Gamers raise $60K in memory of five-year-old B.C. Mechwarrior player, Sarah Parries, who passed away

The Internet is full of people and organizations with their virtual hands out, appealing for money to support political parties, environmental causes, medical research, or maybe acquiring a video of a mayor smoking crack.

And as this CNN report notes, one of the last places you'd expect to get a sympathetic hearing is the denizens of the online-gaming community, obsessed as they are with dominance in their pixellated universes.

But something about Sarah Marie Alida Parries cracked the hard, robotic shell of those online warriors.

The five-year-old Vancouver girl, who died in May of inoperable brain cancer, loved playing Mechwarrior with her father, Jon. Like a lot of kids, she was adept, dominating much older opponents with her favourite Mech, know as a Jenner.

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According to CBC News, Jon Parries asked the gamer community to send greetings to his daughter at Canuck Place hospice via their online forum. She died a few days later and Piranha Games, the Vancouver-based creator of Mechwarrior, posted a memorial on its forum.

The notice got a huge reaction, with many gamers offering to donate money in the little girl's memory.

"When you look at our demographic, 25 to 40, we have a lot of people who have families and have kids, so I think it struck a nerve there," said Brian Ekman, founder and creative director of Piranha Games, to CBC News.

"Our community said, 'Hey, I'm that dad, I'm that mom, I've been there, I've lost somebody to cancer, I know what this is like.' "

Piranha gave its 1.1 million registered users a way to help. It designed a Mechwarrior in Sarah's memory and asked subscribers to buy it in return for a US$10 donation to the Canadian Cancer Society.

It was, of course, a Jenner, decorated with things Sarah loved, such as a teddy bear, horse, hearts and rainbows, CBC News said. Game developers added Band-Aids and yellow daffodils, the cancer society's logo.

Sarah's Jenner, which will be available to buy until Aug. 20, also comes with a 10 per cent experience boost.

The effort quickly went viral in the world gaming community and on Twitter.

As of Saturday, the drive had raised more than $62,000.

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"Sometimes I love being called a gamer and associated with gamers," Michael Byrne wrote in a post on Free to Play.

"We have our ups and downs and the team at Mechwarrior Online certainly deserves a ton of credit for such a fantastic campaign, but it was YOUR input, the gamer’s input that made this happen. We should be proud."