SEATTLE — Video games have many purposes. Some are used for education, most for entertainment, and these days, many for streaming. Another innovative feature that has come out of streaming is the ability to raise money.
According to the Entertainment Rating Sofware Board—the governing body that rates video games and apps so that parents can make informed choices—67 percent of U.S. households play video games. There are millions of gamers worldwide. The appeal continues to grow and the gaming industry generated $10.5 billion in 2009.
In 1971, Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), was founded. It is a French nonprofit organization that is dedicated to assisting people in need by providing medical treatment. MSF succeeds in doing so irrespective of race or religion, while also observing neutrality. Due to this, they are recognized as a symbol of humanitarian aid in every nation they visit.
For years, they have provided care to people around the world, free of charge, while paying local staff competitive wages for their country standards. MSF is assisting people in more than 70 countries, and they are currently providing vital care, such as vaccinations and research publications distributed to the world to help global response efforts.
In such a mass scale, the global operation costs millions of dollars to operate. According to MSF, total expenses were $282,682,561 for 2014. The organization spent more than $65 million in South Sudan, Congo (DRC) and Haiti alone in 2014.
So what do video games have to do with financing humanitarian aid?
Video game streaming has become a source of income for many professional gamers. Streamers can potentially make six figures, and a rare few even break seven figures. Twitch.tv has become a video streaming platform that has started to rival YouTube in terms of revenue.
Enter Games Done Quickly is the name of the charity marathon event that is organized twice a year in which video game volunteers play games at an extremely fast pace. The event is streamed 24 hours for a week straight on Twitch. During the event, money is raised online for MSF by viewer pledges.
These volunteers are usually expert gamers when playing their respective game, and they exploit glitches and show viewers cool gaming strategies while completing games at record speeds. An average game that may take a casual player 30 hours will be completed in less than 3 hours.
The streams are lively and different hosts chime in and keep the crowd and players going. Public viewers are able to stop by and view their favorite games, such as Legend of Zelda or Super Mario Brothers, with a community of gamers while chatting and donating money.
Recently, Games Done Quickly completed their Summer Games Done Quickly (SGDQ). They had millions of collective views and raised more than $1.2 million for MSF. The event was a huge success and is a good example of people using their unique video game skills to contribute to an extremely beneficial cause.
As video games continue to progress into the mainstream and generate more and more revenue, the opportunity to mobilize an entire demographic to humanitarian causes has never looked more promising. The gaming community is making a positive impact on the world by champion causes such as SGDQ. They will continue to donate, as long as our princess is in another castle.
Sources: Doctors Without Borders 1, Doctors Without Borders 2, ESRB, Games Done Quickly
Photo: Flickr