2020 has been an unusual and challenging year for broadcasters and the community, but we are proud of what the community has accomplished during these difficult times.
Community Engagement
Seattle Community Meetup
AlchemistJoker, MacNCheeseP1z, and Stephazoid interview Aelflaed from Soaring Pixels Games and talk about their upcoming game Breakwaters.
In January and February, SOBA held the last in-person Seattle Community MeetUp events at GameWorks. After that, we transitioned to an online-only format that the community can watch from the safety of home. Our production and meetup teams worked together to showcase and elevate local creators, non-profit organizations, and independent game developers here in Seattle.
Raid Train
Kisaka Toriama and Archaic_Visonary started a community-driven effort to elevate, showcase, and support the variety of different creators in our community and their content. The SOBA Raid Train provides community members with an opportunity to discover the different kinds of content our community members are making. Raid Train is a monthly activity where broadcasters are featured for an block of time and raid the next participating broadcaster. Often, this is combined with a team-wide charitable fundraising component to encourage collaboration and social responsibility. In the spring, the community raised $1481 for The Bail Project as part of the first Raid Train.
Professional Development
BroadcasterU
In June, two of our volunteers, Joe “BizSnes” Vella and Gabby “SimplyGabby” Snyder, hosted a new BroadcasterU workshop focused on interviewing and hosting. Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham made a guest appearance to share his experiences as a veteran host and answered questions from workshop attendees. Several of these workshop participants were able to put their skills to use later this year for paid opportunities.
Broadcast Team Growth
We welcomed six new volunteers to our in-house broadcast production team this year. AlchemistJoker, Geekosaurusrex, MacNCheeseP1z, snowdn, SpaceCaptainZemo, and Stephazoid joined our roster of hosts and crew to produce both in-person and online-only live-streams of the monthly Seattle Community Meetup. SOBA transitioned to an online-only format in March 2020, providing a space where we elevate local broadcasters, non-profit organizations, and independent game developers every month on the Twitch Front Page
Industry Collaboration
Community engagement and industry collaboration has never been stronger. We worked with other community organizations to influence legislation, host an online convention elevating the local indie game community, and secure paid work for our community.
Anti-Defamation League
James Feore, SOBA’s Director of Partner Relations, spoke in front of the Washington State Legislature to discuss the impact that swatting has for members of our community.
Earlier this year, the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Anti-Defamation League reached out to SOBA leadership in supporting proposed legislation increasing the penalties associated with swatting. SOBA provided support for passing the bill by bringing awareness of it to our community, working with broadcasters to contact their elected representatives in Washington State, and even making a trip to the Washington State Legislature in Olympia.
Seattle Indies
Negaoryx, Stephazoid, and AlchemistJoker talk to Kells Tate about her video game, Calico.
As part of our partnership with Seattle Indies, a local non-profit group supporting independent game developers, we showcase video games made by independent developers here in Seattle. Seattle Indies Expo transitioned to an online-only format this year and SOBA provided support to help make their event a success. We worked to build a show format and hosting team that allows viewers to learn more about the games being showcased and ask questions directly to the hosts and developers.
We worked to bring in additional talent to support our hosting team. Broadcasters such as Negaoryx, Meg_Kaylee, and GOOBERS515 joined our hosts in discussing the game development process and the creative process involved in making games that are enjoyable and unique. These broadcasters were paid for their work and the success of this event led to additional opportunities for our hosts.
Social Impact
Supporting Community Non-Profits
The community was able to fundraise for several charitable causes in 2020 as a team. Community members raised $626 for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to support their COVID-19 research efforts. In the months of November and December, the community raised $3775 for Seattle Children’s Hospital through Extra Life. Activities such as the Raid Train and Seattle Community Meetup served as spaces to elevate these fundraising efforts.