Hey there folks. A few days ago I posted a blog asking people to vote on potential ideas for my contribution to the upcoming Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run VIII. If you're unfamiliar with the GBCER, it's a fantastic community initiative that raises funds for Pencils of Promise, a charity dedicated to providing education to children in developing countries. First and foremost, thanks to those of you who voted on that blog. Thanks also to those who cast votes away from this blog, on Facebook and in other places. It was a close fought thing between a blind playthrough of inFamous 2 and a marathon of the first three Spyro games (and to be honest, I'm a little surprised that the proposal of a Pokémon Diamond Randomizer Nuzlocke got no love whatsoever), but ultimately Cole MacGrath won out over the little purple dragon.

On Sunday 22nd April, starting at 10:00am BST (that's 5:00am EDT), I'll be embarking on a marathon playthrough of inFamous 2, the second game in Sucker Punch's PlayStation-exclusive, open-world superhero action series. While I played through the first inFamous last year, I've never touched its sequel before. It's therefore going to be a completely blind playthrough, with no previous knowledge of the game. My goal is to either play the game until the credits roll, or play for twenty-four hours straight - whichever milestone comes first. The whole thing will be available to watch live on ExplosiveRuns.com, where you'll be also able to tune into various charity livestream shenanigans over the whole long weekend. And that's not all. In the name of charity, I'm going to put myself at the mercy of my donors by attempting something I've decided to call a 'Karma By Committee' run.

So what is a 'Karma By Committee' run, exactly? Simply put, it's a little caveat that allows donors to get involved with the stream and potentially modify the way my playthrough unfolds. Players of inFamous 2 will be aware of its morality system, which allows players to shape their version of Cole as either a hero or a villain depending on the actions they take and story choices they make over the course of the game. Ordinarily these choices would be made by the player, but for this special charity stream, I'm going to let my donors dictate Cole's morality for me. It's very simple - every donor is encouraged to align their donation with Good or Evil. At any given moment, whichever moral alignment has the most funds behind it will determine how I play inFamous 2. Whenever the game presents me with a moral choice, no matter how major or minor, I must side with the alignment with the most amassed donations at that moment in time.

While I expect a handful of early donors to determine how the Karma By Committee run will start, I'm also aware that donations can (and hopefully will) come in over the course of the stream. Obviously, this gives scope for Cole's morality to change, perhaps once, perhaps several times, over the course of my playthrough. Given that I have no previous experience with inFamous 2, I can't say for certain what impact that might have on the overall experience, but I can use my time spent with the first inFamous to hazard some educated guesses. If morality feeds into some kind of skill tree system, opening some branches while closing off others as it did in the first game, then one or more mid-game changes might end up locking me out of using certain abilities, thereby making the game harder. It may also result in me being locked out from earning certain Trophies over the course of my playthrough. To be clear, I am absolutely fine with either of these things happening. I don't anticipate there being any consequences of playing the game in this way that will prevent me from at least finishing the story missions. If anyone out there knows differently, please let me know.

The other eventuality to consider is that at some point, the two moral alignments may end up with a tied amount of donations. In the (unlikely, but nonetheless possible) event that this happens, I will allow any moral choices within the game to be determined by the live chat for as long as the totals remain tied. I haven't decided the specifics of how this will work - I may just go with the first person to post a response, or I may give the chat a one-minute window to cast votes before siding with the majority. Whatever the mechanics of a tie situation end up being, I'll be sure to relay them to you all in plenty of time before the start of the stream.

I think that's all I have to say on the matter. If anyone has any questions about the inFamous 2 Karma By Committee run, please post them in the comments below, or hit me up with a PM. If you'd like to donate to the cause, you can do so via my Pencils of Promise page - my goal this year is to raise $150, which would be enough to see two kids through school for a year. Please be sure to mark your donation with either a Good or Evil alignment in the comment field, so it can feed into the Karma By Committee aspect of the playthrough. And if you'd like to watch the action unfold live, then tune into ExplosiveRuns.com from 10:00am BST on Sunday 22nd April. Until then, thanks very much for reading folks. Take care, and I'll see you around.

Daniel

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Currently playing - Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS3)