The “Everyday Heroes” photography contest from Life Is Strange is becoming a reality, through a collaboration between Square Enix and the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER).
For every photo or story of overcoming hardship posted on Twitter under the hashtag “#EverydayHeroes,” Square Enix will donate money to PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center.
A website dedicated to the project is here.
The hashtag will be active all this week. So far there’s not much there. Hopefully that will change, since bullying is a really serious problem that often gets treated like a side effect of being a teenager. That’s definitely not the case for the people who suffer from bullying and abuse in their lives.
I wish this campaign all the success in the world, despite the misgivings that myself and others had about the way bullying was handled in Life is Strange itself. The trailer for this campaign does its earnest best to relate every moment of abuse and violence from the game to the real-life struggles of teenagers.
For all its hamfistedness, Life is Strange is one of the only games that comes remotely close to addressing things like harassment and depression among high school students. And its focus on queer teenager girls is a rarity as well. Playing the game can be a rough experience.
Contribute to the #EverydayHeroes hashtag between now and January 19 to help a good cause.
