.