Flame Fatales 2021, an all-women speedrunning event spanning August 15 to August 21, announced a schedule jam-packed with titles like Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen and Silent Hill 2. This year's installment of Flame Fatales will raise money for the Malala Fund, a non-profit organization that uplifts and fights for girls' education around the world.
The marathon will be streamed live on Games Done Quick's GDQ Hotfix, a speedrunning Twitch series hosted by the Games Done Quick organization. Games Done Quick has regularly arranged philanthropic gaming events for over a decade. Their two semiannual speed run marathons from this past year, the Summer Games Done Quick event in August and the Awesome Games Done Quick event in January, each raised over $2 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders, respectively.
The Frame Fatales Twitter account called for game submissions last May, and now the event's followers can finally see which titles will be featured in the marathon's schedule. The event kicks off with Ape Escape 2 and Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen and is set to conclude with Super Metroid and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! While some of the picks like Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX are popular choices for speedrunning, other games included in the event like Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 and Disney's 102 Dalmations: Puppies to the Rescue are less conventional titles at such competitions. Regardless, speedrunning requires extraordinary memorization and a close familiarity with the game at hand, so competitors will undoubtedly come prepared for whichever title they choose for their participation.
This past fall's Flame Fatales event raised over $80,000 for the same organization it plans to donate to this year, the Malala Fund. This is not the activist's first connection to the gaming industry; in March, Minecraft hosted an immersive lesson centered on Malala Yousafzai for International Women's Day. The event's continued support of women goes beyond its monetary giving, though. Not only does it look to promote women in gaming and beyond, it also hopes to foster an inclusive and safe environment for all those who identify as women. The volunteer form features a required section where those submitting can identify their preferred pronouns, and they have a Discord server for women gamers to connect and cultivate their own gaming communities.
Games Done Quick has already spent the last decade mobilizing gamers to use their interests to support charitable projects and causes, and Flame Fatales will hopefully go on to do the same. However, Flame Fatales has an additional perk: while the event looks to support women outside of gaming through its donations, it also supports its attendees by fostering and nurturing a network of women amid the predominately male gaming community. Hopefully this is one of many events like this to come, especially as the number of women in gaming continues to rise.
Source: Games Done Quick, Frame Fatales/Twitter