A preview of this full-text is provided by SAGE Publications Inc.
Content available from New Media & Society
This content is subject to copyright.
https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221130738
new media & society
2024, Vol. 26(8) 4867 –4884
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14614448221130738
journals.sagepub.com/home/nms
Philanthropic, prosocial
players: How game-related
charity events motivate
unlikely donors
Amanda C Cote
University of Oregon, USA
Sonya Dal Cin
University of Michigan, USA
Liese Exelmans
Karel de Grote Hogeschool, Belgium
Matea Mustafaj
University of Michigan, USA
Abstract
Although we have long known that many different types of individuals play video games,
the stereotypical “gamer” is often portrayed as a young male. Furthermore, research
into questions such as violence and aggression, addiction or problematic play, and
toxic gaming communities tends to frame gamers and gaming as anti-social. From a
philanthropic perspective, then, gamers appear to be unlikely candidates for charitable
giving. Following attendance at a fundraising game tournament for Gamers Outreach,
a non-profit charity that provides video game systems to children’s hospitals, this
research team conducted a survey of attendees. Our findings suggest that gamers are
willing to support and monetarily contribute to a cause they believe in, but also that
engaging potential donors through their preexisting interests and communities—in this
case, games—can be a productive form of outreach. Finally, participants recognized
Corresponding author:
Amanda C Cote, School of Journalism and Communication, Allen Hall, 1275, University of Oregon, Eugene,
OR 97403, USA.
Email: acote@uoregon.edu
1130738NMS0010.1177/14614448221130738new media & societyCote et al.
research-article2022
Article