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- Jul 7, 2009
Elite Gamers Set Marathon Record by Playing Video Game for 50 Hours
He just set a whole slew of world records for playing video games and knows just where he's going to put the official certificate from Guinness World Records.
"I'll put it right next to my master's degree," Dino said, just moments after he and two other elite gamers, Sean Crowley and Lauren Guiliano, spent 50 hours and one minute gaming at the PlayStation Lounge at the Sony Style Store in New York City.
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The event was partially intended to promote both a new Guinness book, "Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer's Edition," and a new Sony PlayStation game, "Little Big Planet 2," so, consequently, the record attempts were geared in that regard.
That's why the records set include one specifically for the Longest Marathon Playing "Little Big Planet 2" (50 hours, one minute), as well as less obviously promotional records such as Longest Marathon Playing a Platform Video Game (also 50 hours, one minute); Most Video Game Genres Played in One Video Game in 24 Hours (38); Most User-Generated Video Game Levels Played in 24 Hours (272); and Most User-Generated Video Game Levels Played in a Marathon (586).
For Dino, who works in a hospital as a performance improvement analyst, the whole event was a way to see just what kind of stuff he was made of.
He was happy with what he discovered.
"I want to see just how resilient I could be," he told AOL News. "Doing this is a way to show myself I can follow through with what I started."
But while Dino is truly an elite gamer, he admits he didn't prepare for this Olympian effort -- unless you consider jet lag a training method.
"I didn't change my daily routine," said Dino, 29. "But I did just recently come back from visiting my wife in Manchester, England, where she's going to school. I've been jet lagged for a week and am just get back to normal hours."
And normal body functions like sleeping, eating and answering nature's call.
"I had to find a way to balance the fatigue and the potty breaks," Dino said, adding that he was allotted 10 minutes every hour and was allowed to save them. "I tried to take a nap at one point, but I couldn't. It's been a long time since I stayed up all night.
"About two-thirds of the way through is when I hit the wall," he said. "But I was able to push through it thanks to a lot of Twitter support from my family all over the world."
Although setting a record was a highlight for this former Army medic, what he will remember about the experience are the friendships he formed with Crowley and Guiliano in the heat of competition.
"I knew Sean through the Internet and we had a friendly rivalry, and it was nice to put a face to the name," he said.
In addition to the intrepid trio, local supporters took turns playing as well, and the overall camaraderie -- the feeling that people were banding together to do something really great -- really impressed Guinness representative Stuart Claxton.
"They really approached the record in unison even though they didn't know each other," he said.
Claxton has seen his share of world record attempts and says marathons are particularly tricky.
"Any marathon requires pacing, and these three maintained the momentum throughout the event," he said. "This is about stamina."
He just set a whole slew of world records for playing video games and knows just where he's going to put the official certificate from Guinness World Records.
"I'll put it right next to my master's degree," Dino said, just moments after he and two other elite gamers, Sean Crowley and Lauren Guiliano, spent 50 hours and one minute gaming at the PlayStation Lounge at the Sony Style Store in New York City.
Link Removed - Invalid URL
The event was partially intended to promote both a new Guinness book, "Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer's Edition," and a new Sony PlayStation game, "Little Big Planet 2," so, consequently, the record attempts were geared in that regard.
That's why the records set include one specifically for the Longest Marathon Playing "Little Big Planet 2" (50 hours, one minute), as well as less obviously promotional records such as Longest Marathon Playing a Platform Video Game (also 50 hours, one minute); Most Video Game Genres Played in One Video Game in 24 Hours (38); Most User-Generated Video Game Levels Played in 24 Hours (272); and Most User-Generated Video Game Levels Played in a Marathon (586).
For Dino, who works in a hospital as a performance improvement analyst, the whole event was a way to see just what kind of stuff he was made of.
He was happy with what he discovered.
"I want to see just how resilient I could be," he told AOL News. "Doing this is a way to show myself I can follow through with what I started."
But while Dino is truly an elite gamer, he admits he didn't prepare for this Olympian effort -- unless you consider jet lag a training method.
"I didn't change my daily routine," said Dino, 29. "But I did just recently come back from visiting my wife in Manchester, England, where she's going to school. I've been jet lagged for a week and am just get back to normal hours."
And normal body functions like sleeping, eating and answering nature's call.
"I had to find a way to balance the fatigue and the potty breaks," Dino said, adding that he was allotted 10 minutes every hour and was allowed to save them. "I tried to take a nap at one point, but I couldn't. It's been a long time since I stayed up all night.
"About two-thirds of the way through is when I hit the wall," he said. "But I was able to push through it thanks to a lot of Twitter support from my family all over the world."
Although setting a record was a highlight for this former Army medic, what he will remember about the experience are the friendships he formed with Crowley and Guiliano in the heat of competition.
"I knew Sean through the Internet and we had a friendly rivalry, and it was nice to put a face to the name," he said.
In addition to the intrepid trio, local supporters took turns playing as well, and the overall camaraderie -- the feeling that people were banding together to do something really great -- really impressed Guinness representative Stuart Claxton.
"They really approached the record in unison even though they didn't know each other," he said.
Claxton has seen his share of world record attempts and says marathons are particularly tricky.
"Any marathon requires pacing, and these three maintained the momentum throughout the event," he said. "This is about stamina."
