GAMING is a popular pastime for many, but one young woman has taken it to the extreme – by gaming for charity.

Poppy Parr from Blackwood has taken on the Macmillan Cancer charity’s 24 hour gaming challenge where she played games and broadcast on live-streaming platform Twitch for a full 24 hours.

“I played the massively popular battle royale game Fortnite because its competitive nature kept us all engaged for 24 hours," she said. "It is also the game I often play competitively too so I know it well. It’s a lot of fun.”

Speaking on why she took on the challenge, Ms Parr said: “I am no stranger to disability or cancer and I know how debilitating it can be, so getting the support you need is crucial because you can often feel alone when going through such adversity and no one should feel alone at such an important time.

“As a mental health advocate, I believe in helping people to ensure they feel like they have as much support as possible. After gaining a following of just over 50,000 for my artwork, I thought it was time to use my platform to raise awareness and help others.

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“I received so many messages about how I’ve inspired many young people to join the industry and overcome their own hardships. I just believe in encouraging and offering help and guidance where possible. My followers gave me the nickname ‘Magic’ after they said I’d inspired them, but they probably aren’t aware that they’ve inspired me with their ongoing support, especially when losing a parent, my community really came together to encourage me to keep creating so I’m forever grateful to them all.

“This is why I decided to make it my mission to raise awareness in the hope for raising money for this incredible charity.”

As well as the streaming, Ms Parr is using her creativity to create prints for the people who donate. She plans to do the 24 hour streaming challenge every weekend in the run-up to Christmas.

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Ms Parr said: “I was nervous at first to put myself out there but thanks to the Twitch community who have been so supportive and welcoming I will definitely be doing more streams. It has been incredible so I plan to stream more often.

"On all weekends leading up to Christmas I will be doing the 24 hour gaming challenge from 1pm, to 1pm to raise as much as I can for this incredible charity. I will also be streaming during evenings on weekdays.”

Ms Parr, who studied game art and animation at the University of South Wales, has been into gaming since the first PlayStation was released and is interested in games like Fortnite for its competitive nature and strong narrative games like HellBlade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

She also dreams to set up her own game studio and has been spurred on by meeting British businessman Nik Powell, who is also a film producer and co-founder of Virgin Records. He encouraged her to apply to the National Film and Television School (NFTS) to further enhance her skills. She was accepted and is currently doing her masters degree in game design and development at NFTS.

You can watch Ms Parr’s streams on Twitch here: https://gameheroes.macmillan.org.uk/fundraising/apopcalypse