Giving Gamers: We Do Good, An Overview

Gamers have always had to deal with the stigmas and stereotypes that come along with being a “gamer”. Whether it’s laziness, thievery, social awkwardness, or something else, it seems everyone has something negative to say about gamers — even gamers themselves. But consider for a moment, just one moment, that maybe, hidden under all those negative things that can be said about us, there is something good that can be said, too.

I’m talking about charity — namely, charities that would not exist or be successful without people like you and me — gamers — donating money, time, and other things to benefit someone we probably don’t even know.

If you haven’t heard, there’s a pretty big charity that was set up in 2003 by one Mike Krahulik and one Jerry Holkins (gamers of Penny Arcade fame) called Child’s Play. This is a charity that was set up to make the lives of sick kids better by providing them with toys and games while they undergo treatments for cancer and other illnesses. In 2011 alone they raised over $3.5 million for hospitals all over the country because of the support of groups and individuals who identify themselves as gamers.

There are other organizations in the same vein, such as DonateGames, designed to provide videogames for children with rare diseases. In 2010 they raised and distributed a total of $100,000 to familes, research institutions, and other foundations — impossible without the contributions of gamers like us.

Then there are the charity organizations that are supported by game companies, who, as you know, would not exist without gamers all over the world buying the games they produce. Setting aside the recent SOPA and PIPA dispute, the Entertainment Software Association Foundation, founded in 2000, has raised over $11 million to date to help other organizations such as The Survivors Fund (established by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region to help families recovering from the 9/11 attacks, particularly on the U.S. Pentagon), The Cooper Institution (dedicated to the research of and education about preventative medicine), and the World Wide Workshop Foundation (created to provide developing communities all over the world with technology and the skills to use it), among many others.

Imagine that — buying a game from Square Enix and helping them help charities like The Boys and Girls Club of America to enrich the lives of young people all over the country; or making a purchase from Konami and allowing them to provide assistance to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation so they can research treatments and possible cures for diabetic kids.

And, of course, there are the games that just by playing them, help support charitable causes. FreeRice, for example, is an online trivia game run by the United Nations World Food Programme. For each question a player answers correctly the UNWFP donates ten grains of rice to help people around the world suffering from hunger. The trivia questions start out very simple, at about a 2rd- to 4th-grade level, and progressively get harder so it’s a great learning aid for school children as well a good cause. The website can also keep track of how many grains of rice you’ve helped donate, essentially keeping a score, giving it a fun competitive element. Since 2007 they’ve helped feed millions of people including pregnant and nursing moms in Cambodia, school children in Uganda, and refugees in Nepal and Bangladesh.

We can’t forget about more well-known charities either. Without gamers donating to Toys for Tots, local needy kids wouldn’t get awesome toys and games for the holidays. Lots of board, video, and card games get donated to charities like Goodwill by people who played them and passed them on for someone perhaps a bit less fortunate than themselves to enjoy.

Of course, no one group of people is perfect — gamers included. There are those who pirate games despite having plenty of money to pay for them, those who spend more time playing Farmville than parenting, and those who despise every other living creature on the planet who doesn’t agree that an Arcane Mage is the only viable character class (true story). Those people give gamers a bad name. The rest are living, breathing beings with hearts and at least some shred of dignity who want to help clothe and feed homeless children, teach people to read, provide support for abused women, and so much more; and, believe it or not, we — gamers — are the people who make those things happen.