Rare announced today that the Sea of Thieves community helped to raise $76,205.90 for the SpecialEffect charity, through purchases of the Noble Pathfinder Sails."Pirates are known for plundering and hoarding their gold, but clearly that’s not the case when fellow seafarers need a helping hand", Rare said. "We were overjoyed by the generosity shown by our players in raising this stunning amount and simply want to say… thank you! The proceeds from each purchase of the Noble Pathfinder sails, designed by our dedicated Art team, all contributed towards this donation."SpecialEffect is a UK-based organisation dedicated to helping those with disabilities to be able to play games, with a wider goal of improving mental health, rehabilitation, and confidence. The SpecialEffect team do wonderful work; visiting players to learn about their situation and what games they'd like to play, and then matching them with existing technology, or else modifying or creating new equipment to best help them play. SpecialEffect helped to design the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which was itself intended to help players with limited mobility. The sort of technology they have includes chin joysticks and even eye-control systems; for instance, their EyeMine software helps gamers with disabilities to play Minecraft with their eyes.Microsoft seem to have a good relationship with SpecialEffect. Recently, head of Xbox Game Marketing Aaron Greenberg was made an honorary Vice President for the charity. "I have been incredibly inspired by the critically important work @MickDonegan and the team @SpecialEffect are doing every day to help gamers with physical disabilities. I’m honored to be a SpecialEffect VP and hope others will join me in supporting their great work!" he said, in a tweet about the news.SpecialEffect have already helped several gamers this year; most recently, Pete, who's spinal injury meant he couldn't move his fingers. The SpecialEffect therapists discovered he could use a foam ball placed on top of a specialist joystick very well, and when this was paired with a few head switches to mimic the A and B buttons, Pete was able to get back into FIFA and Forza. Dr. Mick Donegan, founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, came forwards to express his gratitude to Rare and the Sea of Thieves community for the money they raised: “I’d just like to say a huge swashbuckling thank you to Rare and the Sea of Thieves community for their incredible support with the sale of the Noble Pathfinder Sails as part of the Festival of Giving. I’m blown away! Your amazing generosity is a huge boost to SpecialEffect and will help my charity to help many more gamers with severe disabilities – not only in the UK but right across the world.”