Fundraiser: For My Future, And Still For Others
Last edited Thu Jun 23, 2022, 09:17 PM - Edit history (15)
Hello everyone,
What's this about? To be upfront, I am approaching you seeking to raise an amount of money both for the security of my presently insecure future, as well as to continue helping the people I've so far helped without monetization. I wish that could remain so, but life isn't as ideal as when I started. I want to be clear that I am a 17-year member of DU who has never held a fundraiser for anything before, so I'm no expert. PayPal is easiest for me to take care of, but if folks are inclined to help in any form, I am in no position to decline cooperating with that spirit of generosity.
I also want to be especially clear that while I did request permission from DU staff to post this request, it was granted, but that permission is NOT an official endorsement by Democratic Underground. The feeling was that the message I sent when I requested that permission was frank and probably more than sufficient to simply repost and get across what I hope for/what I plan to do with it. I fully understand this is a time when a lot of people can't afford to care for themselves, so for those of you who want to help but honestly can't afford to, please don't give. Take care of yourselves first.
If you would like to help, please DM me or see the contribution info at the end. I guess that's the best way to go about it. I want to be very transparent to own up to my long history in good standing on these forums as a member and a moderator. My posting history will show a pretty steadfast disclosure of what it's like to be disabled, and my effort to speak out about the issue. I joined when I was 20 and now I'm 37. Hard to believe! I'm a star member, have been when I've had the funds, have remained so by the good graces of kind souls when I didn't. I was also a juror for years, and I'm a board moderator now.
I want to retain that trust, so I will regularly post reports and images of what I have been given. I'm happy to provide names of those who have given with those reports as thanks, unless you'd rather I didn't. When I get the equipment portion of the fundraiser, if I do, you'll see a video of me demonstrating it to show that it went to exactly what I've said it would. My channel growth is where the rest of the funding goes, and the channel's refinement and growth will have to represent that over time.
All that being said, I'll just post the message I sent to staff as suggested, only lightly edited for an audience:
With the blunt part aside, I'll elaborate a little upon my reasons for this fundraiser. I have always been vocal in my many years on DU (it's hard to believe I was brought here by George W Bush at age 20 and now I'm 37) in defense of the disabled and chronically ill. This has always been my cause in my hobbies and the activities which keep me sane as a disabled person myself, often tortured with chronic pain.
I operate a YouTube channel, Legacy Ark Games, which showcases accessible games for the disabled as found by myself and almost always contributed by their creators. It has been suggested I break up the post a little at this point by showing you a few videos, some intended to be more soothing and thoughtful, some more action packed. This is what i do on my limited budget, way better than how it started years ago, but it would still do very well with improvement through your help.
Here are some of my favorite samples of varying quality over the years, but well received. Sometimes, painful learning experiences in how I could've done things better, but ever growing in my understanding. As you'll see, I do also participate in roundtables, special events, and other activities within the community of creators undertaking advocacy for disabled gamers!
Stonehearth:
Book of Travels (debut day):
Subnautica:
Rimworld (probably my favorite just on my laughable emotional reactions -- this was a looong episodic series):
Mastermind Games Roundtable: Accessibility and Neuro Diversity in D&D:
A handful of samples out of dozens of pages of videos, with quality growing in the course of time and as I somehow managed to scratch up spare cash from that $500 fund.
My work in this regard, being a proponent of the disabled with a particular interest in making gaming accessible to disabled persons of all stripes, has seen me recruited as a Microsoft accessibility advisor. It has all been without making money off of it, and while my channel is far from a YouTube smash hit, I am proud of the 11k subscribers I've amassed over the years. Games have kept me sane, and I know they have the potential to do the same for others, so it will always remain my cause even if the channel is monetized and becomes a living.
I'm unfortunately having to accept that I am no longer in a situation where I can keep going the completely profit-free way. Disability here in Florida is now giving me only a $500 stipend per month. My mother has had three heart attacks, and my father was found last year to have stage 4 cancer, causing me to no longer be able to go to the University of Miami for disability care and turning life upside down. So, disability is *also* no longer not paying for my now local pain management physician and psychiatrist. That means no coverage for my six medications. Yes, my governor turned down the ACA. Thanks, governor!
Anyway. It has been a disastrous domino effect my $500 monthly stipend just can't cover, and with my dad's cancer especially, it has put into perspective that I need to get started on something I can do homebound which will help me to surpass the disability stipend and have a sustainable living income. It would be great to no longer be a prisoner to SSI, either; they have dictated what I can and can't do with my life since I was a teenager, growing more draconian with the years gone by.
So, this being by far the community I have been a part of the longest, which I have advocated on and moderated for, I hope to turn to DU for assistance as I've seen others do over the years. I hate to bother people for their generosity, but for lack of better term, I need investors to help me turn my YouTube channel into that sustainable income. Transforming that from a good cause hobby into a daily career is a great move for me which can be done from home, enabling me to earn that income sharing the content I love even though I'm stuck in my chair, all without sacrificing my continued effort to bring games to disabled persons often forgotten by the industry.
What do I need? I have two goals, getting my channel's subscriber base to 20k and procuring from $300 to $1000. I'll elaborate upon both points.
1. The gain from 11k subscribers to 20k is still an extremely modest base of subscribers, but it will likely see me given a fixed contract sponsorship by a gaming-related company I have been in contact with. They are very interested and having a contract sponsorship would be a huge step up for my channel, but they insist on seeing that 20k subscriber base first. If I get there, we talk and things happen. Gaining 9k new followers is something feasible for me with specific funding, without taking forever, in addition to genuinely interested people just signing up to help.
2. Secondly, the $300 to $1000 goal. Of course, receiving more funds than this would be immensely helpful, but I already feel bad seeking the amount that I am from our community. It's a matter of having one's back to the wall and few options for friendly investors willing to help me take that next step to sustainability, while still supporting a good cause in inclusivity for fellow disabled gamers and being a voice for them to the industry. I believe the next big step is to bring virtual reality to the channel, while continuing to feature standard games. I like VR a lot, and even have a game company already providing me games before I have the means to actually showcase them. I favor this as my next step because it really offers the ultimate in accessible and immersive gaming for persons with various impairments up to and including being bedridden. If you can see and move your hands, VR can let you play with the latest in controllers which track finger and hand movement, you can get as close as it gets to living in another world. Take it from me when I say that an immersive game can help take you away, even a bit, from a lot of bodily and mental suffering.
I know it sounds weird but, yes, people watch other people play these games. They often do this just for entertainment, to see how someone else is approaching a game they're trying to learn, or just as distraction in tough times. For me, it's also education and advocacy, as well as bringing publicity to companies which support the disabled by thinking of accessibility in game design. Sure, I sometimes showcase games which aren't necessarily as accessible but are popular, and that's so people who can't play them can enjoy the experience and the story along with me. I love a game with a great story, Elden Ring being my latest addiction.
So, the $300 would get me a cheap VR kit, the $1k would gain the best on the market for the channel. I hope to keep the costs a bit below that so that I can grow the channel, combined with the addition of that new gaming format to my usual standard, and just shift from living a slave to a $500 stipend which now no longer even covers my medical expenses to a sustainable living of my own making. It doesn't rob me the chance to continue supporting the people I have always aimed to help, who prompted me to start the channel in the first place and when the family was in better condition, too. With the help of generous DUers, maybe I can make that step. Maybe you won't see this as being worth supporting, and the fundraiser will be a bust. I've never done anything like this before, so all that I can ask is the opportunity to try and let your judgement be the deciding factor.
So, that's the sincere whole of it. I am in the rags phase and looking for the ... not-so-riches phase, just something modestly nice in life. A secure future making enough funds for a small apartment with my medical care paid for, that's enough.
How to help: If I soar above and beyond that, then thank those who give and the powers that be for that miracle, but I'm going to cut the fundraiser off before it goes too far. I need what I need, and not to much more than that.
If by chance you have access to the kind of equipment I'm looking for what you may be able to help, that may be a direct solution to that point right there. Just a thought! Oddly enough, I've inquired with the manufacturers about charitable or content creator sponsorships and they don't even have general contact addresses.
Again, I go ahead with this very humbled and rather embarrassed, but knowing that I need to try. Those who are able to help (and please do only help if you're really able - I don't want anybody going without for me), I'd invite again to DM me or see the current donation info below with my gratitude, and I will keep those updates and the PayPal screenshots going. If the equipment aspect of things is procured, you and everybody else will be getting that video demonstration of the kit and how I feel it's going to open eyes on new ways of gaming and escaping the toughest of mental circumstances for some of the worst disabilities.
If you can't afford to help with money, following me on YouTube will get me closer to that 20k goal one digit at a time. Everything counts, it's free, and you don't even have to watch... But I hope you do, and that you enjoy the content!
If you would like to know the PayPal address upfront, I'm heeding a poster's request by adding it, the Verified PayPal adress being rpgsruscs (at) gmail.com -- but I would invite anyone familiar with using charitable sites like GoFundMe to please contact me with guidance. Whatever people will trust most, I'll go with, but I wasn't sure if those sites were appropriate for my kind of request.
Thank you,
Jason LaFlair
Akoto470
Asian Group Moderator
Email: jt (at) legacyarkgames.com
PayPal: rpgsruscs (at) gmail.com
Legacy Ark Games - https://www.youtube.com/c/legacyarkgames
Twitch channel (secondary channel, all streamed content copied to YouTube anyhow) - https://twitch.tv/legacyarkgames
PS EDIT: Next month, I have a streamed game planned with a fellow content creator for the AbleGamers charity! If you're interested in watching a bit of role-playing as my friend and I run our interstellar civilizations in the game Stellaris, well, follow my channel.
He and I will doubtless have our cultures be the best of friends... Or, will we?!
FUNDRAISER PROGRESS RECORD - 6/23/2022
Per my promise to maintain transparency in this fundraiser, I am keeping a daily record of what's been contributed toward the goal! There have been no contributions since the first day, so we remain at $50. This one step is a good start toward the first goalpost!
https://imgur.com/a/TWXgUBp
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