Red’s Corner is a bi-weekly column by Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner released every other Thursday across both Tek-9 & Cadred.

Paul's last three columns can be read by clicking the following links:

For this story of community spirit and hope that lead to something amazing we have to go back in time. So pardon me for popping you in the Cadred TARDIS and whisking you back to June of this year. Back then, a steam group was formed that ultimately aimed to boycott Valves latest creation, Left4Dead 2. So incited by the changes were this group they felt compelled to make a steam group and intended to go ahead and boycott the game.

My first reaction to this was "well that’s not very clever as Valve will just delete the group", but I was hopelessly and thankfully wrong about the big monster that is Gabe Newell’s baby. Fast forward to September of this year and Valve flies the group out to their headquarters to discuss their grievances of the game and why they feel the need to boycott it. They were also given free reign to play the game in Valve’s offices, and pretty much one and all left with a feeling that actually, it was rather spiffing and their initial reactions were flawed. Hurrah, everyone at Valve rejoiced and they all had cups of tea and scones to celebrate (I may have made that last bit up, but they were certainly happier).

It also has to be said that having allayed the fears of some of the most hardcore and fervent supporters of boycotting the game by flying them over to play the game, Valve inadvertently opened the flood gates to disgruntled supporters (oxymoron anyone?) of their games. They also happened to inject a new belief in the company (from humble fans) that have, for years it seems, ignored many parts of their enormous empire, particularly the voices here at Cadred to "FIX THE BLOODY GAME" when it comes to Counter Strike Source.

Also in September and in part due to the success of Valve having listened to its community on Left4Dead2 a chap, little known outside of Australia, called Joe W-A felt inspired enough to set up a new site that would enable him, on behalf of others, to fly Gabe Newell out to Australia to meet with him and discuss his mod, a new campaign for the original L4D.

Joe needed to raise the best part of $3000 and somehow, through the generosity of his fans and fellow game lovers, he managed to collect it all in just 3 days. Having conversed with Joe, via email, Gabe agreed to the visit. Now, let’s just think about that for a second. Sure, it’s a great story (on the back of some good publicity for Valve already) and yes, it’s heartening to know that a community that feels passionately about one of their games can group together collectively and raise a fairly large pot of cash to send over a top bloke from Valve to meet with them. No one will disagree with any of that, but does Valve’s top man really fly economy? I think not. And in any case, he wouldn’t fly alone, so it would probably cost a little more than the initial estimate.

That said, Gabe himself did send an email back to Joe quoting costs from Expedia. This is also posted on Joe’s blog which you can see for yourself here: flygabenewell.blogspot.com

It is possible he travelled in cattle class all the way to Australia after all, but pedantic technicalities aside, this is another victory for the man on the street so to speak. It is certainly a victory for all of the communities around the world who want a closer relationship with a game maker. I haven’t heard of anyone else getting involved to this level with their paymasters before and for that alone, I salute Valve as innovators and listeners, something that just doesn’t exist at many game makers these days.

For your information the meeting took place this week although when Joe initially sent his email to Gabe for him to check over his new campaign in Left4Dead, Gabe cheekily wrote back that he was "boycotting the campaign" in reference to the former steam group, which showed he has a light side too.

Now obviously Valve made hay with all of this and issued a timely press release last week announcing how this had all gone down. They included all of the juicy stuff and made Gabe look like the Jesus of video-gaming, and frankly I didn’t care. He deserves credit for taking the action he did and Joe deserves all the praise in the world for getting him to agree AND for raising the money to do it.

What the press release won’t tell you however is this: Not a single dime of the money raised actually went to Valve or indeed paid for the trip itself. Instead Valve asked Joe to donate the entire amount to charity, which he duly did to a charity called "Child’s Play". Now that’s classy.

Selfishly however, we sat here at Heaven Media’s offices wondering what it would take to get one of our many emailed questions or requests for interviews to be heard. Other than raising money on Cadred to buy a giant air filled penis with the words "PLEASE HEAR OUR CALL" inscribed on it and then flying it past their HQ windows, we couldn’t think of much, especially that would actually get our calls or emails returned. We could hardly copy the same ideas from the previous two successful attempts at procuring the Valve CEO’s presence on our site, so we needed something original (and less offensive than a giant inflatable penis, even though I personally liked the idea).

We had to decide what we really wanted. Well, I think we all want the game to be fixed, at least some of the long outstanding "features" that have just been there for what seems like forever. For me, having multi core support would be awesome too and there are a whole host of things that could be improved that will undoubtedly be spammed in the comment section of this very article. But even then, is it realistic to expect Valve to fix a game that came out almost 5 years ago now? Possibly not, but we would at least like some answers to the many questions that have been asked for the last few years and if getting Gabe Newell over to answer them for us is what it would take, then let’s do that. Who better than the CEO to tell us their plans for Counter Strike in the coming years?

The trouble is, whilst I could probably persuade my CEO to part with a large amount of cash to pay for his flight, that really isn’t going to work either. I am sure Mr. Newell has a fair amount of the green folding stuff and that he could, should he wish, pay for himself. The real deal is in the story so that not only does something get done for a community that have long supported Valve and their software, but they get the good PR they would undoubtedly deserve from it. It needs to be a stunt.

So here is what I have to offer. If Gabe Newell agrees to meet with us (the Cadred news team) to discuss Counter Strike: Source, I will enter the London Marathon in 2010, raise a minimum of £10,000 (via donations from Cadred users and Heaven Media’s CEO!) and donate the entire amount to charity. All Gabe has to do is get himself to London for the weekend and meet with us to answer our questions, and for us to then publish them here on Cadred. If it swings the deal, I am also prepared to run the marathon dressed as a giant inflatable penis/Left4Dead2 Character (delete where applicable).

Yes, I am and we are, just that passionate about "our" game that we would go to almost any lengths to have a day to speak to you about it. I am sure there are plenty of other communities out there right now who would do anything for the chance to meet with "Sir Gabe" and talk about their game, but having supported Valve for so long and through so many years, with us now prepared to let one of our own loose on the London Marathon just for others amusement and – of course – charitable gain, how can they can ignore us any longer?

If you ignore this challenge Valve, you are only letting down the children who would benefit from the money we would undoubtedly raise for them but also that of a community who love your games with epic passion. And besides, according to 83% of all Australian gamers* you can walk on water now, so getting over the Atlantic should be a doddle.

*83% of all statistics are made up.

If all else fails, I shall just go to the press and tell them I am Gabe Newell’s and Alyx Vance’s love child.

Over to you Valve.