“Speedrunning” … It’s the new way to receive donations … viewer donations can total $millions.
As long as video games have been around, people have tried to complete them as quickly as possible.
Known as speedrunning, gamers worldwide stream and upload videos in the hope of breaking the top records, with the most popular videos viewed tens of millions of times.
Over the past 10 years, speedrunning has become increasingly intertwined with donations as streamers often host charity streams as a way to give back to the community.
This is the idea behind Games Done Quick (GDQ), a gaming marathon which will hold its 20th biannual event from 23-30 June 2019.
The event offers viewers the chance to watch some of the best speedrunners in the world, and viewer donations have totalled $19.3m (£15.3m) since its inception in 2010.
For example, Pokemon speedrunner SheNanagans’ GDQ run of Game Boy classic Pokemon Blue raised around $46,000 (£36,250) in 2015 and has since been viewed more than 2.8 million times on YouTube.
Source: BBC
