Gaming for Good: Gamers Without Borders

The Gamers Without Borders event made history amid the COVID-19 health crisis, raising £16.5m ($20m) to support communities impacted and to aid the distribution of vaccines.

This was a record amount for a Gaming for Good initiative, making Gamers Without Borders the world’s largest charitable e-sports festival. Here we look at how it has changed the Gaming for Good landscape and what lessons charities can learn from the event.

What is Gamers Without Borders?

The Gamers Without Borders event is a several weeks’ long series of tournaments taking place around the world involving teams of gamers. It launched in 2020 and each year offers a £8.2m ($10m) prize pot for the tournaments’ winners, which they then donate to good causes of their choice. The money is distributed through the event’s charity partners:

• Direct Relief to increase access to medicine
• International Medical Corps to intervene quickly when emergencies strike
• UNICEF to support children impacted by conflict
• Gavi to immunise children
• UNHCR to help refugees and promote help, including shelter, health, and livelihoods

Money raised in recent years has been focused on COVID-19 relief and vaccine distribution. The 2022 event, which takes place for six weeks between April and June, is taking a different approach by working with its charity partners to tackle “multiple of the most pressing issues in the world today”, say organisers.

“Gamers Without Borders tournament proves that there are so many creative ways to support a humanitarian cause,” says UNICEF Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships Carla Haddad Mardina, who welcomes the event choosing the charity as one of its partners for the third year in a row. “As the needs of vulnerable children continue to grow due to protracted conflicts and sudden emergencies around the world, UNICEF will continue its own race to reach children in conflict zones and in the hardest-to-reach areas before, during and after conflicts.”

The lessons charities can learn

Appeal to Gamers’ competitive streak

Being able to personally donate the event’s huge prize fund to good causes is a great motivator to gamers. But all Gaming for Good events need to make sure they are also appealing to gamers’ competitive streak. The chance for the winners to claim bragging rights in their community is a powerful motivating factor in taking part.

Charities are advised to ensure they are promoting the winners of their events, showcasing not just their ability to raise money, but crucially their skill playing games.

Know what games are popular

The games featured in this year’s event were Fortnite, Dota 2, Rocket League and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. All are hugely popular team events among gamers.

They are also particularly popular among streamers and influencers who are using gaming and streaming platforms, including Twitch, to take part in gaming for good tournaments as well as marathon charity events.  

A good way to select games in a gaming for good event is to search for the top watched games on Twitch. As of August 2022, the top games include:

• Grand Theft Auto V
• League of Legends
• Valorant
• Minecraft
• Dota 2
• Rust
• Apex Legends
• Fortnite
• Call of Duty: Warzone
• World of Warcraft
• Rocket League

Watch, play, learn, and donate

There are four main pillars of Gamers Without Borders. These are to encourage people to watch games and events, to play, to learn and then donate.

This simple smart promotional mantra of the event could be replicated by charities looking to stage their own gaming for good fundraisers. This should ideally focus events on gaming’s fun element as well as the benefit for gamers, such as learning new skills.

Charities should consider incorporating Gamers Without Borders’ focus on the benefits of playing games into their events.

Mind is among charities to already do this by offering tips around the positive impact on mental health of gaming.

Recognise the mental health benefits of gaming

Finally, charities should also recognise the profound benefits of gaming to people’s mental health. Consider the following, for example:

• Giving people time and space to relax. Mind points out that gaming can be form of mindfulness, with 16% of adults and 37% of young people saying gaming was a coping strategy to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Learning new skills and problem solving. As well as learning technical skills to play games, games can also boost people’s self-esteem and encourage social interaction
• Connecting to others. According to Mind, the shared cultural experience of playing video games can support positive communication among young people and with their family
• Expressing ourselves. Gaming promotes creativity, through streaming and communicating with people online. “This can help you clarify your emotions or what you want before talking to those closest to you,” says Mind