Gamers raised over $2.5million for charity by playing games for seven days straight

IT’S a myth that gaming is a waste of time, and a large group of gamers are trying to prove that to the world.

GDQ is one of the world’s biggest charity events, raising millions for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders every year.

With two events held every year, the mid-year event, Summer Games Done Quick, has just wrapped up, raising more than $2.5million (£2million) for charity.

The week-long speedrunning event featured over 140 games played for almost 168 hours over the course of the event.

Speedrunning is completing a game as fast as possible, meaning that more games can be completed in the short time frame.

For example, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time takes an average of 30 hours to complete, but was finished at the event in under 20 minutes.

Aside from finishing games, the event also includes a number of 100% or full completion runs, challenge runs of difficult games, and unique runs, including a dog playing Major League Baseball.

The event was streamed via Twitch over the course of the week, and each run was then uploaded to YouTube.

People donate throughout the week, with incentives such as upgrading the difficulty of the game, or adding in bonus games, depending on how much money is donated.

It’s not the largest amount ever donated during the event as GDQ has raised over $3million at a number of events.

However, SGDQ 2024 is a milestone event as it marks more than $50million (£40million) raised for charity since the event started in 2010.

Games Done Quick will return in January 2025 for the next event, but all previous GDQ runs can be watched on the GDQ YouTube channel.

If you want to read more in gaming, check out our Zenless Zone Zero review.