Representing Southeast Asia in YANA’s #PlayApartTogether Initiative

COVID-19 has brought about tectonic shifts in the way the world interacts with one other, implementing work from home arrangements and home-based learning in efforts to control the spread of this highly contagious virus. We soon discovered that while some of us have embraced all-day PJs and more personal time, a home-based economy has also come with a number of social issues. Isolation, especially among those who live alone or are separated from loved ones, exacerbated feelings of loneliness, boredom and depression. In Singapore, we also have a large population of migrant workers whose living conditions were perfect for the virus to spread, and being far from home, can only rely on the goodwill of the government and Singaporeans to ensure that their well-being is taken care of.

So, when our friends at MDEC (Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation) invited us to be a part of the international YANA (You Are Not Alone) initiative, we jumped on board. YANA’s goal was to bring people together through the love of gaming, and rallied gaming communities around the world to live stream games for 24 hours on 2 May 2020. We put out a call for anyone in the industry who was keen to participate and our schedule filled up before we knew it. Those who answered our call came from all over the community, from game developers, professional esports streamers to cosplayers and students, which made for a big variety of entertainment over the course of the day! In conjunction with the live stream, viewers were encouraged to donate to the Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), an organisation dedicated to promoting equitable treatment of migrant workers in Singapore – and the funds went to providing migrant workers with essentials such as data SIM cards to contact their loved ones while in quarantine, and healthier food.

Here’s the rundown of our wonderful streamers.

The stream started at 12:00 with Zahidur Rahman Faisal (twitch.tv/zr_faisal) showing off his demon slaying skills in Nioh 2, followed by Ryan Tan (twitch.tv/ryandoessomething) streaming an all-time classic, Starcraft 2. The next two hours were dedicated to esports team Resurgence’s own Amanda Lim aka Badabing (twitch.tv/badabingbadaboing) where she had the audience drawing and guessing with Drawful 2. Next up, we had Ysabella Tan(twitch.tv/vjaga) rolling, jumping and grabbing in Super Bunny Man followed by returning streamer Zahidur Rahman Faisal throwing fireballs and flying kicks in The King of Fighters XIV. Dave Chew (twitch.tv/dabido_kun) and Hakim (twitch.tv/bastarchives) were up next with Monster Hunter World and League of Legends. The JioPlayGame X GameStart Asia segment featured much hilarity and audience participation with Jackbox. Party games. The stream was wrapped up with a double bill of Ian Ho (twitch.tv/soulwreckquiem) followed by the awesome people at Geist Productions(twitch.tv/geistproductions) playing Minecraft.

The stream managed to raise SGD2,500 in 12 hours with 100% of the funds going to TWC2.

The SGGA team was grateful to have played a part in the YANA initiative, and we thank all our partners, streamers, donors and viewers who participated with us.

For more information on YANA, check their website at https://yana.gg/ For more information on TWC2, check their website at https://twc2.org.sg/