2024 Holiday Celebration

[Beketov 9,140]

 

If you are one of the sane people who haven't been around forever in the VHL you might not know that ever since the beginning there has always been a holiday celebration. Usually just some TPE, maybe a scavenger hunt, but that was about it. I mean everyone loves TPE but still. That changed though a few years ago when @Banackock suggested we do some good for the whole and hold a charity drive; it has been a staple of the VHL experience ever since and the celebration around it has only grown as well.

 

As you can see above, this year our league charity of choice will be a split between the Canadian and American Cancer Societies who will receive our charity donations. This is, of course, just our league-supported option. As always, you are free to donate your funds to any registered charity anywhere in the world and count it towards the auction and our total numbers; all we ask is a screenshot proving the donation (though please remember to redact any personal information). 100% of the money raised by the league will be donated to the two charities with a full even 50/50 split, and the VHL will not take any cut. On top of that the league has decided to once again match up to $1000 when the final donation is put in. That means if you all donate $2500 total we'll put the donation up to $3500!n)

 

In addition to the Donation Drive, we will also kick off our Charity Auction and 12 Days of Christmas. How will it all work? Essentially the same as past years, but here are the exact details for each portion of our holiday season for 2024:

 

Charity Drive: December 12th - 24th

Starting tomorrow members can begin donating. Whether you do so through the league, by donating HERE, privately to the ACS / CCS, or any charitable foundation of your choosing (receipt proof required for donations made outside the league), it will all count towards the overall contribution from the league. From that overall contribution, the league will match donations up to $1000 CAD, and add that to the donation made through the league.

 

Please post all confirmations of donation, including Paypals through the league, auction wins, and private donations to THIS THREAD. Any donation of $5 CAD, or more, will result in an automatic personal reward of 2 Uncapped TPE + a Full Free Week (12 Capped TPE), as well as an entry to each of the first 3 tiers of the 12 Days of Christmas Raffle.

 

Like past years as well we will be accepting blood donations in the charity drive. Blood is in high demand all year round, but especially at this time. Give the gift of life to someone. If you schedule and follow through with an appointment to donate blood that will count the same as a $5 donation and have the same rewards outlined above and below. For proof just post a photo from during your donation, it doesn’t need to include your face if you don’t want it to, a shot of the machine or your arm or whatever is fine, we’ll take your word for it.

 

As this is the season of giving, members may also donate on behalf of one other user.

 

Holiday Charity Auction: December 13th-20th

@Acydburn will be posting the auction items soon but for now the full rules from last year are available here, they are unlikely to change but we will update everything if they do. Go buy something fun offered up by our community members. Auction wins will count as personal donations for the purpose of individual rewards.

 

As always there are some amazing auction items that we're looking forward to this year so it should be fun.

 

12 Days of Christmas: December 13th - 24th

This years 12 Days of Christmas will be similar to the last two years, where there will be a daily thread to claim “tickets” into our final raffle, which will be drawn on a live stream likely in the new year. As always the raffle will contain 4 tiers of prizes, with each day contributing to your entry into each tier, as follows:

 

Dec. 13 - 15: Post in the corresponding thread each day for an entry into the Tier 1 raffle (1 ticket gained per day)

Dec. 16 - 18: Post in the corresponding thread each day for an entry into the Tier 2 raffle (1 ticket gained per day)

Dec. 19 - 21: Post in the corresponding thread each day for an entry into the Tier 3 raffle (1 ticket gained per day)

Dec. 22 - 24: Post in the corresponding thread each day for an entry into the Tier 4 raffle (1 ticket gained per day)

 

Number of Winners per tier:

Tier 1: 10 Winners
Tier 2: 5 Winners
Tier 3: 3 Winners
Tier 4: 1 Winner

 

As with all our previous raffles if someone is drawn twice they will be considered as having won the higher tier item and the lower tier will be re-drawn. Users may also claim any tier underneath what they have won if they would rather have that item. No rewards can be exchanged for cash but we will ship worldwide, even if sometimes those shipping costs hurt. Obviously we do try to make this a bit easier on ourselves when we can but we'll make it work.

 

Rewards and Donation Milestones

As previously mentioned, there will be personal rewards to those who participate in the charity drive / holiday auction, as well as stretch goals to hit which will result in rewards for the community as a whole!

 

$500 Community Donations: 2 Uncapped TPE for Everyone
$1000 Community Donations: 4 Uncapped TPE for Everyone
$2000 Community Donations: PT Doubles Week for Everyone

$2500 Community Donations: 6 Uncapped TPE for Everyone yet.

$3500 Community Donations: 8 Uncapped TPE for Everyone + @Beketov will once again stream Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate and name animals after VHL members.

 

**It is likely that other community bonuses will be added but I need to check through the things offered to confirm them before I mention it, so for now just me**

 

**Disclaimer: Rewards may only be applied to players created on, or before, December 25th, 2024**

 

Let's do this @Members!

[Spartan 4,562]

I love Christmas

[Banackock 8,162]

Very near and dear to me, and most. My ex battled a rare aggressive form of cancer and beat it. She was incredible. My baba just passed away this September after a second battle with cancer. My sweet dog (I consider her a kid lol..) has a lump and the doctors say 50% chance it’s a tumour.. very expensive! Very scary. Not many things in life more important than her.  
 

This time of year is always so awesome, both in life and within the VHL. It’s beautiful. Festive. Positive. People come together to do so much good. Excited for this VHL Christmas events! Let’s have a great Holiday season, VHL.  

[Alex 3,266]

Woo!

 

[Baby Boomer 765]

[Grape 761]

32 minutes ago, Beketov said:

Like past years as well we will be accepting blood donations in the charity drive. Blood is in high demand all year round, but especially at this time. Give the gift of life to someone. If you schedule and follow through with an appointment to donate blood that will count the same as a $5 donation and have the same rewards outlined above and below. For proof just post a photo from during your donation, it doesn’t need to include your face if you don’t want it to, a shot of the machine or your arm or whatever is fine, we’ll take your word for it.

Unironically, do sperm donations count?

[Pifferfish 611]

2 minutes ago, Grape said:

Unironically, do sperm donations count?

All that gooning will finally pay off huh?

[Ricer13 2,836]

Christmas is back! 

[Beketov 9,140]

52 minutes ago, Grape said:

Unironically, do sperm donations count?

I'm going to say no, mostly because I really don't want to see those proof photos.

[youloser1337 1,122]

yay!

[Dil 1,763]

4 hours ago, Beketov said:

I'm going to say no, mostly because I really don't want to see those proof photos.

*sigh* I’ll volunteer I guess

[BOOM 8,846]

6 hours ago, Grape said:

Unironically, do sperm donations count?

 

I've already filled the quota. 

[Phil 5,133]

Happy holidays, VHL  Family and community matters a lot and I love seeing our community have fun and do some good in the community

[Grape 761]

13 hours ago, Beketov said:

I'm going to say no, mostly because I really don't want to see those proof photos.

I mean, I can just show you the form for verification. You don't need to see the batter

[animal74 1,863]

Great charity choices! Let's make this a happy Christmas VHL Fam!

[chikn 130]

 

[Josh 1,691]

A slightly delayed Happy New Years to all @Members! Thank you all for your generous donations over this holiday season. As a league we've collectively raised $2270 (with ~$800 donated to the league and $1470 coming from external donations to your chosen charities). This means that for the total for the 2024 Holiday Charity drive is $3270!

 

Note: I convert all external donations made it other currencies to CAD to calculate these sums.

Some housekeeping math and receipts:

 

Spoiler

~$800 direct donation + $1000 league match = $1800 CAD

 

As this gets split between the two charities, they work out to about $900 CAD each and given the exchange rate and PayPal's fees the ACS received $600 USD.

 

 

 

You are likely wondering where the uncapped is at so I'll get to that as well, normally I'd tell you to refer to the first post in this thread to get a handle of the prizes for each milestone butttttttt we're making some slight changes this year. We (for some reason) had always decided to include the league match in the milestone calculation over the past however many years and we're going to remove that. Every milestone will be nudged down to make it fair as future drives likely won't have the same match. We also had to come up with additional milestone rewards which have now been added:

 

On 12/11/2024 at 7:00 PM, Beketov said:

Updated  Rewards and Donation Milestones

 

$500 Community Donations: 2 Uncapped TPE for Everyone + @Nathan_8 will do a NHL 25 event

$1000 Community Donations: 4 Uncapped TPE for Everyone + @Banackock will do a Jackass style home movie for December 2025

$1500 Community Donations: PT Doubles for Everyone + @Beketov will do another Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate edition stream with animals getting the names of members

$2000 Community Donations: 6 Uncapped TPE for Everyone + @Josh will steal Bek's idea and do a live children's bedtime story stream

$2500 Community Donations: 8 Uncapped TPE for Everyone + @Josh will make a candle on stream (iykyk)

 

**Disclaimer: Rewards may only be applied to players created on, or before, December 25th, 2024**

 

Unfortunately we didn't make the last stretch goal (rip @samx) but the items we all DO get are:

• 12 Uncapped TPE
• PT Doubles Week
• @Nathan_8's NHL 25 event
• @Banackock's wholesome holiday movie  Jackass (Bana edition) coming Dec 2025
• @Beketov likely attempting to mate @Acydburn and I in a Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate stream
• @Josh reading a small selection of his son's favorite bedtime stories on stream

 

Please claim your TPE and Doubles before or on the week ending Jan 19/2025.

 

Things will be scheduled over the coming weeks likely to spread out the joy, we'll try to make sure everything is added to the forum calendar and the Discord events a good amount beforehand so everyone can partake. Awesome job everyone and we should all be proud that as a community we can come together and do our part in helping those in need.

 

From the Blues: we hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and wish you all the best in the new year!

 

[samx 1,183]

Just now, Josh said:

A slightly delayed Happy New Years to all @Members! Thank you all for your generous donations over this holiday season. As a league we've collectively raised $2270 (with ~$800 donated to the league and $1470 coming from external donations to your chosen charities). This means that for the total for the 2024 Holiday Charity drive is $3270!

 

Note: I convert all external donations made it other currencies to CAD to calculate these sums.

Some housekeeping math and receipts:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

~$800 direct donation + $1000 league match = $1800 CAD

 

As this gets split between the two charities, they work out to about $900 CAD each and given the exchange rate and PayPal's fees the ACS received $600 USD.

 

 

 

You are likely wondering where the uncapped is at so I'll get to that as well, normally I'd tell you to refer to the first post in this thread to get a handle of the prizes for each milestone butttttttt we're making some slight changes this year. We (for some reason) had always decided to include the league match in the milestone calculation over the past however many years and we're going to remove that. Every milestone will be nudged down to make it fair as future drives likely won't have the same match. We also had to come up with additional milestone rewards which have now been added:

 

 

Unfortunately we didn't make the last stretch goal (rip @samx) but the items we all DO get are:

• 12 Uncapped TPE
• PT Doubles Week
• @Nathan_8's NHL 25 event
• @Banackock's wholesome holiday movie  Jackass (Bana edition) coming Dec 2025
• @Beketov likely attempting to mate @Acydburn and I in a Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate stream
• @Josh reading a small selection of his son's favorite bedtime stories on stream

Things will be scheduled over the coming weeks likely to spread out the joy, we'll try to make sure everything is added to the forum calendar and the Discord events a good amount beforehand so everyone can partake. Awesome job everyone and we should all be proud that as a community we can come together and do our part in helping those in need.

 

From the Blues: we hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and wish you all the best in the new year!

 

NOOOOOO MY CANDLE STREAM

[Beketov 9,140]

5 minutes ago, Josh said:

@Beketov likely attempting to mate @Acydburn and I in a Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate stream

Look I don’t make the rules, if you guys decide to get it on then that is your choice.

 

Mind you we’ll have to see if a game from 2008 will even run on an ARC GPU since they are known for being iffy with older titles. Worst case I’ll buy Planet Zoo instead and use that but I would rather avoid spending the extra money if I can.

[Baozi 1,664]

 

testing

[Baozi 1,664]

[Grape 761]

16 minutes ago, Josh said:

A slightly delayed Happy New Years to all @Members! Thank you all for your generous donations over this holiday season. As a league we've collectively raised $2270 (with ~$800 donated to the league and $1470 coming from external donations to your chosen charities). This means that for the total for the 2024 Holiday Charity drive is $3270!

 

Note: I convert all external donations made it other currencies to CAD to calculate these sums.

Some housekeeping math and receipts:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

~$800 direct donation + $1000 league match = $1800 CAD

 

As this gets split between the two charities, they work out to about $900 CAD each and given the exchange rate and PayPal's fees the ACS received $600 USD.

 

 

 

You are likely wondering where the uncapped is at so I'll get to that as well, normally I'd tell you to refer to the first post in this thread to get a handle of the prizes for each milestone butttttttt we're making some slight changes this year. We (for some reason) had always decided to include the league match in the milestone calculation over the past however many years and we're going to remove that. Every milestone will be nudged down to make it fair as future drives likely won't have the same match. We also had to come up with additional milestone rewards which have now been added:

 

 

Unfortunately we didn't make the last stretch goal (rip @samx) but the items we all DO get are:

• 12 Uncapped TPE
• PT Doubles Week
• @Nathan_8's NHL 25 event
• @Banackock's wholesome holiday movie  Jackass (Bana edition) coming Dec 2025
• @Beketov likely attempting to mate @Acydburn and I in a Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate stream
• @Josh reading a small selection of his son's favorite bedtime stories on stream

Things will be scheduled over the coming weeks likely to spread out the joy, we'll try to make sure everything is added to the forum calendar and the Discord events a good amount beforehand so everyone can partake. Awesome job everyone and we should all be proud that as a community we can come together and do our part in helping those in need.

 

From the Blues: we hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and wish you all the best in the new year!

 

The math has us getting 14 uncapped instead of 12, unless I cant count

[Beketov 9,140]

1 minute ago, Grape said:

The math has us getting 14 uncapped instead of 12, unless I cant count

@Josh can’t count.

 

2 + 6 + 6 = 14 

[Baozi 1,664]

2 minutes ago, Beketov said:

@Josh can’t count.

 

2 + 6 + 6 = 14 

 

@Josh you can't count

[Josh 1,691]

4 minutes ago, Beketov said:

@Josh can’t count.

 

2 + 6 + 6 = 14 

 

Thanks for letting me know, I reduced it to 4. Copy paste error I guess.