Truck lovers have proven that it is possible to travel a distance equal to almost twice the distance from Earth to the Sun and back… without even leaving home. During the challenge presented by the makers of Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator, they broke the game records, won the keys to add-ons and made it possible to raise €15,000 to fight the coronavirus.
The #TruckAtHome campaign was launched on March 30th. The task was simple – to deliver as many orders as possible. After only 24 hours, the players travelled 120 million kilometres. In total, after the campaign ended on April 6th, it turned out that virtual drivers covered more than 584.5 million km, according to the makers of the games.
In total, more than 209,000 players were involved, and the record was broken at the very end of the campaign when on one day over 61,000 people sat behind the virtual wheels.
Virtual and real help
The figures are impressive, but the question remains – why all this fuss? The answer is simple. First of all, the organisers wanted to support the appeal of authorities in many countries, that is, stay at home.
And they rewarded the most disciplined players. After driving 20 million kilometres, everyone got a Steam key for free. In total, the Czech company SCS Software distributed over 1,200 of such keys.
But that is not all. Secondly, the game developer successively provided grants to organisations fighting against the coronavirus. It supported, among others, cooks who prepared meals for hospital staff and policemen in the Czech Republic. A total of €15,000 was donated.
The #TruckAtHome campaign was also taking place outside the virtual world. The company’s employees also supplied the most necessary products to hospitals by truck.
Although the campaign is now over, the makers of Euro Truck Simulator 2 want to continue to promote the idea of staying at home. “We will continue to browse the content shared with the hashtag (along with tagging our profiles, of course) and reward some ‘home drivers’ with free Steam keys,” they ensure.
Maybe it will be a little consolation when you have to sit at home when the weather is so beautiful?
Image: eurotrucksimulator2.com