The image of an online gaming marathon, to the uninitiated, is young people with a game controller reacting to what they see on the screen in front of them and blowing stuff up.

It would not include slapstick, such as a pie in the face. But that’s exactly what happened at a Zeldathon marathon named after the game The Legend of Zelda that benefited medical charity Help Hope Live.

“It was not surprising to see them reach their goals – like this pie-in-the-face stretch goal – once we saw just how engaged and supportive their community is. Taking a pie in the face was an unusual but heartfelt way for me to help express our gratitude,” said Shannon Shensky, director of communications at Help Hope Live.

Online video games are raising millions of dollars annually and are becoming more of an entertainment platform, where people log onto the Twitch or Tiltify platforms to compete, watch others competing or for the added entertainment from game hosts.

“For the charity and the broadcasting side, it is really interesting. A lot of people ask why would you watch someone play this game when you could play it yourself? Well, why do you watch people play baseball if they are better than you?,” asked MC Moffit, creator of Zeldathon and other marathons that have raised more than $3.5 million for various charities. Moffit is founder of Kinstone LLC, the umbrella for the marathons. He is also under contract as senior broadcast producer for the nonprofit Direct Relief.

“They are entertaining. They are funny. They put on a good show. They are as funny as any stand-up comedian,” said Moffit.

Online gaming is big business. Data firm Statista estimates that $455.27 billion will be spent worldwide on video games this year, up from an estimated $200 billion in 2020. The projection is $625 billion will be spent by 2028. The most recent number of gamers is from 2020, with an estimated 210 million gamers in North America. The largest gamer region is Asia-Pacific, with 1.4 billion gamers as of 2020.

China and the United States dominate the market with the majority of the games now digital. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), 79% of gamers in the United States are adults. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t get their start at an earlier age. Moffit said he was still in high school when he got involved with charity gaming.

Other ESA data includes:

* 58% of adult video game players use multiple platforms to play — a combination of mobile, consoles and/or personal computers;

* Smartphones remain the most used device for gaming with 64% of active players using a smartphone to play games and 12% of players exclusively using a smartphone to play games;

* Among U.S. adults, casual genres, including puzzle and arcade games, continue to be the most played; and,

* Of players’ total time spent on entertainment (TV, video games, music, etc.), video games account for one-quarter of their time. Nearly half of players report that video games provide the most entertainment value for money spent.

“We are seeing the potential of gaming communities to drive meaningful change on a global scale,” said Games for Change President Susanna Pollack. “Charity gaming streams raised over $83 million in 2020 alone, which really shows the collective power of gamers united for a cause.”

Pollack gave the example of streamer DrLupo, who has almost two million subscribers on YouTube and together with his community has raised more than $14 million for St. Jude Children’s Hospital through charity gaming streams. “DrLupo and St. Jude are aiming to raise more than $25 million by 2025 – a significant sum that shows the untapped potential of gaming communities for philanthropy,” said Pollack. “Games Done Quick, a prominent streaming organization, has raised nearly $50 million during the past decade.”

The gaming space is full of influential broadcasters, said Moffit. “While there are definitely pocket communities around specific games and series, these ‘pocket communities’ can still have hundreds of thousands or millions of fans based on what they are playing,” he said.

Leaders at Help Hope Live did not intend to get involved with gaming. “We first became aware of this whole gaming side of things when the Zeldathon charity team emailed us and asked if they could chose us as their beneficiary for one of their annual marathons,” said Emily Progin, content manager at Help Hope Live in Radnor, Pennsylvania, which helps patients fundraise for their treatments. That happened back in 2015. “They found us through Charity Navigator just because we had a really high rating,” said Progin.

Leaders at the charity were invited to participate in the live stream in person. It involved a representative from the organization being on camera during live stream to talk about the nonprofit. That’s where the pie in the face came in.

The event, named Zeldathon Hope, raised $251,000 during 147 hours of streaming.

The talent pool age varies wildly from early 20s to mid-40s with 30 as a fair average. “The cause is extremely important to all participants from hosts, players, broadcast crew, audience and beyond,” said Moffit. “While there are plenty of skill-based tournaments out there for charity, most of the gaming charity space is about personality and entertainment.”

Sometimes 14 hours can be a slog. “We have to do something to keep ourselves interested – play music, play music from the game. We did a murder mystery where everyone was dressed up from The Legend of Zelda and doing improv,” said Moffit.

That’s where the pitch for the charity happens, along with comedy and other forms of entertainment. Of course, there is commentary during game play and live streaming of reactions to scores and turns in the storyline.

Players are strongly encouraged to take breaks. “We don’t let them do that anymore,” said Moffit of days of playing without a break. “Back in the high school days, maybe someone would sit here for 10 hours. Now we tell everyone it’s fine, yes, we have a schedule but get up, go get food, cut away from the game.”

Most gaming charity events and broadcasts use a wide variety of games from independent developers, studios, retro games and everything in between. It’s much more common than games that are custom built.

“Early on, it was difficult as an event organizer to even be taken seriously. We would have emails left unread, or even outright refusals for our offers to fundraise for their cause,” said Moffit. “There was a negative perception about gaming that was unfair to the space. As time has evolved, charities now are seeking the best events, actively looking for talent to recruit to fundraise and hiring people with the exclusive role to manage gaming/broadcasting communities.”

There are new games and consoles always coming out, with virtual reality (VR) a developing area. “VR has a lot of potential. There have been lots of cool VR streams. But, it is in the hobbyist phase,” Moffit said, because the of the expense. The new Apple Vision Pro starts at $3,500. Less advanced headsets go for as little as $250.

This movement is about more than just gaming for good. “It’s also about challenging the stereotypes of gamers,” said Pollack. “Gamers are an increasingly diverse community from around the globe. It is a whole ecosystem of entertainers, philanthropists, and community builders coming together to enact real-world change. Their actions are reshaping our understanding of the gaming community as a powerful force for global good.”

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Source From Non Profit Times