Gamers Outreachis a charity that helps make video games accessible for children in hospitals through its 4 core programs, including its portable GO-Kart gaming kiosks for which the organization is most widely known. Gamers Outreach is on a mission to bring video games to hospitals across the United States and beyond so that one day people look back and remember a time in history when video games in hospitals weren’t a thing.
Game Rant recently spoke withGamers Outreach’s founder, Zach Wigal, about how the charity began and how it has evolved over the years as a life quest and passion for many who are now involved in its work. Wigal also discussed the impact of worldwide events like the pandemic, the charity’s big upcoming annual LAN party and streamathon fundraiser Gamers for Giving that’s taking place in March, and what the future holds for the organization.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
RELATED:Microsoft And Dwayne Johnson Partner To Donate Special Xbox Series X To Children’s Hospitals
Q: Could you briefly summarize for our readers what Gamers Outreach does and its mission?
A:Gamers Outreach is a non-profit organization that makes entertainment more accessible inside hospitals. We’re focused on providing hospitals with tools to manage video game devices and video game content. The result of that is kids and families get access to activities while they’re receiving care.
We believe play is an important part of life and childhood development. Oftentimes when kids and families are receiving care inside hospitals, research and treatment take priority. Because of that, activities and quality of life take a backseat. But by giving hospitals video games, we can enable all the kids and families to have access to entertainment, activities, and opportunities to socialize at the same time.
We really see video games as a tool that make play accessible at scale. In a hospital, if a healthcare facility is able to manage all their devices, they can allow all kids and families to have access to play simultaneously. That’s often regardless of a child’s physical circumstance if they’re stuck in a room versus if they’re more mobile. Or even their age. Oftentimes, a 10-year-old has as much fun on an Xbox as a young adult who’s 19 or 20. I’m in my 30s, I’m not in the hospital, and I want to play video games each day [laughs]. So games are clearly a platform thatbring people togetherin various ways.
We’re also seeing video games help with the healthcare process. We’re seeing instances where games are being used to lower a child’s anxiety and are being used as an incentive to help kids reach their health outcomes faster. They’re also just a good way for healthcare staff to interact with children. Kids, and sometimes adults too, don’t necessarily speak candidly about what might be going on, and connecting with kids through activities is a great way to get a dialogue going to help understand what’s happening in a child’s world.
Q: So how did Gamers Outreach get its start, and how has it evolved since then?
A:I started Gamers Outreach back in 2007. At the time, I was a high school student and had developed an interest in video game tournaments after being ill over my summer break. It wasn’t serious where I was in the hospital, but I was stuck inside and missed all my summer sport practices. I got really good atMortal Kombat Deception, which had an online mode that let you compete with other players. I started organizing video game tournaments once I got back to school with friends.
One of my events was aHalo tournament. A few hundred students and gamers from the community had signed up to participate, but the event was shut down by a police officer who believed video games were corrupting the minds of America’s youth. In his words, kids were “training themselves to kill” by playing violent games, and it wasn’t appropriate for a video game tournament to be held within a high school. He believed all of us gathering was a hazard to public safety because games were “corrupting the minds of kids.”
RELATED:Family Donates Fifteen Thousand Dollars Worth Of Nintendo Games, Consoles, And More To Children’s Hospital
I grew up being a gamer and was frustrated with the stereotypes that existed in those days. My event was shut down because there was a disagreement around the content in Halo, and whether it was appropriate for high schoolers. I still had an interest in organizing a video game tournament and felt the most productive course would be to take all the energy, attendees who were interested, and work done by friends and point it towards organizing a new event for charity. With a new venue, we’d at least be able to still hold our event, but also demonstrate the positive things that happen when gamers get together. Games can be a force for the public good.
I’ve always felt games bring people together. I think of games as being additive to life. Sometimes the word “escapism” is used to describe video games. That word is suitable - but when I play games, I’m not trying to escape anything. Games add value to my life. It’s through games we can enjoy quality time with our relatives, or be engaged in a story, learn a new skill, etc. Games have tremendous potential and when gamers get together, a lot of positive things can happen.
Through the process of organizing a new event and evaluating charitable causes, I discovered my local children’s hospital had requested toys and video games for kids at the facility. As a donor, I was hesitant to purchase handheld devices for the hospital. It seemed like, inevitably, those would need constantly replaced. The kids in the hospital today aren’t going to be the same kids in the hospital tomorrow. So as a gamer, my preference would be to solve this problem altogether. Let’s provide the hospital with tools to manage their gaming devices so these things always exist in the facility.
That’s how the idea forGO Karts (Gamers Outreach Karts)came to be. We started building portable video game kiosks that hospital staff could use to store their devices. If a child is stuck in bed or has had a surgery, healthcare staff can wheel the device to each room during recovery.
The initiative started by constructing one unit for the local hospital. Soon after a neighboring hospital found out what we had done and asked for a unit. Fast forward a bit: while I was in college and starting to take on contract projects in the video game industry, industry colleagues would see me post about delivering a kart and started asking “how can we build one of those for a hospital in San Francisco, Seattle, or Los Angeles?”
Fast forward 16 years, we’ve had a lot more people involved. Much of our program growth can be attributed to different communities rallying to support hospitals in their regions. These days we actively maintain a presence in about 400 healthcare facilities, primarily in the United States. We have a small international presence as well. We estimate across all the devices we’re enabling as many as 4 to 4.5 million play sessions for kids each year. We define a “play session” as anytime a child picks up a controller and plays games on one of our devices. Sometimes that’s the same kid day over day. Other times it might be a gaming kart used by 20 children in a playroom. This year we’re building a new version of our GO Karts that will be more readily available internationally.
We have a few other programs as well. The GO Karts are what we’re most known for. Recently we started building fun vending machines called “Save Points.” They’re like a distribution hub, if you will, to provide toys, game codes, and fun swag to kids. You can almost think of it like a prize desk at Chuck E. Cheese. After kids go through treatment, they can visit the machine as a reward for making progress during their care. We’re hoping to deploy two more machines this year.
We also have a volunteer initiative called Player 2 where we invite video game enthusiasts to volunteer in hospitals and help provide tech support. If a hospital is trying to update an Xbox, fix a controller, or install new games, these folks are able to provide support.
We have one other initiative called Portal, which is a software concept we’ve been noodling with for the last couple of years. It helps hospitals manage video game content across hundreds of rooms. We basically want to give hospitals the tools to manage video game content as if they were gaming centers.
Our big focus at Gamers Outreach is trying to create a world where one day we’ll all look back and ask, “remember when hospitals didn’t have video games?” We want video games to be fully integrated with healthcare facilities - because as mentioned earlier, we believe games are a tool that enables activities. Those four programs are our approach to building that world, and helping make games accessible.
Q: You mentioned briefly about games supporting well-being like anxiety. What do you say about the power of gaming and how it helps people and supports their well-being?
A:Gaming can be a tremendous force supporting a person’s well-being. We are seeing instances where games are used directly to assist with the healthcare process in a variety of ways. I’ll tell you a couple of stories.
We supported a child who was going through physical therapy and was trying to regain the ability to stand and move around on their own. The child had to complete a series of standing exercises each day, where they would get out of bed and stand for a period of time. The health worker told us when the child was able to play video games alongside exercise, they were able to stand for three times as long as they had previously without games.
That little extra incentive can help compound results for children as they work to reach their intended health outcomes. Games can be a positive distraction, making activities more fun.
We were involved with another instance where a child had severe burns on the side of his arm. Every few days healthcare workers had to change bandages. The child was getting so anxious over the procedure that 6 different health workers had to restrain him to complete the process. Someone found out he liked playing Lego Batman, and they wheeled in one of our gaming Karts a few hours before the procedure was about to happen. It lowered the child’s anxiety, and by the time the health workers came to change his bandages, his only concern was whether he could keep playingLego Batman." The health workers were like, ‘yes, of course.’ ‘How about this, I’ll hold one end of the controller while you hold the other and give the other worker your arm?’ It went from 6 healthcare workers assisting this patient down to 2. One was completing the procedure of changing the child’s bandages, while the other was holding one half of the controller, so the kid could keep playing video games.
There are three things I extrapolate from that story. One, clearly this child had a better healthcare experience thanks to video games. His anxiety lowered, and he wasn’t scared about the procedure any longer. Two, healthcare workers had an easier time doing their job. It wasn’t their intent to cause more discomfort, they were just trying to help somebody heal. There’s also a third point to be made about the hospital’s efficiency. The 4 other health workers could go support other patients. That’s a big deal because a lot of hospitals think about their resources from the perspective of time management.
If you are a nurse and you’re responsible for, just easy math, going into 10 rooms throughout a day, you can only spend so much time with a patient. If you have a 10-hour shift, the max you could probably do would be one hour per day with each patient, but that’s without thinking about any charting or administrative work, or taking a lunch break. There are things happening that will interrupt that shift, so you’re not really spending an hour a day with a patient, you’re spending a handful of minutes back and forth. In that simple example, it’s easy to understand how moments like this can interrupt care for patients. If a child suddenly asks to play an Xbox, the health worker may have to spend 20 minutes taking the Xbox from the playroom, finding a meal tray, setting it up, and putting a TV on it, only for that child to not feel well an hour later and ask them to remove it. That can be really time-consuming and it’s why such a big focus of ours is helping provide hospitals with tools to manage video games. That’s what the GO Kart is. The GO Kart is a method to allow healthcare staff to provide games to kids without having to spend too much time on that project.
RELATED:If You Like Animal Crossing, Try These Other Relaxing Life Sims
So, long story there around that, there are a lot of benefits to health workers and providing them with tools to manage video games. So I think those are 2 stories to come to mind immediately. I could tell you story after story where we’re seeing games make a positive impact and it kind of takes these various forms. It’s helping a child with healthcare procedures in some way.
We had a volunteer who was working at a hospital who, when he was younger, had a heart condition. He ended up working with a patient who had just been diagnosed with that same condition, and his parents were worried the child was trying to figure out what’s going on. This volunteer ends up coming into the room and sitting down and just had no idea they shared this similarity – just sat down with the child to play video games and, in the midst of socializing, discovered that they had this in common. The volunteer was able to say ‘hey, you know, actually I got diagnosed with that same thing when I was younger and everything turned out just fine – everything you’re going through is normal, I’m an adult now.’ This person actually worked elsewhere in the hospital and was volunteering as well. It was a moment where this particular family had the opportunity to just interact with someone who had gone through a similar experience. It really helped a lot to know that, ‘hey, there are other people out there who are going through the same thing; the things they’re going through - this is typical; it’s all going to be okay.’
I think that video games just happened to be the catalyst to help facilitate that conversation. I think there’s something said about just the notion that we connect through activities. Right, I mean, not just exclusively video games. You know, people who are passionate about exercise, sports, or painting, you know, you name your hobby. It’s a way for us to connect really and exchange energy as people.
RELATED:Study Claims Skyrim Is The Best Game For ‘Mindfulness’
Sometimes, video games are the only conduit kids have to the outside world while they’re in the hospital. We had a child that we supported who was waiting on a heart transplant in Children’s LA and was stuck in this hospital room for 9 months. Because during that time the doctors were concerned, like ‘if something happens to you, we need to make sure you’re near all the equipment to help make sure you stay okay.’ His mom was telling us you know – thankfully this child got his transplant, everything’s fine, you know, and he was out of the hospital – but his mom said ‘if it hadn’t been forMinecraft, my son would have gone insane because at least he had this digital playground to go and interact with his friends.’ He looked forward to that each day while he was in the hospital, and it was a way for them to stay in touch while he was going through this process. I mean that’s a long time, you think 9 months, almost a year, to be stuck in a hospital like that, it’s crazy. That’s even happening as we’re speaking right now.
These are circumstances most people aren’t aware of unless they happen to visit a hospital or know someone who’s going through it, or have gone through it themselves. That was a big awakening moment for me. As a young person, I started Gamers Outreach because selfishly I was upset that my video game tournament had been canceled. I wanted to show ‘video games could be used for great things,’ and that’s what I believed. Then, I discovered along the way people in hospitals are going through these situations, and we as gamers can be of help. This is a responsibility for us as gamers, I feel. You have to know what video games are to help deploy them in hospitals. It’s up to us. We have this quote on our website - we believe the world is better when kids can play and gamers have the power to help. That’s not just some fun clever saying, it’s literal. You have to be a gamer to bring equipment into the hospital and know ‘these are the sorts of games kids want to play, here’s how to update the devices, here’s how to connect all the devices for multiplayer.’ This is a massive calling for us gamers. We as video game enthusiasts can exercise our knowledge to help make an incredible impact in healthcare facilities for kids and families receiving care. And if we don’t do it, it won’t happen.
It’s been my life’s quest. We have a lot of folks involved now who I think also feel very passionate about this topic similarly. Thankfully, our work is very tangible. One day we will look back and say, “hey look, all the hospitals have video games now – good work everyone, we did it.” The challenge of what we’re doing is that it’s a very big problem. There are a lot of hospitals in the world.
We’re at about 400 right now. There are, I think if you included all facilities, there’s something like 44,000 hospitals worldwide, and in the United States, there are about 6000 facilities, including adult hospitals. If you break it down into like, pediatric or children’s care, the number’s a lot smaller so maybe 3000ish, depending on your definition. For video games, it makes a ton of sense for them to integrate them with healthcare facilities for all the reasons I’ve discussed.
Q: Video games and online gaming have been a lifeline for many people during the pandemic for social connection and enjoyment. Has the pandemic enhanced or impacted Gamers Outreach’s mission in any way?
A:I think the value of connection became more apparent during the pandemic, and as it related to Gamers Outreach programs, we saw an increase in activity and an increase in requests from hospitals that wanted to provide kids with something to do during lockdowns. A lot of the activities that are provided to kids in hospitals are often managed by volunteers. A magician who comes to the hospital to perform for kids is usually volunteering unless the hospital might have a budget to pay for folks to come by. But a lot of times, when people come in and play music or teach kids music in hospitals, those music therapists are often volunteering their time. There are groups that provide books and comics to hospitals, and they’re conducting reading sessions with kids. They’re often volunteering their time.
During the pandemic, pretty much all volunteering stopped because hospitals didn’t want folks coming in for the reasons that we were all in lockdown.
RELATED:Oxford Study Suggests Playing Video Games Can Be Good For Mental Health
Because of that, video games became one of the few things that kids had access to, and we were getting emails and phone calls from hospital partners: ‘hey, our kids are bouncing off the walls - can you guys provide us with some more gaming Karts?’ I think the pandemic accentuated the reason we do our work at Gamers Outreach. We want to make sure kids have access to sources of play. It just so happened that the pandemic really narrowed options, where video games became one of those few things that were accessible. So we found ourselves as busy as we’ve been during the pandemic. We had a number of hospitals reaching out requesting support.
Thankfully,the gaming communityalso stepped up. We had quite a few fundraisers that went very well, relative to Gamers Outreach’s growth. 2020-2021 were both larger fundraising years for us compared to the previous years, as was 2022. We just released our annual report on our website noting the progress. The pandemic was certainly a period of time, at least in the context of what we do at Gamers Outreach, where clearly the reason we do our work was accentuated and emphasized, and hospitals were very eager to integrate video games into their process to provide kids with something to do.
Q: This year marks the 15th anniversary of Gamers for Giving and the first in-person LAN event since pre-pandemic. Do you have any special plans to mark its return?
A:We’re pretty excited. The whole event begins on March 20 and ends on March 26. The LAN party takes place at the end of the week, March 25-26. We’ll have streamers who start broadcasting on March 20 and continue streaming throughout the week. And then at the end of the week during the LAN party, we’ll be gathering together on the 25th and 26th to play video games, stay up all night, eat our favorite foods, and raise money for kids in hospitals. We have a few exciting announcements to share during the weekend. Mainly we’ll be celebrating the launch of our newest gaming Kart. We’ll display the prototype at Gamers for Giving, and we’re trying to raise one million dollars. We’re asking the video game community to get involved. We’re looking for streamers who want to go live at some point during the week to help fundraise. And we still have seats available at the LAN party for those who want to come join us in person.
All the money raised is going to help us complete a number of projects. We’ve detailed how the funds will be budgeted in a recent blog. This year’s event has three different goals: a 500k goal, a 750k goal, and the full million. Each goal accomplishes something different. We have a wish list of hospitals who’ve reached out and requested gaming Karts. We’d like to deliver gaming Karts to at least 100 of those facilities, and if we can raise at least 500 grand, we’ll be able to do that. We’re also looking to upgrade equipment on some of our GO Karts that were donated many years ago. That’s all part of goal number one.
We have hospitals that have requested Save Point machines. For Save Point: we want to have resources to keep machines fully stocked. We also want to build 2 more machines for a couple of hospitals that have reached out that want to place these in their facilities. Our last goal if we get to the million-dollar area past 750k – that section is reserved for international deployments. We want to be able to deliver GO Karts to hospitals outside the United States, so there’s an opportunity for international streamers to get involved and help us reach that benchmark.
RELATED:Desert Bus For Hope Charity Livestream Raises One Point One Million Dollars
Q: So what can people expect from attending the LAN party this year?
A:The LAN party’s always a great time. We host a handful of tournaments that gamers can compete in as well as casual activities.
We do usually have special guests attending the LAN. The LAN is like a music festival. Attendees bring their PC, connect with the community, make new friends, kick back, and play video games. As an adult now in my 30s, I really have to be intentional about making time to play video games - something I took for granted as a kid! So for those of us who have grown up and are adults now with jobs, the LAN is a great weekend to just set aside time and focus on play. It’s a chance for folks to relax with their friends and support a great cause - helping bring video games to kids in hospitals.LAN parties are a wayto feel connected to the core aspects of being a gamer.
Most people who come to a LAN party are pretty hardcore gamers. You’re meeting the most enthusiastic gamers in the community. It’s a lot of effort to come to a LAN party, so it’s quite exciting to be in the midst of that energy. It’s a good time. It’s a cultural experience for sure. I think if folks haven’t been to a LAN, they owe it to themselves to come out and be a part of it.
Q: So how can people get involved in the online streamathon, if maybe they just want to get involved from home?
A:I’d recommend folks check out GamersforGiving.org. From there they can create an online fundraising campaign on Tiltify. It’s as simple as asking your friends or community to donate, especially if you’re someone who streams regularly. We’re asking streamers to broadcast between March 20 and 26. Most all our fundraising is thanks to streamers getting involved online and broadcasting from their homes, so it’s one of the most impactful ways to make a difference!
Q: Looking beyond Gamers for Giving, what different ways can people support the work of Gamers Outreach all year round?
Q: What does the future hold for Gamers Outreach with the development of the latest Go-Kart 3.0?
A:The future is incredibly exciting. We are trying to solve this major challenge: how can activities be made readily available to kids and families? Our theory and belief is video games can make a big dent. By providing hospitals with video games, providing them with the tools to manage video games, we want to create a world where there’s at least this base layer of activity, an opportunity to socialize, and recreation for kids and families, and it’s all to help restore a sense of joy and normalcy while people are in the hospital. So we’re trying to think about how can we ensure our programs solve this problem. We’re not just continuously giving devices over and over again. We really want to create tools that will last in hospitals for long periods of time.
Our newest gaming Kart is an effort towards doing that. The new GO Kart accommodates all the modern consoles, and as long as consoles don’t get any bigger than they are now, that should continue to be the case. So we’re very excited about the video gaming Karts. They’re also more efficient for us to produce the way we’re building them. It’s easier for us to ship them and make them available internationally.
Save Points are really meant to be distribution hubs. Instead of us going to hospitals and providing gift bags, we want to help create a platform for sustainability. If hardware companies or video game companies have inventory that’s going out of date, or they are recycling products, etc., we can offload that gear and actually provide it to people who are going to put it to use, as opposed to it being destroyed or going to waste.
Q: That’s great. I think I read people can donate their old consoles as well, which is great because it’s not adding to waste culture. It’s using what we’ve got and making sure that it gets used and not just thrown away.
A:Yeah, that’s a good point. We accept used video game donations. Anything that’s new we’re often able to put to use directly. If items are worn down or extremely dated, we usually sell those items to help secure funds for modern equipment. It’s another way people can support.
RELATED:Video Games That Will Help You Relax
Q: You mentioned operating in nine countries. What plans do you have to increase your worldwide outreach?
A lot of our impact is driven by donor support. Our progress throughout hospital facilities in the US has been thanks to people getting involved on a regional level. Our hope is to continue working with streamers and donors in various countries, partnering with them to gather resources in support of this work. Once funds are raised, we can deploy a Kart in a hospital. That’s the initial goal. Gamers for Giving is an opportunity for streamers around the world to get involved and help us further that mission.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
If anybody wants to learn more about Gamers Outreach they can check our website, GamersOutreach.org. They can also follow us on social media, @GamersOutreach on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook/LinkedIn. And then our upcoming event, as mentioned, March 20-26, Gamers for Giving, it’s our first big fundraiser of the year. We’re really hoping it’s a tremendous result and to do some good things in the world. We’d love to have you involved!
[END]
The next Gamers for Giving fundraising event run by Gamers Outreach is taking place March 20 – 26, with the online streamathon running March 20 – 26 and the LAN Party taking place March 25 -26.
MORE:Xbox, Gamers Outreach, and Gal Gadot Teaming Up For Good Cause.
