College student at Austin Peay State University here in Clarksville, TN is currently a little over an hour away from breaking the Guinness World Record for continuous play of GTA IV. The current record is 40 hours 21 minutes, however, David is aiming to double that at 80 hours 42 minutes. He is doing this in an effort to gain attention for the youth swim team he is coaching here in Clarksville, which sadly is lacking a pool in which to practice. The money raised from donations and from sales here at Retro's Arcade during the event will go toward the purchase of an indoor pool for the team.
One of the many articles about this attempt is located at
Clarksville Online .If you are interested in his cause or reading more about David himself, check out the article. There are many other articles on various websites if you google 'David Scherer world record'.
I work with David at the university fitness center and have been here with him nearly the entire time. I'd just like to say that an hour away from breaking the 40 hour mark, David is still going strong. He IS absolutely sick of the game, though.
If anyone would like to help us out with this cause, please feel free to spread the word to any websites that may be interested in reporting on it. So far, we have received word that this attempt has been covered in both New Zealand and, according to some very nice guy from Brazil who came into chat with David on the ustream website, it was broadcast on their largest news station. I believe a man from England and one from China also logged in for some online play with David. So, the word is definitely spreading, but the more publicity the better. It'd be wonderful to raise even a bit of money to get these kids a swimming pool.
The website for the swim team is:
http://www.swimmingeagles.com
Retro's Arcade ( where the event is being hosted) has a link to a paypal account for any donations on their website at:
http://www.retrosclassicarcade.comhttp://www.ustream.tv/dman24676 - is the location of the live broadcast
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Seems like a waste of everyone's time, to me.
Also, you'd think he could do something creative and, y'know, related to swimming. Like.. I dunno, marathon swimming laps at the nearest pool that actually does exist. Or sitting on the roof of their pool-less rec center in a speedo for x number of days.
I dunno. It's also weird that a swim team is established enough to have a website, but not a pool?
Anywho, I'm all for helping out local sports teems, youth leagues, and whatnot. But I feel that:
a) The local community should be helping out. Doesn't some guy in England have a local youth league he would do better to support?
and
b) Um.. GTA for Swimming? Really?
I guess I just don't get it. I'll probably get stomped for that, but there it is.
All you have to do is not sleep for 40 hours, moving thumbsticks around? I mean GTA isnt the kind of game that provides a challenge if you choose to avoid it...
Dude, it's 40hrs nonstop. That's close to 2 days. Doing nothing but playing ONE game.
Wouldn't your sister be able to? Your mother or father?
I mean, if someone was resolute on setting a ratified world record, isn't playing a game like GTA -- where there isn't even really "game over," or alternatively where you are never forced to even encounter "game over" if you don't go looking for it -- for 41 hours a free pass?
I've stayed awake for way more than 41 hours because of things like poor decision-making or wanting to reset my sleep schedule. Hell, when I had the flu I was awake and in bed for like 60 hours. Give me a controller and I could have been a world record-holder. :P
edit: I'm not saying that this isn't an accomplishment, I'm saying that it's the easiest world record to break I've ever heard of. When it's set at 80 hours, after this guy is done, it'll be much closer to par with how I envision the challenge level of "world records."
I wonder if they'll take my record breaking "Bottle of soda left half-full in room" from long ago.
Especially when a lot of the times Guinness allows pee breaks or resting for 10 minutes every couple of hours