Massively Uplifting: A season of gains and losses in the MMO world

By
MJ Guthrie
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Where has the year gone? Fall has wrapped up, winter is beginning, and the end of the year draws nigh. Today, many will be unwrapping gifts to celebrate Christmas. It may not be wrapped with a bright bow, but we still wanted to give you a little something on this holiday: a holiday Massively Uplifting! While reveling in the joys of the season, you can also revel in the generosity and kindness of many in our gaming communities.

Many charity drives took place throughout the fall to help aid and uplift others from difficult circumstances. To start, there was the Jimmy Fund Let’s Game “Quest 2 Defy Cancer” initiative, Warframe’s charity drive Quest to Conquer Cancer, and the One Special Day fundraiser on SpecialEffect’s 15th Anniversary. Minecraft builders and developers recreated a historical site from American Civil War to benefit the American Battlefields Trust, Jacksepticeye raised money for World Central Kitchen, and many streamers were played and streamed to raise money for Extra Life.

Sadly, as we’ve had generous gains, we’ve also had a number of losses throughout the season. Read on as we highlight all these moments of the final season of 2022.

Warframe wraps up much generosity

Warframe’s had a number of initiatives running since the summer. First was presenting the check to TennoCon 2022’s charity partner, Indspire; the studio and community raised $200,000 to support the charity’s mission of enriching Canada through Indigenous education. Next up, on September 30th, in honor of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Digital Extremes made a donation to True North Aid in honor of all victims and survivors of residential schools.

Starting in October, Digital Extreme’s annual Quest to Conquer Cancer has raised $355,961 so far, shooting past its $300K goal. This global fundraising initiative worked with The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. Even though Breast Cancer Awareness month is over, folks can still donate to this charity drive directly on the Cancer Foundation’s site.

Not ending the charity train, Warframe also celebrated its holiday tradition of Tennobaum, where Tenno share their generosity and participate in limited-time Alerts until December 31. And over the course of Tennobaum 2022, players gave over 80,000 gifts to one another! As a community this resulted in earning all three tiers of rewards. To honor that generosity, Digital Extremes is making a $60,000 donation to SickKids Foundation to aid in their mission of improving the health of children in Canada.

A special anniversary

Many times, folks commemorate big anniversaries with something special. SpecialEffect did that for its 15th Anniversary, hosting a bit One Special Day fundraiser on October 7th, with Xbox, Supercell and EA uniting behind SpecialEffect to support the initiative. By purchasing from a select list of games on that day, gamers were able to support the initiative, which enable the SpecialEffect team of occupational therapists and gaming specialists to create bespoke control setups for hundreds of gamers each year. It also helps fund their R&D team to develop freely-available resources and solutions like Eye Gaze Games to help level the playing field for gamers with physical disabilities all over the world. This year’s One Special Day raised £139,558.

Charity never faileth

For Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month in September, The Jimmy Fund Let’s Game “Quest 2 Defy Cancer” initiative invited streamers and content creators to game for good. This year, the campaign’s sponsors included publishers Atari, Assemble Entertainment, Whitethorn Games, and Ziggurat Interactive. Funds raised benefited the renowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Although the streaming was in September, the Jummy Fund continues to fundraise for the institute; donations are even doubled from now until December 31st.

YouTuber Sean McLoughlin, also known as Jacksepticeye, held a day-long livestream on Saturday, December 10th, for a Thankmas charity drive. Part of the day’s events included Jack Black entering a barbershop quartet before a massive game of Jenga, chefs Nyesha Arrington and Antonia Lofaso judging the culinary skill of famous influencers showing off their skills at Reindeer Ring Toss. The event raised more than $10 million for World Central Kitchen (WCK). The WCK is a nonprofit organization founded by Chef José Andrés to provide fresh meals in response to crises around the world. Folks can still donate and be a part of Thankmas on the official site.

Valorant players also helped raise money for the Riot Games Social Impact Fund by purchasing the Give Back 2022 Bundle. Over $6 million will be donated, and players got to vote on which charities would be receiving funds.

Bungie continued its annual global fundraiser and streaming marathon with the Destiny 2 community with its fourth Game2Give charity drive. This year saw a little change as the flagship iPads for Kids program was renamed to Little Lights. Bungie also launched the Little Lights mobile app to improve patient experience. Game2Give 2022 charity drive has raised $834,802 so far.

Minecraft builds history

It is amazing what players can create in Minecraft. This time around, more than 30 Minecraft modders and historians recreated the Battle of Vicksburg and raised money to preserve historical land. Then they held a week-long event in November that featured a period-accurate representation of a key city during the American Civil War that folks could peruse. In it, there were over 3,000 fully voiced era-appropriate historical figures (including Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln), canon-shooting minigames, boat- and foot-races through the streets and waterways, and a tour of the geography and architecture of Vicksburg. All proceeds of the event go to the nonprofit American Battlefield Trust and its mission to preserve historic sites across the United States.

She boldly went

Just before our last Massively Uplifting published, we learned the sad news of the death of the incredible Nichelle Nichols. For this icon in the Star Trek Universe, players of Star Trek Online were quick to raise torches in memorial. Although Nichols never actively voiced for the game, she did have lines repurposed there. Nichols was also tied to space outside of the IP, giving much support to NASA. Another great one has boldly gone from us; rest in peace.

The fall of friends

While we love to trumpet all the amazing happy things that happen in our gaming universe, this autumn saw the loss of much more than the leaves from the trees. A number of communities in our lost well-known and well-loved figures.

The industry lost another veteran in October when Bethesda’s senior game designer Ferret Baudoin passed away suddenly. Baudion’s game credits included Neverwinter Nights 2, Dragon Age 2, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. The statement announcing his passing on Facebook stated, “He [was] surrounded by his family. He loved real life as much as games. He was a devoted husband, father, brother, and son.”

Mike Fahey, long-time writer at Kotaku, passed away in September of an infection related to chronic health issues. Fahey was known for “great hilarity and deep affection for toys, snacks, giant robots, video games, and the emotional ties binding them all to his readership.”

A beloved RuneScape streamer known as RSGLORYANDGOLD, 69-year old Tony Winchester succumbed to cancer on October 12th. He passed away with family by his side. His family posted a video for Winchester’s fans to share the news.

A member of the Albion Online shared that a member of its creators program, Murloka, set up a gofundme to help cover her husband’s hospital bills as he fights for his life in a hospital in Ukraine. She shares their sweet story of how they met through gaming as well as his medical troubles on the Gofundme page.

In December, MOP’s Justin Olivetti stumbled upon a touching memorial concert held in Lord of the Rings Online in honor of all the community members who had passed away. What a touching way to remember those we’ve lost! We mourn with family and friends for all the losses in our gaming communities this fall, and this year.

More uplifting stories from the past few months…

From happy stories to good deeds within our virtual worlds and the real world around us, there’s so much good in the gaming community. That’s why Massively OP’s MJ Guthrie pens Massively Uplifting: to highlight those generous, inspiring, heart-warming, and uplifting tales that exist throughout the MMOverse. Send your suggested stories along to warmfuzzies@massivelyop.com for our next entry!
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