Ian Wright
Appearances
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Do you want to hear something that might also send you over the edge?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
This is also kind of just like the definition of the duality of man. Because I would say that The Witcher 3 has really janky, awkward combat. And I think it's the best game ever made.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
It was not a problem for me because I got good at it. You know what I mean? Just switch it over, the art sign, all those different things.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
oh man there's also just like you know i could i could just keep going like there's just like it's like it's like the fact that like yeah there's like a sense of realism you know like i get that argument but then there's also the like if i aim my pistol down or rifle down too far i can accidentally shoot my own horse but like and i get it's like well that's really what would happen but you would never do that if you were actually you know so it's just like a janky controls that are that are making it do that it's
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Honestly, I was going to say, I'll give you an eight and a half, right? Like it's fine. Like, I think it's great. It's just, you know, it's just not, Not greatest of all time.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I love this.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, yeah. So yes, my name is Ian Wright. My official title is the lead manager for gaming and digital fundraising and Make-A-Wish America. It doesn't fit on a business card. I usually just tell people I'm the gaming guy. That's just like, that's what I do. I'm the gaming guy for Make-A-Wish. So when it comes to
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yes. Last few years. I'm going to say a few years is 10 years. I feel like that's probably like, you know, a good number. Um, so going back very specifically, uh, the first destiny, uh, and then trial trials of Osiris, very like, like that specifically, um, Is that a bad ride?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
yeah yeah uh i love the i love destiny and like the grinding and the the bot like boss runs doing raids everything all the mechanics of it great game trials of osiris specifically if i could i said yesterday i was talking to my buddy used to play trials with and i was like if a developer would just take trials and just that's the game you make a billion dollars so if someone knows how to do that just give me 10 for my idea thank you yeah
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Destiny, outside Destiny, because I haven't played that in a while, to be fair. I play a ton of a game called Smite and Smite 2, now that Smite 2 is out. If everyone's not familiar, it's a MOBA, a la League of Legends, but it's third-person instead of top-down. That's the one I've got... or 5,000 hours in, I think. That's a game that I've no life super hard.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Recently, it's like a cop out because they both got game of the year, but I'm playing a ton of Bellatro and then a ton of Baldur's Gate 3. Baldur's Gate 3 is in my top 10. That one's near the top as well. That game is a masterpiece. And so eagerly awaiting patch 8 when that drops so I can play with my friends on Xbox because I'm on PC and I can do crossplay now. Super pumped on that.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
um you know it's fortnite is is still fun for me it is it is fun i don't think i like it but it's fun i play so i play fortnite and i play what i call i have a mortgage mode uh and so that's i play fortnite og no build so basically like the least skill level and i don't have to learn anything new you know and then i play with my other friend who also has a mortgage and we don't get destroyed by nine-year-olds we just get destroyed by like
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
15 year olds. You know what I mean? There you go.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
In my opinion. Yeah. And so I've, I've actually been playing that a little bit and it's been fun. I'm trying to think of any others that have like truly captured me over the last decade. And I'm sure, Oh, there was a game called storybook brawl. That's unfortunately... What is that?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Video games and Make-A-Wish, if there's a conversation, whether it's fundraising or wish granting, I'm usually involved in some capacity. My role in general is to do fundraising. It is to sort of get individuals and corporations involved to help support the mission of Make-A-Wish through gaming.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I've never even heard of this game before. It was an auto-battler. It was sort of like a... Not like a deck builder, but you had a limited bench and then you could swap out characters. So auto-battler. That was made by a team that they were eventually acquired by Sam Bankman free during the whole crypto, uh, FTX thing.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And then when, when his assets got frozen and taken to court, they unfortunately went under because of that. Um, and so to me, I'm not a big auto battler guy and it actually is the game that got me into auto battlers. And since that game, I have tried like a dozen other auto battlers and none of them do it for me, like including Hearthstone. I know everyone loves Hearthstone, but like, yep.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, for me, that one was like, I could maybe learn it, but there's such a high skill ceiling, and I don't really want to invest my time. So that's probably a great game. No shade, just not for me. But the team that made Sorber Brawl now have come out with a new game that's primarily mobile-focused, which is cool, because I don't play a lot of mobile games, so it's kind of fun to be part of that.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I don't either, yeah. But it's very early in development, still kind of like in...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
beta it's not you can download it it's not fully in beta but it's on the app store called um uh once upon a galaxy which is really fun again like auto battler um it's a very small community very dedicated group of people and so it's kind of cool to be part of that and watch the game grow and the community grow and listen to feedback so that's been fun it's kind of a nice little uh mobile game that i can play when i'm you know not in front of my pc uh but those yeah those have been the ones that have probably taken over my life for like the last 10 years i'd say
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I recommend Once Upon a Galaxy for that exact thing. The games are super quick. It's actually asymmetrical, so it's not live lobbies. So you can play around and then be like, oh, I have to go take care of the kid or walk the dog or do my job that they pay me to do, you know, sort of thing. So I highly recommend. I'll get you a PC download code. I got you.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I was going to say, I'll have to check that out. I'll get you a PC download code, yeah. Nice.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
But like I said, if it's wish granting, if it's just spreading the word of Make-A-Wish through gaming, that's what I'm here for. I'm a longtime gamer, like, since I can remember. My first game, I think, was Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. So, it's like the early 90s. So, like, you know, that'll, like, date me a little bit there. But that's, like, the first one I remember.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, yeah. So my journey to employment is kind of interesting. And it's really cool to kind of see the building blocks along the way. So I actually, when I graduated high school, I ended up I ended up joining the army. So I was in the army for a few years. And when I was in the army, played a ton of video games, um, played them.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Like that was a really good way to like, kind of like have camaraderie with your friends, you know, and like, you know, play video games on a Friday night. Um, I actually played it. Like we played a ton of video games. We were deployed. I would run the table and N64 super smash brothers. Like I am, I am, I will stand here on business right now that Super Smash Bros. Melee, you'll beat me, right?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I'm not good. Wave dashing. I'm not strong at it. Original N64 Smash Bros. I'll take my Pikachu anytime, anywhere, and I'll bring it to wherever you need it. I'm putting that out there just for the record. Just for the record. But yeah, so I played a ton of video games then. And then after I got out of the army, went to college, got my degree.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And then I found a job working for a charity called the USO, United Services Organization. It's a military nonprofit. working just kind of at a desk ended up doing like data analysis for them for a while and then my boss at the time was like hey you're a gamer I'm a gamer this organization is no presence in gaming at all and we're both military vets we both know that
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
they love gaming you know like the military loves gaming like there's there's something here and so him and i worked our day job and then the night we kind of built out this small little fledgling gaming program built that out over the years like we eventually it led to like my my personal kind of like claim to fame like moment that i was like oh like i've been successful in my role is we actually partnered with the nfl and we run now they still do it run an annual madden tournament for the military winners go to the super bowl
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Um, and so that's like, like taking it from like little Twitch streams to that was really, really cool to see. It's still going on. Super proud of them for what they're doing. Um, and then, yeah, I was doing that role. And then this opportunity with make a wish came up and it was like gaming and I can't say no to the kids. You know what I mean? Like, come on.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So, so yeah, that's kind of where it ended up. I went from doing it for the military to this and it's, it's been fantastic, you know, granting wishes and, and raising money for kids with video games is like the best thing.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yeah. Yeah.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Oh, my God.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
But, like, I've had the SNES. I had the Sega Dreamcast. I don't know if anyone remembers that. Soul Calibur. Yeah, I mean, like, you know, Phantasy Star Online. Played so much Soul Calibur on that thing. GameCube, Xbox, like, PC all the way. So, yeah, I'm a lifelong gamer and super pumped to be here.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
This is a great question. I like this a lot. Okay, I'm trying to go through. I'm not trying to sell myself short and say one of the Animal Crossing characters, because Tom Nook, I'll take you down here. It's on site with Tom. No, who's up there that I think, but I also think could also put some damage to me?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I think most Pokemon would just kill me outright, just because they have lightning and fire and all those different things. Probably need to find a human. You know what? Hmm. It doesn't have to be human. This is probably kind of crazy. If he doesn't have any of his special abilities, I'd fight Mario. I'd fight him. So Mario without Fire Flower or Mushroom.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
No Fire Flower, no Star, no Mushroom, anything. Just straight up Plumber versus me. I think he might get me on edge, but I feel like I'm a little younger than him, so I might have that. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, though, because he has some experience. I think that's fair, man. He's got, yeah.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
No power up Mario. I think he'd be good to squabble with.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So first of all, he's a plumber. He works the trades. This is a strong guy. He's got to carry stuff around. He's active. You know what I mean? Full respect to him. He's also from New York. There's a certain edge that he carries himself with. And also, he stands on business. His princess gets captured. He immediately goes and fights a fire-breathing turtle dragon. Like,
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
The man steps up, so I'm kind of concerned I might be overselling my own abilities, but I'd fight Mario. I stand by that.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Oh, I mean, Avowed comes out tomorrow. I don't know if we're supposed to say that. It comes out tomorrow. I don't know if we're supposed to say that. Tomorrow from this recording. Yeah, from this recording. But yeah, Avowed comes out. Super pumped on that. Just because... Actually, I want to... Because... Give a little shout out to my list of games before.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
A game that I loved, I think was criminally slept on, The Outer Worlds.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
um like i don't know if you guys played the other worlds but like i didn't play it i'm familiar with it but yeah original fallout developers yeah and like and like super fun like i thought the dialogue was cool i liked the whole concept of like corporations and space like you know i just i really enjoyed it another game where like the gameplay kind of suffered compared to the storytelling and the characters but like still really fun but like a lot of the same people that did that did avowed and i've read some reviews and apparently there's a little bit of that like kind of snark and humor which i'm excited about but like
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
in the world of Skyrim. I know it's not Skyrim, but come on, guys, let's be real here. Oh, it's Skyrim. Give it to me, man. Give it to me. That one, honestly, I got sad because I was like, oh, today's a holiday. I can play Avowed because it comes out today. It comes out tomorrow. Nope. It comes out tomorrow. Oh, real, man.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Exactly.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I think that that like, that's such a good point that like, I feel like it's the same for even music and movies and TV, but like now with games, I feel like if like people take the game and they go, Oh, this isn't the greatest video game I've ever played. It's a dumpster fire. And it's like, that's not how that works at all, man. For me, I played a ton of Helldivers 2 when it first came out.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And I played it. It was fun. It was silly, over-the-top action gore. You're launching yourself off a cliff and firing a nuke at a bunch of aliens. It was silly. And at no point did I go, this is the greatest video game I've ever played. But I was like, this is fun. I'm very happy to have put time and money into this. This is awesome. So yeah, I'll play Avowed.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And I could even be like, oh, this is worse than Skyrim. That's fine. Okay. Skyrim is like 75% of Skyrim and I'm perfectly happy. It's like, you know, that's, that's, you know, people will compare it. They're like, Oh, this isn't as good as Skyrim. Great. Or, you know, an open world adventure game or, you know, a sandbox ago, that this just doesn't as good as red dead.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
oh, so it's not as good as arguably the best video game of all time. Sorry, it didn't hit that bar, but are you having fun? Like, are you enjoying your time with this? So yeah, I'm pumped for Avowed. I'm going to walk into it with a very open mind. I also have not read a ton of reviews on purpose, so I'm going to go in and hopefully I'll enjoy it.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yeah. So I would say that like, it's really, it's kind of like a misnomer to be like, you'd like lead the division. Like I just do the gaming stuff, man. Like, you know, I, I do the gaming stuff. I have a whole team of people I work with that like are incredible what they do. Um, and, and I just, I just do the gaming stuff.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Um, on the, on like the helping grant wishes side, like, um, I think like a perfect example of it is we did a wish last year with, um, a Twitch streamer by the name of Jinxie. I don't know if you're familiar with, with Jinx. So he does rainbow six, another fantastic game. Um, and so we had a wish where, um, we are the kid.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So not by, by like, first and foremost, like not every wish, right. Um, our organization grants, I mean, last year we did 16,200, a little over 16,200, um, which, um, was a record. It's the most we've ever granted as an organization. So very excited to do that. And then as part of that 16,000, we grant hundreds of gaming wishes.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
His wish was, I want to meet Jinxie and I want to play rainbow six with Jinxie. Right. Like that's what I want to do. Right. Super cool wish. Um,
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
uh and so it was like they were like okay we want to do this but like how how do we do that right because like also it's like you know if they're like oh i'll just go to his house we you know we don't always want to just like let people know where celebrities in this case live right just out of their privacy and things like that um and so we're like we have to find a neutral area for them to go and play you know rainbow six right and so then they were like we don't
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
We don't know what that means, because they were like, can they play on Xbox? Is it a Nintendo game? Do PCs work? All these different questions. Then it comes to me, and they're like, hey, do you know anything about this? Because you're the gaming guy. I'm like, I know who Jinx is. Yes, I will. Long story short, I have an entire team of people that
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
are absolutely amazing incredible in their entire existence is to link celebrities whether that's movie stars musicians content creators streamers like celebrities and link them with with the kids set up the travel set up the schedule and all that and then i just kind of pop in and go hey i've set up two pcs over here i i set them up i installed the game i got the characters unlocked it's all set up and good for you to go right and then you know push it from there so like in that case like it was just me helping them do it um
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
There's also like, if there's overlap, like we're at TwitchCon every year. This past year, we had a wish who the kids wish was I wish to go to TwitchCon. And it's like, sweet. That's an awesome wish. I think that's super cool. So, you know, him and his friend, him and his family friend, like they all fly out. They get to go to TwitchCon, get to enjoy San Diego.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And then while they're there, I'm already at TwitchCon, luckily, because we already have a presence there. But then I'm walking around talking to this Twitch staff going, hey, his favorite content creator is so-and-so. Could we set up a meet and greet? Kind of just as a surprise, right? And then that goes back to the people are just pumped to be part of it.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So then I've got the Twitch staff that are just like, hey, we just thought it would be cool to give you All of the apparel that they sell at TwitchCon, here's a bag of it for free. Like, enjoy, right? Because they're just excited to be part of that.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And then I'm talking to people, like I talked to some people at Elgato and at Origin PC, because they're both owned by Corsair, and I was just talking to them about Make-A-Wish, and I was like, I have a kid here, and they were like...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
we want to meet him and give him free stuff so they brought him like you know they brought him like a steam deck and like a bunch of like pc parts and stuff and we're like here you go just because they want to be part of the process and just to see him light up and get really excited about it and them spots like it's just awesome moments so um it's more of like a if if there's a way that i can help and sort of amplify and try to make it better i will uh but then otherwise like you know i'll
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Let the people do what they do best. Let the celebrity team do it. Or if it's like, I want to be in a video game, I want to create a video game. Great. Hey, I have a friend who works at Blizzard or I have a friend who works at, you know, et cetera. Like, let me link them up, make sure that everyone's set up and then I'll sort of step to the side and let them do their thing.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
That's so cool.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Asher? Yeah, we have a ton of those, right? We have a ton of those. We have one that... I love talking about, and it's actually super time-wise, it's super cool too, because it was like 20 years ago, and his name was Ben. It was 2003. And his name was Ben, and Ben wanted to design his own video game. And in 2003, like...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
obviously games were around but like they were not what they are now and so make make a wish kind of had a harder time getting something set up and then eventually they worked with lucas arts to like set up a game and actually ben designed i miss lucas arts man right yeah it's incredible incredible yeah um And, like, they got – Ben, like, eventually, like, he built his own game.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And so I am definitely not involved in the majority of them, but I am involved in ones that I can try to make a direct impact on or ones that might need a little bit of help. The way that our organization is sort of split up, we have Make-A-Wish America, which controls America, and then Underneath that, we have different states and regions, our chapters.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
He, like – the whole concept of it was fighting cancer and fighting the – because he had leukemia. And so fighting cancer and fighting the symptoms of chemotherapy and sort of just, like, empowering, like, his vision for the game and empowering kids fighting cancer. It ended up, like, getting downloaded, like, 30,000 times, like, all over the world.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And then the reason it's super cool is because December of 2024, just a few months ago, marked 20 years of Ben being cancer-free in remission. Oh, that's awesome, dude. his vision, it all come there. And then him still be around to kind of talk about the impact that it had on his life. So yeah, I mean, there, there's all kinds of gaming wishes that we do.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Uh, and if a kid can wish it, like it's not guaranteed, but we're pretty good at making it happen.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Um, it's, I, you know, it kind of just depends, um, a lot of, a lot of wishes. So some of them, we just have to be, um, we have to do the best version of, of the wish that we can. And so like, if we have a child whose wish it is to meet like a content creator and maybe they're, um,
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
In Australia and the content creators in Canada, like I'm trying to think of, you know, really parts of the globe there. Like, and the child has a medical condition that makes traveling hard for them. And the content creator has like, just like a schedule that makes it impossible for them to travel. Or like, there's reasons behind that.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Then maybe it's like, well, we'll wind up doing a video call just like this. Right. Well, we'll do a video call, a virtual, a virtual wish is what we call it. And there's usually an element of that where if it's a gamer, they'll play a game together or things like that. a lot of it, honestly, it's such a boring answer, but a lot of it's just like getting schedules to line up.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Uh, and that's not just, and that's not just like on the, like the, the, the celebrity side, which is a big thing, obviously, but like for our wish kids, like people don't think about the fact that like wish kids are still kids and they're still in school. So like we've, I've had, I've had wishes where we go, Hey, so-and-so like your wishes to meet so-and-so and like, they're good to go.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And they go, Oh, I can't, I have exams that day. And it's like, I mean, fair, but like fairy, you know what I mean? So like, yeah. So like for us as an organization, uh, we grant the most wishes in the summertime, like because kind of because of that, because kids are families can travel a little bit more and travel easier.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Weather is usually a little better versus like there's not a blizzard somewhere. Um, so yeah, like it's, it, there's, it just really depends kind of on the, the, the wish kids health on the availability of different things. Um, And then just timing too. Like, you know, you'll have a wish kid the day before the Superbowl go, I want to go to the Superbowl. And it's like, I would love for you.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And so we might have chapters go, hey, we have a gaming wish in our region. We have absolutely no idea how to move forward, whether it's contacting a developer or contacting a gaming celebrity in their area. And they're like, can you help us with this? Or we say, hey, we have a kid who wants to do this very specific thing in gaming. Is that possible? And then we sort of go from there.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
You're gonna have to wait the next year. Like, it's like, I'd be like, just the nature of it. Um, I love, so my favorite wishes are, um, Olympics wishes, um, Cause I'm like, dog, like you're committing to like, that's your wish. You're going to have, you might have to wait four years for the next one. You know, like I wish you go to the Olympics. Like we will send you for sure.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
But if they just happened, I cannot make the Olympics happen any sooner. That's just the nature of things. So, uh, yeah, it it's there. There's, I don't think we ever have one that we comes across our desk where we're like, Oh, not one of these. It's more of just like, okay, we know the challenges. We know the things you have to do behind it. And so we'll just make it happen.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
The ones that I've... Yeah, we did a virtual wish for a kid to meet Jacksepticeye. I don't know if you're familiar with Jack, but Jacksepticeye. Super sweet guy. Super nice. He's granted a ton of wishes. Awesome human being. I always like to stress, too, like... I'm not being polite and professional here. Like he is genuinely super nice and has granted a ton of wishes.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And like, I love him for that. Like that's like, he's super cool. Um, and we granted a wish for a kid, uh, similar, like, as I mentioned earlier, he had a condition that just made travel really, really hard. Uh, and so, um, he wanted to do a virtual wish and meet Jack and talk. And, um, he wanted to talk about becoming a YouTuber and sort of get tips and tricks behind those things.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
um but there was this moment uh during the wish there's always a moment during a wish where like you want to like you want to cry um and like we we did one at twitch.com with jayden animations and uh and who draws on youtube and it's incredible and she's granted a bunch of wishes too uh and like during the middle of the wish the little girl was just drawing and she looks up and she was like this is the best day ever and it's like oh come on dude let's talk come on yeah so i can't
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yeah. But so no, the one that, so the one I was going to say with, with Jack's out, the guy is Jack was talking to our wish kid and our wish kid was like, so first of all, first of all, let me say this too. Uh, similar to like any other podcast you do hint, hint for the listeners. Like you usually talk to the people before you actually like do the wish.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And so I had the opportunity to meet the wish kid and kind of talk to him, um, and, and be part of that process. And, um, he was like, he was like, Oh, I want to ask him about, um, about like, this about this one thing very specifically. I'm trying to be like kind of nebulous too, because I don't always like putting all the information out. So I want to talk about this one thing specifically.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So most of my time is based around fundraising, just because that's a much more proactive thing that I can do as far as outreach to different communities or groups. But then if there is something that pops up, my inbox is constantly with like a, hey, I have a gaming question and then I'm there to answer it.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And I was like, dude, I love that. Like, I'm such a big fan of that as well. It was about space. He's like, I want to ask him about this thing about space. And I was like, dude, I'm a big space nerd. I love that. I think that's super cool. And he was like, yeah, cool, man. And then the wish kid starts talking and he's talking to Jack.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And at one point Jack was talking to him about his treatments and the kid's like, yeah, it takes me like six, my treatment takes like six hours and I just have to sit there. I can't wait to do anything for six hours. And Jack was like, so like, what do you do? And he was like, I watch your videos. And I was like, brother, like, come on, dude. And so I was like, dude, come on.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And so he says all that. And then at the end, um, you know, we have all left the wish and like, like during the wish, it's just Jack and the kid talking, um, my camera's off. I'm muted, probably crying. If I'm going to be honest with you, I've saw, um, and at the end, Jack said his goodbyes. He's left the call. Absolute gentleman. I come back on.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I talked to wish kid and we're like, Hey, do you have a good time? And the wish kid looks at me and he goes, yeah, I thought you were going to jump on. And I was like, what do you mean? He goes, yeah. When I asked him the question, you said you want to talk to him about it. So I thought you'd want to, you know, be part of the conversation. And I was like, you wanted to invite me to your wish.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Like this is your moment, dude. Like brother, like you don't, God, they're such a sweet kid. So like, it's like moments like that where you like, you meet kids that are in the midst of just like the worst possible thing you can go through as a human being. And they're still like so positive and just like a beacon of hope and like, so giving, um, it just, it, it, it just hits you.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And like, I've never been part of one, but we do have a ton of kids whose wish is to grant other wishes. Like they want to help grant other kids wishes. We've had a kid who wanted to feed all the homeless people in his town, um,
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Um, you know, like, like I haven't had the privilege of being one of those cause I'm on the gaming side, but like, um, like seeing those, it's just like, dude, it's, it's just crazy to see it. Like the amount of love that they have.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I hope this plays out like I want it to. Yeah, no, it is. It is like, yeah, I mean you, so for me, um, yeah, like it's, if it's like, yeah, I, I wish for a gaming PC. I'm like, well, I hope they like the gaming PC that we get for them. Right. And like, we'll get them a good one. Like I'm not going to skim, I promise. But, you know, but it's like it's also there's stuff outside your control.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Like we did the TwitchCon wish. We did the TwitchCon wish and there was just literally like we had all the tickets are purchased. I've got Twitch staff with me. Like it's all it's been set up for weeks at this point. But when we get there, there's just literally a computer issue and we can't print their their passes.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
It just without, you know, just like a one in a million glitch where we just can't get their information to pass to the printer and it just wouldn't work. And I'm just sitting there and I'm like, great. In the first five minutes, I already have this kid like waiting in line. He can see all the fun stuff happening, but he can't go anywhere because, you know, the computer isn't working.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And I'm like, God, like, I'm so sorry. I really want this to work, man. But like, he had a great time. It all works out. But, you know, you just that. And then there's always the when they meet a celebrity, you're always like,
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
i hope you don't suck like i hope you're cool um and like for me like never had a bad experience with any of the creators that we've ever worked with like they're absolutely fantastic i've never had we usually depending on the wish like we we always give a time you know we like to set standards and sort of boundaries and let both the creator and the kid know hey you're going to be doing this for this long um i've never had a creator not go over
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
they always go over their time like every single time and they're and afterwards like they're never upset about it they're never like oh well you said it'd be an hour no like they're they're super always understanding and happy to be part of the process and so like yeah for me i've never had that happen um that's a concern but if it's someone that's granted a bunch of wishes i don't have the concern because i know they're awesome but if they're a first time wish granter it's always like oh it's tough but no everyone's been amazing
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yes, yes. I will tell you right now that being part of granting a wish is a life-changing process. it will stick with you like forever. Um, and the amount of outpouring and support you see just from people who are even sort of like tertiary to the wish, like the amount of enthusiasm they have, it's, it's just like, it's,
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Um, so world wish month, uh, is a celebration of the lead up to world wish day. Um, and what is world wish day? So, uh, April 29th, a little history, right? A little history here. So, um, April 29th, 1980. In the Phoenix area of Arizona, there was a young man by the name of Chris Gracious, and he had leukemia.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And he was battling his sickness, and he had always wanted, I think like most young boys, wanted to be at some point in his life a police officer. I think that's pretty common for kids, either police officer or firefighter. I feel like it's probably one of the two. And his parents knew that. And at the time there wasn't anything like make a wish around.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And so his, his parents talked to some friends who had some friends, et cetera. And they eventually got linked up with the local police department. And they said, we're going to make Chris a police officer for the day. And so they, they gave him a uniform. They gave him a badge. They put him in the cop car, let him ride around, let him be kind of a cop for the day.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And they said, Oh, you know, Chris actually loves helicopters like most young boys, you know, loves helicopters. Would you, would you think you could let him like sit like in the helicopter and just kind of like, you know, look at the buttons or whatever. And they were like, dude, he could fly it. So they flew him around the city, you know, it's helicopter.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So he got to be a police officer for a day. Um, and then, um, shortly after that, unfortunately his condition turned worse and, uh, he passed away. Um, and after that happened, his mother, Linda said, um, this can't just happen for Chris. This needs to happen for all of the kids everywhere. And so that wish started make a wish. So it wasn't the first make a wish, but it was the wish to inspire.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yes. Right. There you go. I can only get so many goosebumps.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
it yes you know sorry oh but so i yeah so that was that was kind of the first wish that inspired make a wish and so um you know ever since we've granted you know tens of thousands of wishes and hundreds of thousands of wishes you know worldwide um and so that day april 29th is the day that we celebrate the the movement that started make a wish and so
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
For us, on the gaming side of things, we use that opportunity to tell the story of Chris, tell the story of Make-A-Wish. We work with content creators and streamers to fundraise during that time. So if anyone has ever been on Twitch for more than five minutes, they've probably seen a charity stream. We work with YouTubers.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
We work with any kind of content creators that want to do a fundraiser in honor of Chris, in honor of Make-A-Wish and the work that we do during World Wish Month. And then as part of World Wish Month, We celebrate what we call wishmakers. So a wishmaker is anyone who basically pushes the Make-A-Wish movement forward. It pushes our mission forward.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So spoiler alert, both you guys are now wishmakers, right? Just by kind of putting me on this podcast... To talk about Make-A-Wish, like you're moving our mission forward, right? And it's anyone from our fundraisers to donors to people who volunteer their time. It's the people that if you're driving the shuttle at the airport and a wish kit is on it, you're a wishmaker, right?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
You're helping make that wish happen. You're part of the Make-A-Wish mission. Last year, our sort of goal and what we achieved was we recruited a million wishmakers in the month of April. So we had a million people sort of sign up and were like, this is how I'm helping them make a wish mission. And so that's what it's all about is World Wish Month is all about becoming a wishmaker in some way.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
On my end, ideally, it's starting or donating to a fundraiser to help support the Make-A-Wish mission. Our goal is $50,000 this year. It was $50,000 last year. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. You know, we did $50,000 last year. We're gonna do $50,000 again this year, hopefully. And if people do want to be involved with that and become a wishmaker, they can go to either wish.org slash stream.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Or they can go to wishmaker.org. The wishmaker.org, we have some updated wish kit stories that I'm really excited to show off in the near future. And so that's the easiest way. And I would say, too, outside of the wish granting and the fundraising, when we raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for kids with critical illnesses,
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
It's motivating and heartwarming and just so encouraging because everyone in that moment is just so pumped. The wish kid is pumped. Their family is pumped. The people that are granting the wish, the people that are watching the wish get granted. I get chills talking about it. I love it. It's awesome.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
One of the coolest things that I've had happen for me at Make-A-Wish was last year, I got the opportunity to sit and talk with Linda, Chris's mom, the woman who started Make-A-Wish. She's still in Arizona. She's still part of things. And I got to sit and talk with her for like five minutes, just literally one-on-one, just at a table, her and I, no one around.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
um and i kind of explained what i do um and shockingly like she uh is not too familiar with the world of gaming and streaming and different things that's not her forte um but when i explained to her what i do and what we do with video games and what we do with streamers and content creators she just looked at me she like helped put her arms out she she put her hands on my hand and she looked at me she said thank you for telling chris's story to a new audience and i was like
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Oh, yeah. So it's that that for me is like what World Wish Month is about is telling Chris's story and Make-A-Wish's story to that new audience. Right. Telling it to streamers, telling their viewers, podcasts, right. Like talk about what Make-A-Wish does, why we do it, the importance of what we do, who we serve and just getting our getting our word out and our mission out.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Thank you. Thank you, guys. That's awesome. Thank you, man. That means a lot.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I'm really excited to go back and tell my bosses that you guys are going to make a $5,000 donation. Not because of the amount of money, which is amazing. Genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. But it's more the fact that I get to go because they're gamers. Because they're gamers and they get it.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Not just to make a wish mission, but they understand that we have kids who they wish for a gaming PC and not because they want to play on ultra settings, but because their friends have PCs and they want to connect with their friends while they're in the hospital. Or they want to keep up and stay connected and be part of the newest hot game.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I had a kid one time just wish for V-Bucks because he just wanted to buy skins for Fortnite. Yeah. You know what I mean? Cause, but like, cause his friends had them. So it's like, there's just so many versions of what gaming looks like, but like you said, like it can be used for good. And so that's, you know, that's what I'm here for. It's what you guys are here for. So thank you. It means a lot.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Oh, it's like, what is my... Basically, what would my wish be? Yeah, exactly. I probably, if I could pick anything, it would be spend an afternoon with Bill Watterson, the author of Calvin and Hobbes, the comic. I love it. That would probably be number one. Bill, Mr. Watterson, is famously not a fan of doing interviews or things like that, and I respect his privacy.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So if he said no, then it would probably be... It would probably be like cooking a meal with Gordon Ramsey. Who's a big wish granter as well. So I could probably get him to say yes. Like that would probably be easier to get to say yes. So that those would be one of the two. Yeah.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yeah. Doing, doing good for people feels good. Right. Like just doing good feels good. And so doing it on that scale and, and you have this moment where like, You know that the kid has been – and especially the way that our organization does it. So just some information for the listeners. When a child enters into the Make-A-Wish pipeline, the first part of that is basically –
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Another dude who has granted a ton of wishes and says yes like
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Like we have volunteers and we have staff that they go to the child and they sort of get the child's interest, right? Some kids, if they're over a certain age, they know what they want. They go, this is my Make-A-Wish wish. Boom, like done. If they're younger or if they're maybe not as familiar with our program, sometimes we'll go, well, what are your interests? What are your hobbies?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
What do you like? And we'll sort of try to figure out what is the art of possible. Then from there, we take it behind the scenes and we figure out how to make it with Make-A-Wish magic. And then we do what's called the wish reveal. And so that's when we actually go to the wish kid and we say, hey, your wish is being granted, right? And so when I started working for Make-A-Wish...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
the first two weeks they said i when i first started i said hey i want to be on a wish i want to be involved with kids like i want i want to you know do something i want to feel the mission and they were like cool there's actually a wish real happening in your like town like in three days or whatever like you can go and be part of it and so i went it was with um it was with disney and disney had come out with their um
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
like their wish movie that came out two years ago. And, and so we actually went, we had a five-year-old, he had leukemia and he loved two things. He loved trains and he loved Disney. Those were his like two things he loved. And so we did a big surprise party for him at the theater. We said, Hey,
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
uh guess what your wish is being granted and you're gonna ride a train from raleigh north carolina to to florida and get to go to disney you're gonna ride a train to disney and he was amped out of his mind right and so like that it's like that and that was just the wish reveal that was just telling him he's got his wish and then he actually got to go do his wish and rode the train with his family went to disney and all that so um yeah like just being part of that even like the employees there like we you know we go we're like hey
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
The kid and his family, all the popcorn and candy they want. And like, if you just take a five-year-old to a counter and say, you can pick out all the candy you want. I mean, that's like, you know, that's the greatest thing in the world. And the employees are back there laughing, like handing out candy. Like, it's just fun. Like everyone involved is like amped to be part of that moment.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
So that's, that's, it's something unique in my job that I can't get anywhere else.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Right? Yeah.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Why don't you do more good stuff, Ryan? That's what Josh and I were talking about before the show.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
yeah yeah it's i i have always been like a gamer both of my brothers um are like much uh taller and bitter and more athletically inclined than me and so growing up they would beat me at basketball and soccer and like all the things and then we would finish the week out by me just destroying them in any video game that you could pick right and so like that was like
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And I think there's a sense of escapism, a sense of storytelling. I love all kinds of media. I love reading. I love movies and TV. And video games are just another form of that. They're another art form that tells a story. But it's a more interactive art form. And I think there's something really valuable there.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And then there's, especially as gaming has evolved and we've sort of lost couch co-op, which sucks, in my opinion. That's not a hot take on the show at all, probably. Couch co-op is amazing. No, not at all. Um, but there is something great in the online element of gaming and a sense of community you can build.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Uh, and so like, I've really channeled that and I've made lifelong friendships off of people that I met over the internet. I had like five or six guys come to my wedding a couple years ago that I had never met in person, but like, Like I met them playing Xbox, you know, and they're all great dudes. Right.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And so it's like, you know, there's a sense of community that I love in gaming where you can meet someone like, like this podcast where it's three dudes from different backgrounds living in relatively different places, but we're here to talk about gaming and that's, that's what unites us. I love that. So I, yeah, I'm, I've always been a gamer and I just, the power of gaming is just immeasurable.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
Yeah.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And I also believe that people are like, I don't really like video games. I'm not saying you like video games, but there's one out there that I bet you do like. I think there's a game for everyone. Even my dad, who was the most old-school, technologically dumb person, he'll say that. He's always active. He has to be up and doing something.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
If you put him down in front of Mario Tennis for Nintendo 64... he will not get up until someone comes and gets him like that game specifically. Right. Like, so I think, I think there's a game for everyone.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
It's Ian. I'm sorry, I don't have a cool Buddy the Elf quote for you, but just super pumped to be here, guys.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
What is it? Let's hear it. What is your hot take? My gaming hot take that I will also stress to the listeners. I sent this in and then happened to check the guy's top 10 favorites and was like, oh, that was probably a mistake, but it's fine. I am a firm believer that
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
The vast majority of Rockstar IP, so the Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, you know, the Red Dead series, Redemption, Redemption 2, all of them. Fantastic, incredible games, beautiful world storytelling, you know, world building, character development, everything writing is amazing.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
they will never be eligible to be game of the year or best game of all time, GOAT status, because the controls are an absolute crime against humanity. And I stand by that. I stand by the fact that I shouldn't have to, in this day and age, double tap the A button to make my guy run, which is one of the most basic things I need them to do in a game that requires a bunch of traversal.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
And also, there's just some line of code in Rockstar's development process that says, If your character is fleeing from a situation, whether it's a gunfight or a car chase or something, and they're running, and they get within three feet of an object, they will just randomly ragdoll and trip over it. That's also something I believe. Again, great games. I've played them. I've beaten them.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Gift of Gaming: How Make-A-Wish Grants Gamers Dreams - Gaming Podcast
I love them. But they're never going to be at the top of the list because of that. Their controls just, ugh, they're the worst thing ever. And I stand by it. I'm with you.