# Minecraft gamers raise funds for Save the Children

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/11/04/minecraft-gamers-raise-funds-save-children/
- Published: 2013-11-04T23:02:04+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Video gamer Athene is using popular online game Minecraft to raise funds for Save
the Children through his Gaming for Good initiative. The campaign aims to raise 
more than $6 million for the charity.

Minecraft players take part by entering via the Gaming for Good website to play 
the game. In the standard Mincraft they can return to live easily after they ‘die’
in the game. On Gaming for Good, they have to donate money to charity each time 
they wish to continue playing.

The website was attracting so many players that Athene, whose real name is Bachir
Boumaaza, had to find a more robust hosting system. Dedicated server company RapidSwitch,
part of UK cloud company iomart Group plc, stepped in to provide the necessary support.
It deployed over 20 new servers with 15 of them load balanced to spread traffic 
across the servers while still directing it all to the single IP address being used.

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![Online gamer Athene](/files/images/athene-image.jpg)

 

Neil Christie, Commercial Director for RapidSwitch, said: “It’s rare to have a platform
being load balanced that is effectively not for profit so we were delighted to help.
We made sure the platform was as stable as possible and that it could handle a lot
of traffic.”

Athene hopes that gamers playing Minecraft through [Gaming For Good](http://GamingForGood.net)
will help take the total raised for Save The Children to $10,000,000.

Gaming for Good passes 100% of all donations to Save the Children. The platform 
lets games play games for charity, with games donated by games developers and publishers.

_Photo: [Minecraft creepers](http://www.flickr.com/photos/smultronsamhallet/6843037337/)
by Smultron Samhâllet on Flickr.com_

## Comments

### By: HowardLake

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/11/04/minecraft-gamers-raise-funds-save-children/#comment-3924
- Published: 2015-08-06T12:35:00+01:00

14-year-old Tom Kirkman-Wood is running a 12 hour “Minecraft-Charity” livestream
to raise money for Ambitious about Autism, the national charity for children and
young adults with autism.
 It takes place from 8am-8pm on 7 August 2015\. Watch 
it at [http://www.twitch.tv/tkdubsta](http://www.twitch.tv/tkdubsta) and his fundraising
page is at [http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=ThomasKirkmanWood&faId=611512&isTeam=false](http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=ThomasKirkmanWood&faId=611512&isTeam=false)
Jolanta Lasota, CEO Ambitious about Autism said: “We are always delighted when the
young people we represent and support want to raise money for us. This fundraiser
is a great example of the different ways that you can raise money. Whilst it is 
true that Minecraft is a particularly popular game for young people with autism,
12 hours is quite the commitment and we wish Tom all the best of luck with the marathon!”

### By: HowardLake

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/11/04/minecraft-gamers-raise-funds-save-children/#comment-3925
- Published: 2015-08-16T22:44:00+01:00

During Ramadan 2015, UK chat-based games platform Palringo ran a campaign by offering
an incentivised promotion on one of its fishing games. It raised $310,785, split
between Islamic Relief Worldwide and Action Against Hunger.
 [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/monty-munford/ramadan-fundraising-drive-proves-the-charity-of-mobile-gamers\_b\_7983528.html](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/monty-munford/ramadan-fundraising-drive-proves-the-charity-of-mobile-gamers_b_7983528.html)