How to get into the Rainbow 6: Siege Beta and help kids at the same time

Can’t wait to get your hands on the upcoming Rainbow 6: Siege game? Well then you’re in luck because Ubisoft and Extra Life have teamed up to give you a chance to not only be a part of the Rainbow 6 Closed Beta, but to also help kids in need. If you’re unfamiliar with what Extra Life is, it is a charity organization where people go on gaming marathons to raise money for various children hospitals.

Until the Closed Beta starts on September 24th, any donation of $6 or more to any Extra Life participant will give you access to the Rainbow 6: Siege beta, no ifs, ands, or buts. That means that not only are the beta access keys available for any and all platforms that the game is coming out on, but the moment that the beta starts, you can get straight to blowing apart walls. To further sweeten the deal, you can also compete for a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles for the launch of Rainbow 6: Siege. At the launch event, you can then “…show off their skills in the star-studded, interactive Siege Day launch event that will be streamed to the world”, according to Extra Life’s promo page. Needless to say, you have to be a part of the beta first to be able to compete.

One such way to donate (and thus get your hands on a beta key) is to go through the campaigns of individual participants or local organizations. One such local organization, or guild, is the Kansas City Guild. The Vice President of said guild, who prefers to go by her username Kiwi (who you can support here; whether for the beta access or for the kids is up to you), spoke briefly about why she is a participant of Extra Life. “I wanted to use something that I love doing (gaming) to benefit others,” she said. “Now I am an Extra Life Hero because CMN Hospitals don’t make families pay for the children’s treatment and that takes a huge pressure off of a family with great worries.”

Participants are not merely limited to local guilds though. Larger organizations such as Rooster Teeth, Twitch, Humble Bundle, and Reddit have participated in the past with similar offers of exclusive rewards for donors. For example, during Rooster Teeth’s annual 24 hour live stream, certain posters could only be obtained by donating during the time of the stream. By the end of the stream, poster sales contributed to more than a tenth of the roughly $500, 000 raised by Rooster Teeth last year. Aside from letting you breach rooms and shoot terrorists in the face a bit earlier than everyone else though, your donations do have an effect on all the parties involved. “All of the medical care is expensive,” said Kiwi. “And if I can help raise money by doing something I love (and that I would be doing anyway), I can really be a Hero for those kids.”