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Finally, I have time in my life to talk about an amazing event. You see, a couple months ago (life’s been busy guys, please forgive me), the Devil May Cry community did a charity stream where they raised money in memory of a fellow Devil May Cry fan who tragically passed away from osteosarcoma.

This event pulled together the DMC subreddit/Discord as well as a number of fellow fans/YouTubers/Streamers, brought together by a good cause.

The initial goal of the stream was 1,000 USD, eventually hitting 10x the goal in 10,000 USD. This wowed everyone involved, and this passion is what drove me to write this article. It’s absolutely amazing what everyone was capable of pulling together.

Following the event, I got to speak with a number of the contributors and the moderators in charge of the event to get their word on the event. Given real life events, I wasn’t able to speak with everyone, but I did speak with a majority of the contributors and the moderators, so I hope everyone understands my limitations.

Also before the article starts, I just want to give my disclaimer, I am a part of the DMC community if you haven’t already guessed and I’m a fan of all the contributors who were in the charity stream on October 8th, 2018.

With that said, let’s rock. So let’s start with the moderators:

Justin TGG:

So, how exactly did planning the event go? Was it a group idea to do the charity in Chris’ memory or…?

Millz:

Well, the roots were planted when I saw that Chris had passed, I was posting about the potential of Chris being represented in DMC5, personally, I was pretty upset that Chris hadn’t got to play DMC5 like he did with Smash.

So I got to brainstorming about what we could do and we hold biweekly streams on our channel so it just sorta, happened, it wasn’t a group idea at first, I planted the seed, then the team got involved afterwards into helping it evolve into what it became.

Justin TGG:

I see, well the people I talked to before you think a lot of you for all your efforts you know.

Did you consider after the stream about whether you’d like to do this again? I know you talked about biweekly streams but would you be open to the possibility of another huge event like this one possibly every year?

Millz:

It would have failed without every single one of them no doubt, they’re all diamonds. As for that I was playing around with the idea of something for Christmas time

though, the cause we’d be fighting for is something I’d need to think about.

Justin TGG:

Awesome. Well I look forward to what everyone puts together. But about the goal. It was absolutely demolished within the first couple hours. What does that tell you? I know you got real emotional when we kept cracking the thousands. No shame, just an observation lol

Millz:

Me too, this is something that we could maybe raise the roof on, have it span over a couple of days, who knows, there’s a large amount of opportunities it tells me that while our community might not be the biggest in terms of users.

However, we have the biggest hearts and when we come together, we can do things that nobody thought possible absolutely, it’s definitely the most emotional I’ve been in a while, though I suppose the fact I was getting procedurally more drunk has a bit to do with that lol

Justin TGG:

I imagine (lol) It was suggested to me yesterday that we could possibly open up another stream like that one to a wider viewer base by bringing in mid to high level players from other franchises and action genres.

That way we could bring in more viewers and allow the cause we support to be recognized by more people. Have you given that any thought?

Millz:

It’s definitely something I would be open to, I reached out to the smash subreddit, the moderators specifically, to see if this was something they would be interested in joining us with, ultimately they were unresponsive, which is a shame but in the end, I think the event went perfectly.

Justin TGG:

Well maybe the success of this charity will inspire people to want to get involved. Thanks for talking with me, Millz. Got anything else you want to add?

Millz:

I hope so, it’s a stepping stone to bigger things indeed, the only thing I have to add is that the giveaways will be sorted soon, and that I would thank every person who streamed, hosted, watched and donated, they’re all great, thanks Jay, it was a pleasure.

Catana:

Justin TGG:

So what was your thoughts on the charity stream as it went on, what were your expectations?

Catana:

We never expected to charity stream to reach as many viewers as it did, let alone raise so much for charity. As you could tell by the tiers we set, we didn’t fully expect to reach even a thousand dollars.

That was our highest goal. As the stream began and all the viewers tuned in, and we reached our goal within an hour, we didn’t know how to react.

Naturally I was excited and overwhelmed, but mostly scared. I was going to be drawing in front of hundreds of viewers, that was a first. I didn’t know what to expect.

Even though it was a charity event, I felt like I was going to be judged from the viewers, an art stream was different from gameplay after all. But it turned out great in the end. We had a separate voice channel in which we talked in while waiting to go live and let me tell you, everyone was freaking out.

With every donation, we were shouting in disbelief. It felt surreal to see the extent of the event and how many people tuned in. But everyone was so kind and appreciated the cause.

At one point when the stream passed the goal of thousand dollars, we had to extend the donation bar so we set it to 1000 dollars so we wouldn’t have to extend it.

Turns out everyone wanted to reach that goal and we were more than blown away when we did (despite the bar being inaccurate). So, needless to say, me and the rest of the team didn’t know what to expect and still got blown away by the community’s response.

(Note: The follow-up to this question was about the art, which is now complete. I hate that I don’t have much to discuss, but with her permission, here is the art. Please check out her stuff and support her, she’s great).

KJ:

Justin TGG:

So, regarding the charity stream, what were your expectations when we got started?

KJ:

When we got started, I thought 1k was a crazy goal we’d never reach. I thought it would be a few streamers from the server.

And go on for a few hours. Every single one of those expectations was blown away. I severely underestimated the generosity of the community and fandom.

Justin TGG:

I guess it just goes to show what a good cause is capable of doing.

Frankly I figured we’d top the $1,000 goal but struggle to get $2K. Do you think we’d be capable of replicating those results in another stream in the future? And would you be willing to help organize another one like it?

KJ:

Hmmmmm, replicating these results in the future is something I’m not sure is possible, unless there’s significant growth in the reddit and server.

A lot of moving parts came together to make this the success it was.

We had the passing of a loved community member, the support of Matt, Reuben, Johnny, and Dan, and there’s currently a lot of attention on us from dmc5.

While I don’t believe these results could be replicated anytime soon, I have been proven wrong by the community in the past. So I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

As for organizing another charity stream, I’d be honored to get the chance to do it again. I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Justin TGG:

We you gave me a lot to work with, thanks a lot. Do you have anything else you want to add before we wrap up?

KJ:

I am humbled by the community response to the charity stream. It is unfortunate that we lost Chris so early.

As the ones living, it is our job to carry on his memory and legacy. Let’s not allow the kindness shown at the stream be a flash in the pan, but the start of a long journey to be the best we can. Both as a community and as individuals.

Next up are the contributors:

Vash The Shell Bullet:

Justin TGG:

So the community really pulled together on this one. Blew expectations of the mods out of the water.

So how does it feel to be a part of that community and what are your thoughts about the outcome, reaching ten times that of our initial goal? I have a feeling the MIB AGENTS charity really appreciate what happened that day.

VashTSB:

Personally I’d say it feels odd to be honest–for me it’s weird because I never really saw myself as a part of even a smaller congregation within a larger community of people who played DMC–if that makes sense?

But regardless I think it goes to show how impactful the loss of life in the abstract is to people in this population.

Which is to say that even though we had casual fans and people who play these games regularly, everyone felt for Chris and wanted to contribute a portion of their skillset–be it gameplay, entertainment value, or a sense of community–we each wanted to give back in our own way

And as far as surpassing the goal to the degree we did. I think that’s indicative of 2 lessons that other communities can take note of: 1st: DMC fans and perhaps beat-em-up fans aren’t broke–it’s an odd observation to make but there is a genuine intersection between people with enough disposable income and people who like beat-em-ups to conclude that charity drives like these CAN be successful on our level.

And 2nd that you don’t have to be capable of professional production quality to raise funds for a good cause.

Justin TGG:

I completely agree. It’s amazing to see everyone rally around a common cause to make a difference in their own way.

I feel as though it shows that no matter your skillset or status inside or outside a community, everyone has a role they can play that can work towards a good cause.

VashTSB:

Oh absolutely. Although part of me has to wonder what the income would’ve looked like had the representation been a bit more slanted.

And if the community element wasn’t so strong.

As in: had more style players made appearances, would we have had a steady stream of big donations–like we had during Chaser and DK’s block?

And also part of me wonders how many donations came through because the charity was tied to the subreddit or if the donors would’ve come through regardless.

Justin TGG:

That’s an interesting question. So you’re essentially wondering if the community element worked to our benefit or detriment?

I have to wonder that too, since his case could have been lost to the tide of so many other cases had it not been for the community.

VashTSB:

To a degree. Realistically I’m wondering if these results would be at all replicable with a different body of streamers or a different array of games.

Like instead of a DMC focused variety charity event, we run a beat-em-up pro-player event (for lack of a better descriptor for dedicated high-level players) that cross franchises to include multiple known players across multiple games and characters with the aim of constantly throwing the level of hype that Chaser and DK brought to the viewers.

Justin TGG:

I think I understand. That’s definitely something to consider should, God forbid, something like Chris’ situation happen again.

Thanks so much, Vash, for commenting. If I can do anything for you, just let me know. I’ll send you a link when the article’s up. Do you have anything else to add-on before we wrap things up?

VashTSB:

All I can say is that running annual charity events should be a serious consideration now following this event. The stream for MIB was more of a reaction to Chris’ passing.

But this charity event should stand as an impromptu proof of concept that we as beat-em-up players can come together on our own to raise funds hopefully before another tragedy strikes.

ChaserTech:

Justin TGG:

So to start, I have to ask the community question. To see so many people come together under one banner to raise awareness for a great cause is amazing. What are your thoughts on that? Did you have any expectations for how far it’d go prior to the stream?

Chaser:

Well to be blunt, I didn’t think this many people would come together to help out. I was surprised because how small the DMC community is in comparison to other gaming communities out there. It just goes to show how many people actually cared about this.

So yeah, I’d say that it definitely exceeded my expectations. Hell I didn’t even think we would break 1k so quickly.

Justin TGG:

Agreed. Course it didn’t help expectations that prior to the announcement of DMC5, DMC was a pretty niche series with a much smaller community (since we’ve seen an influx of people interested since). Given the lack of self promotion, most of the publicity came from word of mouth.

Nevertheless, it really just goes to show that expectations are meant to be exceeded.

So if another charity like this was to be done in the future, how do you think we can exceed even further? Vash suggested broadening the scope of high-level players we bring in from more action games and the like. What are your thoughts on that?

Chaser:

I think if we had more high level players, it would definitely be more entertaining. They don’t have to necessarily be super amazing but good enough to keep the attention of the audience.

We had a lot of down time with DMC1 and DMC2, as well as the art stream, so I don’t think people felt really inclined to stick around until DK, Vash, and I started playing (mostly because of the viewcount started picking back up)

But overall, I think it could incorporate both high/mid level players from various games, as well as speedruns.

Justin TGG:

I think that’d be pretty interesting. Of course that would allow more people to participate and possibly allow for longer streams which would probably allow us to raise more for the cause. Definitely something to consider for the future.

Foxcade:

Foxcade:

It was incredibly impressive how such a niche fandom was able to come together like that and raise as much as we did.

I remember one of the mods, Millz, who was one of the main organizers of the stream, set $1000 as our highest expectation, thinking we might barely get there.

Less than an hour into the stream, that goal was crush and the mods were racing to set the pledge bar to a new goal. All I can really say is that I’m genuinely humbled that I was able to be a part of such an amazing event, and proud of the community for doing this, especially the mods of the DMC subreddit for setting all this up.

(Note: Fox wanted to say more but was afraid he’d just end up repeating himself and others.)

Codex Entry:

Codex Entry:

It was an honor to be a part of it and I was happy to have contributed in anyway at all. However, the lion’s share of the credit has to go to the DMC subreddit mods, especially Millz.

Not only were they responsible for organizing the whole thing, but, they were also on the stream itself nearly the entire time. They worked incredibly hard. As a result, not only were they able to bring the entire community together for a great cause, but it was more successful than I think anyone involved could have ever hoped.

I’ve never been more proud of this scene, and I’m glad that we could do what we can to aid in the battle against osteosarcoma, as well as cancer at large.

Justin TGG:

Millz and the mods worked so hard on this and personally I’m proud to be part of their community. I think they deserve more recognition than we could ever give them.

This question was brought up due to my conversation with Vash, but if this charity stream became an annual event, would you be willing to do it again?

Codex Entry:

I think that’s a great idea. As long as they think there’s anyway I can help, I will be more than happy to contribute however I can, for as long as I can.

Justin TGG:

Well that’s extremely admirable of you. Thanks so much, man. Do you have anything else to add before we wrap up?

Codex Entry:

I suppose if I’m going to add anything, I’d like to encourage other gaming communities to follow suit. If you have a leadership role or major platform in any scene, consider organizing some kind of event for a good cause, even if you don’t think you’ll raise much.

We originally thought we’d be lucky to break a grand, but we were able to raise more than 10 times that. Don’t underestimate the amount of good you and your communities can do, especially if we all work together.

Once again, it goes to show how amazing these people are that we were able to band together under and bring together $10,000 for a good cause. It’s an absolute honor to be a part of this event in any way, and I would gladly support the community again if they decided to do another charity event sometime in the future.

I look forward to seeing future causes spring up in inspiration as word of what the DMC community brings to the table spreads out.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to speak to me, I look forward to any chance I get to work with you all again.

Credit:

Robin Ek – Editor

References:

Devil May Cry Subreddit Twitch

Devil May Cry Subreddit

Catana

VashTSB

ChaserTech

Foxcade

Codex Entry

Delusionary Killer

SuperSpider51

ItsYoru

Kyo



Justin Easler

Senior editor

The Gaming Ground

Twitter: @masterjayshay

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Tags: Capcom, Charity stream, Devil May Cry, DMC, Interview, PS2, PS3, PS4