Two years after Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek’s father handed away from lung most cancers, the favored Twitch streamer was able to honor his dad by serving to others going by the identical factor. As one of many largest streamers on the platform, it’s not a shock that his first inclination was a charity stream. However one massive stream wasn’t sufficient — he needed to create a monthlong occasion to lift cash “in essentially the most gamer vogue ever.”
Grzesiek advised todaysviralmedia that his father used to play PC video games with him when he was simply 3 years outdated. And when he ultimately began fascinated by turning into an esports participant, his father cheered him on. “On the time, I used to be a youngster and actually wasn’t incomes a lot from gaming however he would nonetheless encourage me to do it as a result of he knew it was one thing I cherished,” he stated. “If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be the place I’m at this time.”
The Fragathon, a every day charity stream that may run for all of January elevating cash for St. Jude Kids’s Analysis Hospital, is devoted to him. Income from each subscription and each Bit might be donated. And since it’s Grzesiek, who is understood for his precision intention in shooters, he’s donating a greenback for each in-game kill he or his pals rating in the course of the stream, too.
You possibly can see a rely of the kills, or frags, displayed within the high left of the stream. It doesn’t matter if it’s Marvel Rivals, Valorant, or League of Legends; each elimination counts. It’s known as the Frag Counter, and thru “pixel monitoring and game-specific APIs” it’s capable of replace the quantity mechanically, based on Ricky Gonzalez, government producer at Loaded, a streamer expertise company that represents Grzesiek.
After an emergency pause for the wildfires close to Grzesiek’s residence in Los Angeles on Jan. 8, the Fragathon has returned with over $200,000 raised and many extra stream to go. Grzesiek advised todaysviralmedia there isn’t a set schedule, however the stream will rotate by visitors and sometimes transfer to the health club or a tabletop for board video games.
The entire thing took three groups working by the vacations to finish and is working on “over 15 cameras, 13 PCs and a seemingly infinite quantity of RGB LEDs piped all through the home,” Gonzalez stated. Most of that’s tucked right into a room someplace behind Grzesiek’s typical setup to create a LAN middle for his closest pals to hitch him.
“We mentioned having this all be executed in a studio nevertheless it wouldn’t have felt really ‘Shroud’ if it wasn’t at residence,” Grzesiek stated. “I need my pals and visitors to really feel at residence after they’re right here and we wish that feeling to return by on stream, whether or not I’m in my workplace, on the LAN middle, on my sofa, or in my kitchen.”
Six gaming PCs sit again to again within the blue LED-lit room, every with two displays (one for gaming, one for studying chat) and a microphone. The place the partitions aren’t lined up by Shroud-branded keyboards and signage, there’s graffiti depicting crosshairs and the Fragathon emblem. The price range is a little bit larger than a LAN get together you’d throw along with pals, however the DIY spirit is there. Grzesiek needed it to “really feel just like the outdated gamer days while you would simply play a bunch of various video games with all your mates round you yelling, laughing, gaming, and creating reminiscences collectively.”
The manufacturing group and Grzesiek are already fascinated by methods to enhance the Fragathon ought to it come again sooner or later — and it seems like it can. Gonzalez stated they tried to “maintain it actually cozy and acquainted” however are able to go larger subsequent time.
“I maintain saying this on stream however I simply know my dad would have LOVED to see this,” he stated. “As a full time streamer a lot of my life is broadcast on-line. It’s troublesome to attract a line between “private” and “skilled” typically and I’ve all the time simply needed to be precisely myself on stream, so doing one thing in his honor — he’s the one which launched me to gaming within the first place — simply felt proper.”