A popular Inverness gamer has raised more than £1,500 for charity in honor of an Australian woman battling cancer.
Kieren Burnett from Inverness hosted an online gaming tournament last month to garner donations in aid of Marie Curie.
All participants came together for the warzone contest, to compete by playing Call of Duty.
His fundraising efforts have so far generated £1,508 in online donations; tripling his original target of £500.
Donations are continuing to flood in from across the gaming community, with individuals from the United States, Canada, Amsterdam and Germany lending their support.
The 25-year-old says the creation of the tournament was inspired by the tragic story of a fellow online gamer from Australia who is currently battling cancer.
He explained: “Someone with cancer came into my stream and she’s from Australia. she told me her story and its pretty upsetting.
“The people she receives chemotherapy with, they always have the stream up and watch it. I said to her I wanted to host the tournament and raise money for a charity of her choice but she said pick one of your local ones, so my gran picked Marie Curie.”
‘It’s crazy what you can do online’
Mr Burnett is best known for playing Call of Duty online, receiving thousands of views each week.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, he reaffirmed his passion for playing video games, before turning his hobby into a full-time career.
Following the success of his tournament, the 25-year-old said he is eager to use his platform to continue raising money for those in need.
Mr Burnett added: “I was previously a mechanic and then went onto sell cars and during lockdown I got back into playing video games.
“I basically started streaming it as a hobby but eventually I started making more money than I was in my actual job. I quit in February and went full-time with it.
“I was only meant to raise £500 but we raised triple that so I’m quite happy.
“I’m definitely going to do it again because its crazy what you can do online.”
