Having recently joined the streaming community on Twitch, we caught up with Liam Quinn to hear about a gaming event we hosted in London and why online gaming is a great way to raise money, awareness and foster a community.
“Gaming offers a level playing field”: why we want you to be part of our streaming community on Twitch
Gaming is a big part of my life. I even met my now wife, Ana, through the gaming world. It’s a space where everyone is on a level playing field, where I’m equal to other gamers despite living with a muscle wasting condition. That’s why I’m so passionate about promoting our Game On initiative.
Put simply, we want to encourage people to game online as a community, support each other and hopefully do some fundraising along the way. To show how this could work, we hosted an online gaming event last month at New Meta Gaming Arena in Islington, north London. This was also the first time we did a livestream on Twitch, so we weren’t sure what to expect.
“In our community, mobility and accessibility is often a huge barrier, which is why a livestream is a great way to bring people together.”
In our first three hours on Twitch, we averaged a new follower every 12 minutes and 154 total live views. I’m aware this is a humble number for most streamers, but you’ve got to start somewhere! We reached 58 unique individuals across eight countries – as far afield as the USA and Japan – and had ten people engage with us directly through the platform. Fundraising wasn’t the primary focus of the stream, but we also raised £120 on the day.
Check out highlights from the day
It’s been great chatting to other gamers and finding out why they want to be involved. Like Steve Wallace, who has raised over £6k for us through two livestream events in 2021 and 2024, in memory of his friend’s late daughter who lived with myotonic dystrophy. Steve’s most recent 12-hour ‘Ramaganza’ had around 400 regular viewers during the stream and thousands at certain points. Steve joined us at the event in Islington and describes gaming fundraisers as “an easy way to support a cause you believe in and have fun at the same time”, which I think sums up our Game On initiative perfectly.
My hope is that we can grow our Twitch community and use Game On to raise awareness and give people an easy way to fundraise. But most importantly, it’s something that anyone can get involved in – inclusive, accessible and most of all, fun.
Game On
Love gaming? Find out how you can get your Game On and help to change the future of muscle wasting conditions.
Find us on Twitch
Follow us on Twitch and be part of our Game On community.
