Thank you, thank you.

We’ll say it again: Thank you.

Our very first charity stream week was last month (Feb. 7 to Feb. 12) and you all blew us out of the (literal) water. We played Raft as a streaming collective, working to raise money for the #TeamSeas to help root our pro-charity, pro-environment and anti-capitalist stance in action. Our goal for the week was $222, and we honestly thought that was a lofty-but-attainable goal.

Y’all.

We made $569 (nice) for #TeamSeas.

Stream-a-thon

In order to make a fun event out of our first charity campaign and also highlight the fact that we are a small stream team, we decided a week-long stream-a-thon was in order, highlighting some of our members who made themselves available for the cause. Because our stream team is located in a fictional retirement home, a fictional retirement home cruise ship was a fitting project for the stream-a-thon. It also allowed our members who were less familiar with the game to play and have fun without fretting about pesky survival mechanics. We could just focus on decorating our own rooms on a cruise ship and sail the seas, pulling trash up from the oceans, all while trying to raise money for #TeamSeas to do the exact same thing.

RedriaPlays came up with the idea, and quickly set to work creating a base cruise ship with many large, empty rooms that could be painted and furnished to fill stream-a-thon time slots with ease. Lukavian was able to assist some with the Raft building physics, as well as build an engine room and navigation cabin to prepare the stream team for the charity finale – exploring the abandoned cruise ship settlement of Vasagatan.

Tiltify requires a donation goal of at least $100. We thought $222 for 2022 was maybe slightly ambitious for a community that is a bunch of broke woke millennials pretending to be retired, but it was an aesthetically pleasing number, and we wanted to start somewhere to see what our community was capable of.

There were some charity incentives – including naming farm animals, releasing farm animals, and more!

Katryam

We kicked off the stream-a-thon with Katryam, a wonderfully crafty Zelda streamer and a personal muse. She was new to the game and eager to figure it out and have fun with it.

I was seriously floored by the response to our charity stream week. As a relatively new streamer and someone who never thought they would be doing this, it was surreal seeing the donation number climb throughout the week. (Especially during Luvlitchi’s wild stream!!) 

My brother and I grew up playing video games together. That meant, most of the time, taking turns and watching each other, sometimes yelling strategies and theories back and forth as we explored the dungeon or fought the boss. In some ways, that makes streaming natural for me (especially when my brother is watching, because I’ve always been able to count on him to know what the heck is going on in literally any game ever), but in other ways, that makes it even more nerve wracking when I turn on the camera and click “Start Streaming” in OBS.

The charity week showed me that despite all the trepidation, my actions and my words mean something! It meant nearly $569 (nice) for ocean conservancy. It’s actually incredible if I let myself think about it for long enough.

On to the next! Can’t wait to see what’s on the horizon for CGRH.

Luvlitchi

Luvlitchi kept the charity campaign rolling with her girlfriend Goujer! Both new to the game, they had fun with the decorating. A lot of fun. Too much fun? They also started the tradition of honoring our great donors with a hall of fame monument that is definitely not a memorial.

My experiences on Twitch have been absolutely charming and wholesome. As I venture further into my time as a Vtuber, I encounter the loveliest people and most accepting energy.

I suppose I’m not used to playing games by myself; I was always a backseat gamer, watching people who were more skilled! But other streamers have certainly inspired me to put myself out there and try to have fun in any case. Our lovely little Retirement Home is so lively despite all the old folks (haha)! They are a driven force and wonderful to be a part of with their support, kindness, and overall enthusiasm.

I am always always always nervous before a stream; then supplemented by a horrid anxious habit of procrastination. My fellow oldies make it seem like “It’s ok- It’s not so bad! You can do it!” and for that I am grateful. Their ambition to set up this wonderful charity event to help ocean conservation had me over the moon. I was happy to participate and (though still nervous) able to navigate our fun group raft and even with other friends at my side! We decorated and goofed an impossible amount; I loved it and was so ecstatic to have helped raise a chunk of change for the fishies.

All the energy we put into that stream really showed in how much fun we had and how much we were able to donate! I deeply thank my lovely old folks for all the motivation and inspiration; I can be very shy and quiet, but hopefully it doesn’t seem that way when I reciprocate the wonderful energy I am given. I am grateful for my experiences in being part of such a fantastic group of people – I know it can only be more constructive and fulfilling!!!

Lukavian

In the middle of the week, Lukavian kept things going. His goal for the stream was to showcase the game’s survival mode and take our retirement home cruise ship through the game’s first story location, the radio tower. This game was not new to him at all. He is a streamer with lots of dad jokes and bird calls, and is a very OK guy.

I began streaming with the sole intent of interacting with people, adding a social element to the games I already played. My interest in having any kind of income from it was always minimal, and the only reason I pushed for affiliate was to get the redeems and emotes that would bring in those interaction opportunities.

In seeing other streamers do sub-a-thons and similar things for their birthday streams, I found myself wondering how I could make this my own – after all, I had no interest in subscriptions or bits. So I decided to redirect those to the Trevor Project for a week of streams. The turnout was surprisingly good, given my small community and baby stream I have.

So when the CGRH suggested a collab charity stream, especially in one of my favorite games, I was completely (forgive the pun) aboard.  My fellow retired folks brought more to the table than I did, and I’m proud to be part of such a great bunch of old people.

It has been amazing to see how generous people are when there’s something worth being generous for.

Island Grandpa

Island Grandpa continued our charity campaign with some very cool island vibes. They were also new to the game, aside from a practice session on Discord, and we all enjoyed them bringing in the chill energy.

It’s always a blast and an honor to be part of a charity stream. While I have played in streams for TTRPGs, this was my first time doing a charity stream as a streamer, and it was fantastic to be able to participate with friends.

I had no idea what to expect we’d raise, but the fact we surpassed it is humbling and encouraging. I’ve only tested a bit of Raft before the stream, so it was fun to be able to relax and goof around while getting a feel for the controls. I love the community we’ve cultivated and my fellow streamers, and I can’t wait to participate in further charity causes.

RedriaPlays

Lastly, we had RedriaPlays, also a veteran of the game, and someone who had streamed it before.

This was something I was missing about being a part of a small group. During college, I joined (read: founded) a Minecraft Club. We discovered many ways to give back to the community – events to entertain children, college fairs, food drives, bake sales… but when you get to be an adult working a full-time job, you lose out on a lot of those easily-accessible options.

So joining (read: founding) an anti-capitalism and pro-community stream team made a lot of sense, both as a new Twitch streamer and as someone who wanted to restore the missing piece of teamwork to their life.

We decided to pay homage to one of the first games streamed by the Cool Gamer Retirement Home for our first ever charity event. It was a game that my husband and I played together in our first stream – Raft. And it was a perfect fit for a stream-a-thon, because it’s a cooperative multiplayer sandbox game that multiple people could play together. 

I had also suggested our first charity cause to be something environmental – probably due to my background as an environmental scientist – and we chose #TeamSeas for a few reasons. One, the developers of Raft had been doing a charity collaboration with #TeamSeas. Two, I kind of always wanted to be a marine biologist growing up and supporting the ocean ecosystems means a lot to me. Three, it was a well-accessible charity cause through Tiltify and thus a great starting point. 

Running charity projects and subathons and anything else that requires your community to bring out their wallets always leaves me feeling a tinge of guilt. Which is silly, because it’s for charity, and for a good cause! But as a group, we decided not to be overly ambitious with our first ever charity goal. $222 for 2022 was an aesthetically pleasing number, and seemed within our reach for a week of streaming. And let me tell you, our community blew me away with the turnout.

We are more than grateful. We are more than happy. This is absolute proof that we supported a good thing and that our community in turn came out to support us with their views and with their dollars.

When we formed this group last year, we had no idea our community would become this awesome, strong force for good. We were just a group of friends who wanted to play video games online. To say this has humbled and surprised us is an understatement.

So, from the very core of our beings, thank you. You made this what it was. We look forward to a brighter future, one with less trash, less capitalism, and more fundraising and teamwork. We hope that you are eager to continue to be a part of it.