Explore Online Games That Teach Players About Giving Back

When I worked in charity fundraising, we spent a lot of time trying to explain an idea that sounds simple and is surprisingly hard to feel: that giving something away can make you, and the people around you, better off. Appeals, leaflets and annual reports struggled to convey it. Years later, I watched a group of teenagers in an online game spend an entire evening helping strangers rebuild a village that had been wrecked, for no reward at all, and I realised some games teach this idea better than we ever did.

Not every game does, of course. Many reward pure self-interest. But a growing number of online games are built around helping others, sharing resources and contributing to something larger than yourself. Here is what they do, what they get right about giving, and where they fall short.

Games built around helping strangers

Death Stranding

Death Stranding is about delivering cargo across a broken landscape. Its online system lets players leave ladders, ropes, bridges and roads that appear in other players' worlds. You never meet the people who help you, and they never meet you. You can leave a "like" as thanks, and that is all. Many players describe a strong emotional response to finding a bridge built by a stranger exactly where they needed it. The game is, in effect, about anonymous giving.

Journey

In Journey, you travel across a desert and are occasionally paired with another anonymous player. You cannot talk, only chirp. Experienced players often guide newcomers through the whole game, showing them secrets and staying close in difficult sections, then part without ever learning each other's names.

Sky: Children of the Light

Made by the same studio, Sky is built around giving small gifts, such as candles and hearts, to other players. Many players spend their resources helping newcomers rather than themselves.

Games about community resources

Other games teach giving through shared resources rather than individual kindness.

Minecraft servers often have community chests and shared farms, where players contribute materials others can take.
Massively multiplayer games like Final Fantasy XIV reward experienced players for helping newer ones through difficult content, with a "mentor" system and a commendation system that lets players thank helpful teammates.
Survival games such as Valheim encourage groups to pool materials for shared buildings that benefit everyone.

These systems mirror how many real communities work. Some people give more, some take more, and the group does better than individuals would alone.

What these games get right about giving

From ten years of fundraising, here is what I think the best of these games capture well.

Giving feels good when it is direct

In Death Stranding, you see exactly where your bridge went and how many people used it. Real donors often never learn what their money did. The charities that do best at keeping supporters usually find ways to show impact directly, through stories, photos or specific updates.

Small acts add up

One ladder does not change a game world. Thousands of ladders from thousands of players do. That is exactly how small donations work, and games make the accumulation visible in a way that real charity rarely can.

Anonymous giving is still rewarding

A lot of fundraising leans on public recognition: names on walls, thank-you posts. These games suggest many people are happy to give without credit. In my experience, quiet donors are often the most loyal.

Helping newcomers builds a stronger community

Online games where veterans help newcomers tend to have healthier, longer-lived communities. Volunteering often works the same way: experienced volunteers who mentor new ones keep organisations alive.

Where games fall short

For balance, a few ways in which game giving does not translate to real life.

No real cost. A ladder in a game costs a few in-game materials. Real giving involves real money or time, which is harder to part with.
Perfect information. In games, you know your help arrived. Real charities vary widely in how well they use donations, which is why checking matters. Our guide on how to check a charity before you donate covers this.
No complex problems. Games present simple needs: a gap that needs a bridge. Real causes such as poverty, health and education have complicated causes and no single fix.

Can games actually make people more generous?

Researchers have studied whether so-called prosocial games, those that reward helping, change behaviour outside the game. Some experiments have found short-term increases in helpful behaviour after playing such games, though the effects in those studies were generally modest and their long-term impact is less clear. I would not claim that playing Journey will make anyone a regular donor.

What I have seen, though, is that games can give people a first taste of the feeling of giving. For many young players, leaving a bridge for a stranger or guiding a newcomer is the first time they experience helping someone with nothing in return. That experience is worth something, even if it does not instantly turn into donations.

From giving in games to giving in life

If games have made you curious about giving back for real, a few easy first steps carry over the same spirit.

Start small and regular. A small monthly donation to one well-checked charity feels a lot like leaving a ladder each day.
Give time. Many charities need volunteers more than money. Our piece on volunteering with a full-time job covers realistic ways to start.
Join a charity stream. Gaming communities raise real money together, as we describe in how online game charity marathons raise real money.
Mentor someone. Helping a newcomer in your game, club or workplace is a kind of giving too.

The teenagers rebuilding a stranger's village had no idea they were demonstrating the core idea of everything I worked on for ten years. They were just having a good evening. That, perhaps, is the most useful thing games teach about giving: done well, it feels less like sacrifice and more like belonging. More on thoughtful giving is in our Giving section.