We turned our gaming community into a nonprofit!

The latest news from HeatherJustPlay is out and it’s great to see this community grow. This brings back memories of the community feel that was there when YouTube first started. Check out the latest video and show your support.

HeatherJustPlay is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering personal growth, meaningful connection, and a sense of belonging through video games, collaborative play, and digital creativity.

For the people who join, HJP is more than just an online gaming space. It is a community where people from all walks of life come together to feel empowered, supported, and inspired. Through member-driven events and immersive experiences, they discover their potential and level up both in game and in real life.

At the heart of everything we do is a belief in personal growth through play. When people are free to explore, create, and connect in playful environments, they build confidence, deepen relationships, and unlock new possibilities for themselves and their everyday lives.

What's Happened to the YouTube Community Spirit ?

Something concerns me … I am not asking for anything, no recognition, no pat on the back. Over the passed few months I have been conducting some research. 

When I first started YouTube the feedback was amazing. That very first video, recorded with a little compact camera on a piece of grey cardboard. As if sharing it was not exciting enough, but imagine when I started getting comments from viewers. The feedback was amazing and I loved how there was a REAL discussion happening. Starting with that very first video, I replied to pretty much every comment. As my channel grew, it became harder to deal with how many comments I received, but still, I burned many hours engaging in the conversation.

Fast forward to today and I still pride myself in replying to people whom take part in the Geekanoids community. After all, it's the interactions that make it worthwhile. 

I am a strong believer that we can learn something new every day, so I set myself a task to try and get to know the creators that I personally watch. Over the passed six months I have been commenting on others videos, both small, large and very large channels. 

It's a real eye opener to learn that of the small channels I received approx 50% replies. Of the large channels with 100K or more subscribers this dropped to around 4%. When it comes to the very large channels of 500K or more subscribers, well, I can only recall receiving 3 or 4 replies, so I don't think this deserves a percentage. 

What to take from this? I think it leaves more questions that answers. Do all creators really care? Do they value their viewers? 

Let me know your thoughts.

Above all, know that I appreciate you and wish you an amazing day, week, year & future.