They hesitated, not for long.
And they went back to the assault.
Forty French streamers meet from Friday to Sunday for the new edition of ZEvent.
After collecting donations for the Red Cross, Médecins sans frontières and the Institut Pasteur, the merry gang, led by Adrien Nougaret and Alexandre Dachary, decided to put themselves at the service of Amnesty International this year.
For 50 hours, each of the participants will host their Twitch channel live from Montpellier, mainly by playing video games, to mobilize their community and collect as many donations as possible.
To read also: Video games: how “gamers” raised a million euros for Médecins sans frontières
The public is young and not necessarily very wealthy, but above all, it is very numerous and very motivated.
With microdons of a few euros, ZEvent streamers managed to collect 500,000 euros in 2017, 1.1 million euros in 2018 and more than 3.5 million euros in 2019 for associations, setting a world record for this type of event.
Read also: ZEvent gamers raise more than 3.5 million euros for the Institut Pasteur
Due to the coronavirus epidemic, exceptional arrangements have been made by the organizers this year in order to be able to maintain the event which mobilizes around 80 people in total.
Adrien "Zerator" Nougaret could not formalize the holding of ZEvent until last week and uncertainties will weigh on the event until the end.
On Monday evening, Lucas “Squeezie” Hauchard, one of the flagship streamers of the French scene, announced to his “followers” that he could not possibly go to Montpellier because of multiple contacts with people positive for the coronavirus.
"I do not want to bring the virus there, I will take zero risk",
he explained, promising to support the event, even from a distance.
Viewers will console themselves with the participation of several other big names in the industry such as Domingo, Antoine Daniel, Joueur du Grenier, Mickalow, Mister MV or the Solary team.
“I think everyone will understand that a ZEvent can be cool and successful, even when you're not breaking records,” Zerator explains.
ZEvent
LE FIGARO. - The 2020 edition of ZEvent takes place in a very specific context with the passage in the maximum alert zone of Montpellier since Tuesday. What does this change for you?
Adrien "Zerator" Nougaret. -
Concretely, the passage of Montpellier from zone of alert to zone of maximum alert does not change much.
From a legal point of view, ZEvent is a private event with less than one hundred participants and these are always authorized subject to health precautions.
But we know that we don't influence people, that we are very visible and that there are messages to pass on to our audience so we have done our best to ensure that the event takes place in the best conditions. .
As with the NBA, we created a “bubble” around ZEvent to reduce the risks.
All 86 people who participate take a PCR test and those who were unable to do so and those who test positive cannot participate.
Once there, all the participants will be gathered in a hotel and we will live there for the three days: to stream, to eat, to sleep in isolation.
Everyone is warned: any exit is final.
We did not impose masks during the streams because everyone is in their chair, at a good distance from each other, but on the other hand you will have to wear the mask to move around and we will have hand gel everywhere.
I sincerely think that with these provisions, we are really more careful than in most other events.
Have you considered canceling ZEvent due to the outbreak?
We asked ourselves the question a long time ago, especially seeing that a second wave of contamination was approaching.
Only one thing was clear to us: we didn't want to do an event entirely online because it doesn't have the same force.
We asked ourselves the question again last week.
But we decided to maintain it, first because we had the experience of ZLan
(a video game competition, editor's note) at the
end of August in Lyon and that it had gone very well.
Secondly, because everyone is very serious.
In addition to the precautions we have taken, several streamers have decided to confine themselves several days before the event.
Myself, I haven't been out for a week except to take my test on Monday.
And again I went by car and the test was done in drive-in!
After the Red Cross, Médecins sans frontières and the Institut Pasteur last year, ZEvent is taking place for the benefit of Amnesty International this year. How did you choose?
We have long had a list of associations that we want to highlight.
With certain specific criteria: it must be large structures, with a storefront, whose activity is known to all and which also have proven logistics in raising donations.
Amnesty has been part of this list from the start.
To make our choice, we inquired, we consulted our relatives, some streamers and in the end, Dach and I decided.
We have chosen Amnesty International and if some have questions or doubts about their action, we will try to provide answers.
Choosing Amnesty International, an association which defends human rights throughout the world, is also a more political gesture than in previous years ...
We can think so a priori but when we look at the large international NGOs, we quickly realize that it is always a little political at this level and that the controversies are never far away.
After all, we had chosen Doctors Without Borders in 2018 in the midst of a debate on the Aquarius
(a ship that brought aid to migrants in distress in the Mediterranean Sea, editor's note).
It's like that, everyone knows it.
When an association has been in existence for years, has seen thousands of people pass, has raised funds all over the world, there are people to complain, sometimes business and often conspirators to come and explain that it is not not good.
We have chosen Amnesty International and if some have questions or doubts about their action, we will try to provide answers.
The president of Amnesty International France Cécile Coudriou will be present in my stream on Saturday afternoon and I will ask her lots of questions, without any taboos.
It's okay to call for accountability.
And conversely, Amnesty International, which defends freedom of expression or fights against discrimination, would it not blame the world of streaming, viewers and more generally the world of video games?
No one is immune to criticism and we know very well that there may have been slippages on live streams.
By choosing Amnesty, we also want to make everyone think about why we were committed to this association, in these fights, for these values.
We are going to do it as openly as possible, without language and with a lot of freedom.
It's always good to ask questions.
On the place of women in your community, for example?
Why not.
It is true that the leisure of video games has long been very masculine and therefore video game streaming initially interested an audience of boys, often young.
But as the video game evolves and attracts more and more girls, the world of streaming evolves.
It is still new but it is indisputable.
At ZEvent, we invited several streamers.
Not to establish quotas or positive discrimination, but because they really broke through in the community and today they have their place there.
The environment changes, we accompany the movement.
I noticed that in two or three years, on my Youtube channel, the share of girl viewers went from 10 to 20%.
It's not nothing, although I doubt that one day I would have a very female audience because a streamer's community is very similar to the streamer in terms of gender, culture or age.
At the height of his forty years, Mister MV, here at ZEvent in 2017, is one of the deans of the French scene.
ZEvent
Does that mean, for example, that Mister MV is only followed by old people?
(laughs) Yes, that's it.
Honestly, his audience is pretty much in the upper age range, but that's normal because when you stream references to the 1980s and 1990s, a thirteen year old doesn't understand everything and doesn't recognize himself.
The pressure is first on the public because it is the viewers who want ZEvent to be successful and to break all records
Last year, you organized ZEvent for the benefit of the Institut Pasteur. Have you kept in touch with them?
Yes and it was very cool because the Institute invited part of the team to visit the premises and have lunch with the representatives to talk about their work.
I was quite uncomfortable because I felt like I was wasting the time of people who save the world.
After that, we don't talk to each other every week.
But that wasn't the goal after we got our job done either.
After raising more than 3.5 million euros for the Institut Pasteur, a record for this type of charitable operation, are you feeling the pressure this year?
Honestly, I think the pressure is primarily on the public because it is the viewers who want ZEvent to be a success and to break all records.
While I, even if it is a bit cliché, I think that from the first euro donated, it is won because this euro, if there was no such mobilization, it would have gone elsewhere.
So I'm not setting a goal for us.
And especially not that of breaking a new record.
I know that there will be fewer of us to stream due to the special conditions, that everyone has tightened their belts in recent months and that Amnesty is a choice that may not appeal to everyone.
I really hope we reach a million.
Because it's symbolic.
And I believe in it because a lot of people have told me that they have been saving for a long time to donate to ZEvent.
I think everyone will understand that a ZEvent can be cool and successful, even when you're not breaking records.
Routine threatens you?
No and I'm looking forward to this moment.
It's an environment where we are quite often alone, throughout the year, in front of our camera in our room or our studio.
One of my particularities is that I organize a lot of events.
Anytime I can get the streaming out of my studio, I have a blast.
Obviously this year, I did less so I miss it.
And then, in our rather busy calendars, we must admit that this weekend, quite short in the end, is a bit of a vacation where we all meet for very intense emotions.
In 2018, the streamers had raised more than a million euros for the benefit of Médecins sans Frontières.
ZEvent
And how do you prepare for such a weekend?
As far as I'm concerned, I try to be at the cleat the week before because I know it is trying.
So I do a little sport, I eat well.
And I shift my schedules to be at best in the afternoon and at night which will be the main stream times for me.
And are you in the correct time zone today?
I'm almost there, since I go to bed around 5-6 am to get up at 1 pm with eight hours of sleep.
So, I am ready.