Gamers raised $3.4 million for charity in a single week

This story about generosity of gamers, boiled down, in 1:39 minutes.

What's the fuss?

A long-standing charitable gaming organization has smashed its fundraising record this year, even without hosting in-person events. Despite Christmas being over, the will to give remains strong.

The situation

Games Done Quick, the non-profit organization that has allowed gamers to donate $31+ million to various international charities, is a monument to the generosity behind digital play.

• Speedrunners, or gamers who proficiently beat video games at world record pace, take the stage as spectators donate money to cheer them on.
• Originally founded in 2010, the event has since become one of the biggest annual spectacles of the online gaming community.

This year's event smashed previous records with a total of $3,416,729 raised to benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

• A total of 146 games were completed throughout the week, culminating to a peak of 120,408 concurrent viewers (views at one time) and 49,410 generous donations.
• This year's event resulted in a record for the organization, beating the previous record by more than $200k.

Boiling it down

Speedrunning, the art of beating video games as fast as possible, is arguably the equivalent of watching your favorite basketball player score 60 points in a single match out of pure mastery. 

• The art can take many different forms, including beating games while being blindfolded or having 2 players use only 1 controller.
• The high stakes nature of speedrunning has hooked viewers for more than a decade - and the trend won't decline anytime soon.

Video games have had a bad rep, ever since the dawn of gaming.

• Aside from the toxicity of certain gaming groups and bad headlines, the community as a whole is full of generosity.
• From helping someone recover from a seizure in virtual reality to digitally immortalizing cancer patients, the gaming community has done real good both big and small.

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