The third annual Running of the Trolls took place on June 10, 2017. The event takes place inside World of Warcraft. The purpose is to raise money for a good cause – The Trevor Project. It’s always awesome when people who play video games get together in an effort to help others.
The Running of the Trolls was inspired by another event that takes place inside of World of Warcraft – the Running of the Gnomes (which raises awareness and money for breast cancer treatment.) Both events are run by Dravie. That being said, Blizzard Entertainment is going to turn the Running of the Gnomes into an in-game micro-holiday this October.
Trolls, and Gnomes, are two of the races that a player can choose in World of Warcraft. Trolls are part of the Horde, and Gnomes are part of the Alliance. Anyone can roll a brand new, level one, Troll (or Gnome – depending on which event is taking place) and participate.
All players gather in a specific place and attempt to run from there to another location within the game. This is difficult, because low level player characters will get attacked along the way by non-player characters (animals, monsters, humanoids, etc.) that are a higher level.
This year, the goal for Running of the Trolls 2017 was to raise $2,000 for the Trevor Project. The event raised $2,692 from a total of 107 donations. They beat their goal!
The Trevor Project was founded in 1988. It is the leading organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.