ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Many video gamers love a good, endless marathon session, whether playing themselves or nowadays watching others.
That passion for gaming has also evolved into a great way to raise big funds for charity, as one group in Newfoundland and Labrador has been doing for the MS Society of Canada for the past three years.
GamersVsMS, run by four lead project co-ordinators from St. John’s and Mount Pearl, has been bringing video game enthusiasts from across Canada together for a series of relay gaming events since 2018, raising over $110,000 in the fight against multiple sclerosis — an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system — in the process.
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John Michael Bennett, one of the four project leads, says charity video gaming was practically unheard of when he first got involved in another project in 2010. It has taken off in the last decade, he says.
Jeff Smyth, Rachel Bennett and Sarah Butt are the other three leads.
“Some people did it (back then), but it was very, very rare,” John Michael Bennett told The Telegram Wednesday.
“Now it’s something that has really exploded, and even more so now in the pandemic age when people are looking to online, not just for entertainment, but also for community, to fit in, to belong to, and to find a place where they can have fun.”
WE WON AN AWARD! I EVEN WORE A BLAZER FOR THE ZOOM AWARD SHOW! 🥳🥳🥳 (Pics are those of us who dressed fancy tonight...
Posted by John Michael Bennett on Saturday, January 23, 2021
How it works
GamersVsMS, which has held week-long spring and fall relays in each of the past two years, will host its sixth event from April 3-10.
Throughout the week, 168 hours in total, gamers from across the country will stream around the clock in six- or 12-hour shifts on Twitch, a live-streaming platform for gaming enthusiasts and others interested in showcasing their interests.
Bennett says anyone logging on to the group’s website, gamersvsms.ca, during the week will see different gamers and what they’re up to live, depending on the time. Viewers can chat with the gamer and make donations if they wish. A real-time display of the amount collected for the MS Society is also tallied as it grows.
Bennett said many of the streamers who take part are experienced hobbyists or professionals and already have built-in communities who support their streams. Combined with the work GamersVsMS does to spread the word, the fundraising has been very successful.
Posted by Gamers Vs MS on Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Game over, Cancer!
Matt MacLean founded Nova Scotia-based non-profit Game Over, Cancer! after losing his grandfather to the disease in 2014.
The following year, he held what was supposed to be a one-off event in a small space in Halifax, raising $600 for the Canadian Cancer Society.
“It’s definitely gone a lot further than I intended,” MacLean told The Telegram Wednesday.
Up until last year when Covid-19 hit, the organization had hosted an annual in-person event where gaming enthusiasts could come out, play games, participate in tournaments, check out the booths and hang out.
Since the pandemic, Game Over, Cancer has continued holding online “speedrunning” marathons whereby gamers try to finish, or “beat”, a video game as fast as they can.
Two weekend-long events last year raised over $11,000 in total for the cancer society, MacLean said.
Like GamersVsMS, gamers participating in the speedruns hosted by Game Over, Cancer stream their play using Twitch, and people can watch and donate. The organization’s next speedrun will take place in late April.
“We have speedrunners from all over the world, actually. It’s crazy,” he said.
“It’s interesting to schedule them, but we have non-stop content for the entire duration of Friday evening to early Monday morning.”
With a worldwide reach, MacLean says online video game fundraising opens up bigger avenues for donations.
“Honestly, it gets people involved in fundraising efforts that wouldn’t otherwise be involved,” he said.
“Not everyone is going to go out and run a marathon or even be aware that those things are happening around them.”
Introducing our 2021 Stream Ambassador: rosedoodle! Rose has a passion to make a difference in the lives of those affected by MS. Rose and her community have raised over $25,000 to date for MS, and we are excited to see what 2021 brings! gamersvsms.ca/ambassador
Posted by Gamers Vs MS on Monday, March 15, 2021
Supporting MS
While the other members of GamersVsMS’s co-ordinating team are volunteers, Bennett works for the MS Society of Canada. He says he initially pitched the gaming fundraiser idea to the organization and they gave him the go-ahead to try it out.
According to statistics, multiple sclerosis affects approximately one in every 385 Canadians, one of the highest rates for a country in the world.
When the subject comes up in discussion, Bennett says most people realize they know someone living with the disease.
For him, he thinks about a mentor of his during his school years who now has MS. For another of the lead co-ordinators, her grandmother had multiple sclerosis.
“She thinks about that when she’s doing the project,” he says.
Paul Herridge reports on the Burin Peninsula.
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