Soulsborne Sweetness and Rolling Raiders: Good in Gaming Vol. 2
This time in SUPERJUMP's dive into the world of positivity in the gaming community, Artemis Octavio explores the kindness of the Soulsborne community when one of their own faces a real-world boss fight. We also have a fun exclusive from SJP’s founder James Burns, exploring the world of a fellow Aussie gaming publication and their efforts to support gaming at all ability levels through a wheelchair rugby league!
Cat Webling
Editor
“Don’t You Dare Go Hollow”
If you’ve dredged the depths of Soulsborne YouTube, there’s a good chance you’ve run across the videos of Zullie The Witch. She’s been datamining FromSoftware Games for longer than I’ve been playing them. She’s accrued a repertoire of videos detailing esoteric lore, aesthetic minutiae, and deep-dives into famous Soulsborne areas and bosses.
With the impending release of Elden Ring: Nightreign, Soulsborne fans have firmly set their sights on her new videos to discover the hidden secrets of the game. To the dismay of many fans, her latest video was initially appended with a Ko-Fi donation link and a depressing note, detailing that the Youtuber has been having a rough go at it lately: "I am clawing my way out of a pit of depression, but the pit is deep and my claws are blunt," wrote Zullie. "I'd been hoping to get back to making videos at the start of the month, only to find myself just slipping in at the end of it instead. Between that, the fact I haven't been able to secure a sponsor video in a while, and a looming $15,000 in medical expenses, I'm reluctant to do this, but I'm openly asking for donations."
Soulsborne fans are notorious for not backing down from a challenge, so the community joined forces to face off against the most difficult boss in the world: medical debt. Within a matter of hours, Zullie stated she had decided to remove the donation link, as not only had her donation goal been met, but she received thousands of extra dollars to support her.
In a pinned comment she writes: “Update: I'm removing the donation links because this has already smashed every expectation I had and I'm kind of overwhelmed by how quickly and emphatically you've all lent your support. I've always been a deeply anxious person, and a large emphasis of that anxiety lately has been financial issues, so I truly didn't anticipate seeing the bulk of those issues get crushed into nothing in the span of a single afternoon. I'd been deeply reluctant to ask for assistance, especially because I felt like I had avenues of addressing these problems that weren't available to the average person, like vying for sponsor money or trying harder to make more videos, but having finally asked, I don't know how to express how unprepared I was for the level of generosity I've received. It feels conflicting because I've always been ashamed of even slightly inconveniencing others, but choosing to suffer in noble silence was still suffering. Thank you all so much, I'm hardly able to comprehend, let alone express, what I'm feeling right now.”
What’s particularly endearing about this news story, is that many fans decided to list their donations with a famous line of dialogue from one of Dark Souls’ beloved NPCs, Laurentius of the Great Swamp, who farewells the player by saying: “Don’t you dare go hollow”. In the post-apocalyptic world of Dark Souls, humanity is cursed with undeath; felled warriors rise back to life, over and over again, in the process losing their minds and sanity, becoming shells of their former selves, in other words, “hollow”. This narrative set piece melts together with the themes of struggle and overcoming insurmountable challenges that cloak the game.
The wise adage is a rallying cry for perseverance and strength. It’s a reminder to Zullie that she is not only respected and admired but loved by her community, a fandom that would suffer a grievous blow if she stopped making videos, and a group of fellow-minded FromSoft lovers who do not want her to give up, who do not want her “to go hollow”.
Rollin’ with the Canberra Rolling Raiders
by James Burns
Our friends over at Player2.net.au (another Australia-based independent gaming publication) have always been superstars when it comes to giving back to the community. Their support for charities has been particularly notable (especially through the Terry Campese Foundation, which uplifts and mentors young people through a range of great initiatives). Just recently, they announced a new partnership with the Canberra Rolling Raiders, a Wheelchair Rugby League team based here in Australia.
As usual, Player2 have taken a thoughtful approach to philanthropy: Wheelchair Rugby League is a highly inclusive sport that enables high-level international competition for the widest possible range of people - regardless of their ability or any other attribute (sex, ethnicity, religion, etc). As their announcement notes, Wheelchair Rugby League can be an expensive endeavour (the chairs themselves can each cost thousands of dollars, transit to-and-from venues is costly for players, and venue hire itself can represent a significant financial hurdle). Player2 will not only contribute its own funds directly (that is, through the generosity of Matt Hewson, Player2’s founder and Editor), but it will also run wider fundraising efforts throughout 2025 and 2026.
It’s easy to feel that there are no good things happening in the world at the moment. This is, of course, the key reason why we’ve kicked off the Good in Gaming series. It’s not just that there are so many stories of generosity, grace, and kindness out there in general; it’s also that even an often-toxic video game industry is capable of truly great feats of love that are genuinely about lifting people up rather than putting them down. Player2 thoughtfully and repeatedly demonstrates the kind of ethos we should all want to emulate. Make sure to keep an eye on their website and Bluesky for future updates.