100k is a single salary, or two if they’re low paid

I’m writing this three hours after finishing a six hour charity stream where we raised $601 for the Trans Justice Funding Project as part of a larger collective group of streamers. This larger group was made up of over 250 streamers. Together, in the full day, all 250 of us raised about one hundred thousand dollars.

It’s amazing, it’s a potentially life changing amount of money for a few small organisations, it’s a tremendous feat, and nothing I will say in this newsletter is intended to make that effort, that collective good, feel smaller.

But I cannot help thinking - I earned 54k in a year where I was underpaid for my job as a junior salesperson in a tech company.

The federal poverty level for an individual last year was around 13 and a half thousand.

100,000 dollars, that collective effort from thousands of generous souls, gives less than eight people a year of life at the federal poverty level.

It pays less than two junior salespeople for a year.

That’s a hell of a series of numbers to think about, and when we think about the size of major corporations producing games, and the net worth of JK Rowling, whose transphobia-funding, hate spewing rhetoric we were protesting this weekend, it feels a little like throwing a tray of ice into the ocean and hoping it helps with climate change.

(More about Rowling and Hogwarts Legacy’s transphobia and antisemitism for those who haven’t heard much about it.)

Again, I want to stress that coming together and raising 100k for charity is a huge deal.

The individuals funding this charity campaign, based on my stream alone, are queer or disabled or fat or people of colour or women or other gender minorities or students, or volunteers themselves, or any combination of the above! These are the people most at risk of the influence of what we protest. They are also people most likely to be underpaid for their work and struggling financially in the cost of living crisis sweeping the world right now. Our success today is built on the back of bad jobs, of missed joys, of walking to the grocery store in the rain instead of paying for transport, of turning off the AC because it’s already been on for a while and we can’t afford the power bill.

But that makes it hurt a little more, almost.

This was what we could do. 3 dollars here, 15 there, two 50 dollar donations from people whose income we worry about any other day.

We could pay for one person for a bit under 8 years at the federal poverty level. We can change a handful of lives by putting the money in the hands of community activists who know how to stretch those dollars as far as they can go.

It’s huge, and it’s a drop in the ocean of money. It’s all I’ve thought about for three days and the studio that created the game we were protesting may never know it happened.

It’s just something to think about.

On a different note, here are some things I learned during my first charity stream project -

• Start advertising a week in advance (i did this!) but don’t pull out the big guns until closer to the time (oops)

• Lean on your community. The best parts of today’s stream were brought on by community interaction and nothing I did would be possible without them. Consult them on ideas and include them in your plans from the beginning.

  • on that note a huge shout out to Wind, Ty, Lily, Song, and Xray, who moderated my stream today, and to Song, Lily, Christine, Talia, Maya, and Jake, for joining me on voice chat and helping to save my infected throat from talking for six hours straight.

• Don’t underestimate the power of a good joke. People will throw money away if it means committing to the bit, and that’s a power that must be used (but used responsibly)

• but ALSO don’t forget the power of being genuine, authentic, and earnest in your communication. I gave a little speech at a certain milestone today (it’s too much of a blur to know which one), and by the end of it, we had received quite a few more donations. People are donating to charity because they give a fuck. Don’t forget that, and don’t let them forget it either.

• Plan additional goals, even if you didn’t dream of needing them. I aimed for $300 today, and planned for $400. I got $600, and we were literally trying to come up with the new goals Live On Stream. That was stressful, and unnecessary. Plan ahead (and REMEMBER your community, my new goals were entirely collaboration based, and I couldn’t do them without Talia and Christine)

Finally, what can we expect from me as a result of this stream? -

• First, and this was technically unlocked earlier in the week because it was a follower goal not a donation goal, I’ll be streaming some baking soon. I can’t confirm what or when right now, but soon, maybe tuesday?

• Second, chat got to pick what game I play next “surprise saturday”. It’s Inscryption, which I don’t know much about and am excited to find out why everyone wanted me to play it so bad.

• Third, at some point I’m going to be doing a 12 hour stream. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for milestones on that yet, but if you’re interested in it, come join our community and we can talk it out together. Join my Discord here.

• Fourth, I’m going to be playing some sort of shooty competitive game. Something like Overwatch, Apex Legends, or Valorant most likely. This may get wrapped up in the 12 hour stream, may not, we’ll see.

• Fifth (and I cannot believe there’s a fifth part to this), Christine Prevas and I are going to be playing a two player horror ttrpg on my stream. I cannot wait, they are going to scare the shit out of me, and it’ll be amazing. Christine, if you’re not familiar with their work, is a PhD candidate and horror scholar who runs the incredible podcast The Unexplored Places. I’m a huge fan, as anyone who has heard me talk about them and their work on stream will know.

• Sixth (SIXTH!), Friends of the Stream, Talia and Elisa are going to teach me about poetry on stream, and then, at the end, I’m going to write a poem. Talia and Elisa run a weekly stream where they read poetry on a specific theme and play Stardew Valley together. It’s a highlight of my week, every week.

And now this newsletter has been long enough. Thank you again for coming along, whether or not you donated to the stream. If you couldn’t make it, but you’d still like to donate, you can do so at this link.

Finally, if this is the first time you’ve heard of me, hi, I hope you enjoyed reading, check out my website for more about what I do, and how you can participate.

Otherwise, have a lovely day, and I’ll see you all for Mass Effect Monday as usual at 1pm on Monday NZT. <3