Gamers stream in for marathon May
Kintyre man goes live to boost Macmillan funds
A Kintyre IT consultant has joined forces with friends across the UK to live-stream gaming sessions almost 24 hours a day for most of May to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.
James McLellan, 36, is using his new-found free time during lockdown to take part in the challenge, dubbed ‘Mid-Game Crisis’, alongside friends Alan, who lives in Gorebridge, and Makka, Tom and Michael who are based in Somerset, where James grew up.
Explaining what inspired them, James, who now lives at the Sound of Kintyre, said: ‘A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with stage four cancer. We’re a tight-knit group of friends, so we pulled together to support him and raise as much money as possible for Macmillan Cancer Support.’
It’s not the first time the men have completed gaming live streams for charity, having previously taken part in Macmillan Cancer Support’s own Game Heroes live-streaming initiative, Edinburgh Children’s Hospital’s Sick Kids Save Point 24-hour gaming marathons and completing challenges for Special Effect, a charity that helps physically disabled people play video games.
This time, James and his friends decided they wanted to go a step further and initially decided to complete a 26-hour session - the online streaming equivalent of a 26-mile marathon, they thought.
After completing that challenge - and with more spare time than ever - they decided to try to keep the stream going for as much of May as possible, each doing shifts and hosting other channels - ‘like BBC One showing something that is on BBC Two at the same time’ - James explained, who estimates he completes between eight and 12 hours each day. They also reached out to their contacts in the games industry and pulled in prizes to give away to encourage people to watch the streams.
Asked which genre of games the friends play, James said: ‘Anything and everything.
We’ve got a Minecraft game running because we play a lot of that any way and it’s a favourite of our friend who’s not well. Alan has been doing some late-night streams playing stuff like the Blair Witch Project and PT which are frightening. It’s hilarious because the noises he makes when he gets scared are incredible.
‘We’re also guided by the chat and Twitter. We’ve had some suggestions for games we should play, so we’ve picked them up.’
James, whose children or ‘stream goblins’ Skye, 13, and Callum, 11, have been getting involved alongside completing their school work, said: ‘It’s hard to explain to people I suppose, because people climb mountains for charity or run marathons, but we are sitting down for charity!
‘I have osteoarthritis and other mobility issues so although I can get about, I’m not a marathon runner by any means but this I can do.’
To find out more about the challenge or to get involved, visit https://www.midgamecrisis.co.uk/macmillan