In Gaming for Good: สมัครวันนี้ Charitable Initiatives in the eSports World, Charity Digital’s Will Bond interviews people who use video games to promote charities and charitable initiatives. The podcast examines how charities and gaming companies can work together to support the global community.

Competitive video gaming, or esports, has reached popularity levels comparable to mainstream sports. In 2019, the League of Legends World Championship attracted more viewers than the NFL Super Bowl. This growth has prompted many video game companies to start linking their interests with the wider world through charitable initiatives.

Gaming for Good: Charitable Initiatives in the eSports World”

Some of the biggest gaming for good campaigns run on live streaming platform Twitch, which has 2.2 million active broadcasters and attracts 15 million visitors every day. Using the power of this community, broadcasters can raise funds through the sale of merchandise and their time spent accepting donations from the audience. One example is a monthly event for U.K. charity Gamers Beat Cancer, which sees gamers take donations to help buy consoles and games for children with cancer.

Other examples include Extra Life, a 24-hour gaming marathon that raises money for children’s hospitals, and Zeldathon, a Zelda-focused event that has raised over $2.5 million to date for charities including Child’s Play and Direct Relief. Animal charity Blue Cross also runs an annual gaming for good fundraising appeal, called Paws 2 Play, which invites gamers with a broad range of social media followers to play or stream for 1897 minutes to raise money for its cause.