Zach Wigal’s eyes light up when he talks about video games. He remembers the first time he saw a Nintendo 64. He remembers why the computer game Warcraft 2 was so important to him. He remembers when he realized games could affect people on an emotional level.
It’s clear then why he also gets excited about the causes he advocates and the money he has raised for a number of good causes. He does it through video games.
Wigal’s cause is the Gamer’s Outreach Foundation, which held its second annual Gamers for Giving video game tournament last weekend at the Student Center.
The proceeds from the event will go to a variety of projects run by the organization. These include efforts to create a children’s hospital gaming center and an initiative to use games to teach students lessons like teamwork and sportsmanship.
While there are numerous charities built around ways video games can help people already, Wigal hopes his foundation can “become the United Way of gaming.”
Wigal’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Since the first event, Wigal has been contacted by Halo developer Bungie and has been awarded the honor of being named the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional.
When Wigal was a 17-year-old student at Saline High School, he did not have any great aspirations for the video game tournament he was hosting. He just thought it would be fun to see if he was better at Halo than his friends.
“I didn’t know anything about charities and community projects when I started all this,” Wigal explained, “I just knew I liked video games.”
The plans came to a halt when a local police officer contacted the superintendent and explained the game was “corrupting the minds of America’s youth,” a direct quote from the officer, according to Wigal.
The tournament was canceled, but it gave the group of students a new idea. They would show the officer how wrong he was.
“This guy thinks Halo is corrupting everybody,” Wigal said, “I’ll show you the opposite. We’re going to go raise a bunch of money for charity.”
And that’s what he and his friends did. They regrouped, held the tournament in a different venue, and were able to raise $15,000 for the Autism Society of America.
Wigal sees autism as the clearest example of how video games can be a positive influence. When looking for a charity to sponsor, a mother of an autistic child contacted Wigal to tell him about how video games are used to help autistic children connect with others socially.
“We were like, ‘this sounds like a perfect fit. This kid is benefiting from video games,’” Wigal said.
“That’s how we define our work now, between direct benefits of video games and indirect benefits like the hospital work.”
The money from the first event was used to fly in a special speaker to educate Saline residents on autism. Ironically, the officer who shut down the original tournament attended this event.
Wigal’s influence and activity in the world of video games and game-based charity organizations has grown enormously since last year. Although he takes a few college courses, the Gamers Outreach Foundation is now nearly a full time job.
One of the more prominent board members of the GOF is professional gamer David Walsh, better known as “Walshy” among those who follow pro gaming, who also serves as one of the foundations main boosters.
“The biggest reason I got involved with this organization,” Walsh said in a blog, “was due to the founder and now one of my best friends Zach Wigal.”
The weekend event was a culmination of a lot of the work Wigal does year round. An event so large takes a lot of work, work he is happy to do. He is at times speechless when trying to express what all the support, help and general good will means to him.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” Wigal said, “It’s cool.”