A Closer Look at GameOn, War Child's New Hub For Charitable Gamers

Charity organization War Child has recently launched their new gaming hub GameOn. The group has been raising money for and helping children affected by conflict for a long time and has been partnering with the gaming community for the last ten years. Now with their new hub, even more members of the gaming industry will be able to get involved in the cause.

Gaming Partnership Manager at War Child UK Wayne Emanuel took the time to explain how GameOn will work as a fundraising platform for War Child:

GameOn is the place to find all or War Child’s exciting work within the industry. It is a brand-new hub for studios, developers, publishers, writers and gamers to get involved with War Child and support children who have been affected by conflict.

The aim of GameOn is to encourage members of the gaming industry to share new ideas, put on events, or create gaming packages all to support a worthwhile cause. Funds raised by new projects will help to change the lives of thousands of the world’s most disadvantaged children.

To launch the hub we decided to reach out to a wide range of key industry figures such as Randy Pitchford, Rhianna Pratchett and others, to help amplify War Child’s message. We want to continually add more impactful personalities to the roster to increase our reach and help to change the lives of thousands of the world’s most disadvantaged children.

The hub is live now www.warchild.org.uk/GameOn as well as a new twitter channel - @WarChild_Gaming and I would urge the industry and gamers to check them out!

On the newly launched hub you can find games and bundles to purchase that will donate profits to War Child. There is also information on how to get involved by holding your own gaming related fundraisers, as well as video messages from industry veterans supporting the site and its efforts. When asked about who can create what kind of projects through GameOn Emanuel had this to say:

We’re encouraging the whole of the gaming industry to be creative with ways they want to work with War Child. Anyone can get in touch via the GameOn hub with ideas for new projects and events and we’re always open to hearing them. In 2016 War Child Armistice raised over £100k via peaceful playthrough options and donations from sales and we’re planning Armistice 2017 at the moment.

We’re also planning to work with studios and developers on a mobile compilation of games similar to our previous project Help: The Game where 11 studios - Bossa Studios, Creative Assembly, Curve Digital, Hardlight, Modern Dream, Rovio Sweden AB, Spilt Milk Studios, Sports Interactive, Sumo Digital, Team 17 and Torn Banner - each gave up their time for free to create a fantastic bundle of original PC games.

We are also looking into eSports tournaments, Twitch streaming & events; the aim is to innovate as well as build upon existing gaming activity, bringing together gamers and the industry to support child affected by conflict.

The gaming industry has already raised over $2.5 million to support War Child and their work, and with GameOn that number is sure to keep growing. When it comes to what the charity does with all that money, they primarily help educate children that otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to keep learning through technology and gaming. Emanuel explains what they do to help further the education of children in areas affected by conflict:

Children affected by conflict face huge obstacles to their education and we think that technology and games can help overcome these barriers.

In Jordan, we’re using mini-games via tablet based e-learning to bring education back into the lives of Syrian children who have fled the war in their homeland.  The children teach themselves basic numeracy and literacy through playing educational games on tablets.

These games are based on the national curriculum of Jordan, increasing the likelihood for children to progress in their education and get back into school in the future.  The flexible approach means they have the freedom to learn in their own time.

It also means that we’re able to support children with disabilities and those who need to stay at home to help their families.  Over the next 3 years, we aim to educate 37,000 children, many of whom will have missed up to 5 years of school, through this innovative project.

Through all of our fundraising work we’ll be able to support even more children whose lives have been torn apart by war to access education and learn the skills to build a better future.

A big thanks to Wayne Emanuel, Gaming Partnerships Manager at War Child UK, for taking the time to fill us in on what War Child is doing with their new hub GameOn. To get involved and keep up with what they're doing to help children affected by conflict, head over to the hub and follow them @WarChild_Gaming on Twitter.