THE necessity to assist in any and every way possible the people of Ukraine continues, unfortunately, to be required.
Devex, the funding tracker platform, has recorded more than $100 billion in commitments for Ukraine from national governments, $3.5 billion of which is from the UK, multilateral agencies and the biggest philanthropic foundations. Set to add to this tally of financial aid is Women in Games.
Women in Games (WIG) is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes female participation in the global games workforce. Some 50% of players are women but 84% of executive positions are held by men and, apart from the executive ranks, only 24% of the global games workforce are women.
WIG's manager for popular livestreaming platform Twitch is Dundee-based Charly Harbord – who struck upon the idea of a 24-hour stream through her association with the Ukraine-based games developer Frogwares, which chronicles the war via its daily Twitter feed while making, among other games, "Sherlock Holmes".
Harbord said: “This is a unique opportunity for Women in Games to deploy our technical abilities and global connections providing a fun way to contribute to relieving the horrors being inflicted on the Ukrainian people while, hopefully, raising lots of cash.
“Anyone can join, especially Ukrainian gamers, to watch, stream, play.”
One of Scotland’s big-name games companies, Dundee’s Puny Astronaut, does not have a game in the stream but its PR manager Anais Dewit said: “As a company we wanted to be involved in the backend of the stream from a technical point of view and will be providing staff to assist Women in Games run the Twitch stream as well as donating financially to ensure that we as a company assist Ukraine in every way possible.”
The Twitch stream will consist of a 24-hour worldwide tag-team event with a different game streamed every hour and copies of the games are on offer as prizes.
Players can come and go as they please as some players will be interested in certain games. A unique component is that developers representing indie and big name studios will be live in the stream to discuss their individual games with players as they play, possibly providing tips on how best to negotiate parts of the games that players might find tricky.
Digital fundraising events hold a distinct advantage over other types of events and, in this particular case, the WIG Twitch stream will include some Ukrainian games developers, streamers and players who will join the stream live from inside Ukraine.
If players, streamers and associated games companies can afford a financial donation, they’ll be able to make one during the stream. Helpfully, the stream will be able to accept donations for two weeks afterwards.
For those who are not in a position to donate, they are equally welcome to play and enjoy as much of the stream as they wish. Ukraine Red Cross and the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund are the designated beneficiaries.
Harbord said: “As ever in the games industry, when charity calls, the Scottish gaming community is instantly supportive and I know that we’ll all make this a success on behalf of Ukraine.”
The event will take place from 12pm BST on June 18 until 12pm BST on June 19 on the Women in Games Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/wigj
Participating games companies so far are:
- Pocket gamer.biz
- bEHAVIOUR (Dead by Daylight)
- Navegante (Greak: Memories of Azur)
- Pocket Sized Hands
- Bleeding Metal Podcast
- Dovetail Games (Train World Simulator 2)
- Rare Pixels (Planes Control)
- Iron Gate (Valheim)
- Bloober (Layers of Fear)
- Draw Distance (Serial Cleaner)
- 11 Bit Studio (Moonlighter)
- Krillbite (Among the Sleep)
- Movie Games (Treasure Hunter Simulator)
- Witch Beam (Unpacking)
- Klabater (orbit.industries)
- Don’t Nod (Twin Mirror) Untold Tales (Aspire: Ina’s Tale)
- Ascendancy Games (Altwaldheim: Town in Turmoil)
- Rat Studios (Path to Heaven)
- Crows, crows, crows (The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe)
- Koch Media
- ACHIEVERS HUB
- Games Gathering
More are still to be announced. The Ukraine Red Cross is available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine
Ukraine Humanitarian Fund is available at: https://crisisrelief.un.org/t/ukraine
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