Both actually seemed intent on keeping themselves out of the spotlight as much as possible, using Penny Arcade to promote the charity, but not using the charity to promote themselves. "We don't go back for some kind of victory lap" summarizes the discussion on that topic.
Being the guys behind Penny Arcade does have a few downsides. A handful of hospitals have refused their assistance because of Penny Arcade's brand of humor. Those that do accept, and more than 20 accepted, aren't always aware of what they're getting into. Jerry quips, "They didn't know it would be a semi," as we talk, referring to the truckload of gifts - and the full-time person needed to unpack them - Seattle Children's Hospital received in Child's Play's first year.
Their plan for Child's Play's future is simple. Keep on adding more hospitals, collecting more stuff and tweaking the system so it works better. They plan to continue letting the charity remain a separate enterprise since, as Jerry says, "I don't like the idea that the amount of good I can accomplish is limited by JPEGs that I upload. That's frustrating to me. But in a couple of years, I don't think that'll be a concern." To that end, they've been letting the unsung heroes of Child's Play, like Mike Fehlauer, Robert Khoo and Kristin Lindsay take on the running of the charity, while they stick to using their popularity to promote it and whatever crazy ideas they come up with next.
Talk of crazy ideas and the future brings us to their next enterprise, which is still hazy, but very exciting all the same. Right now, they're throwing around the idea of a Penny Arcade Scholarship, which should debut this year. Jerry and Mike haven't worked out all the details yet, but with one of the most popular sites on the Web doing the promoting, it should be a success. More importantly, both seemed pretty pumped to be working on something that was a Good Cause, proving you can have an aesthete's appreciation for fine dick jokes and still be a good person.
Millionaire playboy Shannon Drake lives a life on the run surrounded by Japanese schoolgirls and videogames. He also writes about anime and games for WarCry.
