Update 16:30 GMT: They did it! The Half-Life community managed to more than double the previous record for the most fans playing the original Half-Life at once. The new all-time peak player record is now 12,310. The original report follows.

The Half-Life community is gearing up to break a world record today as part of its #RememberFreeman campaign. Fans of the series are asked to boot up the original Half-Life for at least half an hour today, in a bid to break its 6,000 concurrent players record.

The operation is already proving successful, with a sharp increase in Half-Life players apparent in the early hours of August 14. More than 1,200 players are online right now, and it remains to be seen if even more tag in to help beat the previous record.

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The campaign isn't meant to officially start until 15:00 GMT, but it looks like some fans got an early start. Sure enough, as we approach the countdown for the challenge to begin, more and more players are logging on.

#RememberFreeman was promoted last month by many within the Half-Life community, including YouTuber Radiation Hazard. While it may initially sound like a way of getting Valve's attention back on the series, Radiation Hazard explains that the idea behind the campaign is to simply show the world that the Half-Life community is alive and well.

A website has been set up to continuously keep track of how many players are participating in the event. Everything you could want to know about the challenge is also included here, so it's perfect for anyone who wants to get involved.

As the website reminds fans, you'll have to be playing vanilla Half-Life for this to count. Mods such as Half-Life: Source, Blue Shift, Opposing Force, Decay, Sven Co-op will not be counted towards the total amount of concurrent players. You still have plenty of time to join in if you want to participate, and there's still quite the way to go until fans have reached their goal.

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