“For me, charity is almost a duty”: ZeratoR, famous streamer from Montpellier, brings Z Event back to the forefront

Adrien Nougaret, aka Zarator, organizer of the Z Event. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

After collecting more than 10 million euros in 2022, the Z Event is back from September 6 to 8. After a year of hiatus, the online event will collect donations against poverty for the benefit of five associations, including Secours Populaire. Interview with its co-founder Zerator, a well-known video game player.

Why did you choose Montpellier as the city to organize Z Event ?

I am originally from Montpellier, and I have been working there since 2015 after having worked elsewhere. When we thought about Z Event, we wanted to see how it is possible to organize an event elsewhere than in Paris or in a very large city, like Lyon or Marseille. So we chose Montpellier for Z Event.

The advantage is that the event takes place mainly on the Internet, without an audience, except for the concert for which there are still a few places left! We just have to bring the participating players, and cover their expenses. It's usually a change from coming to the South! The success of the Z Event probably makes the city shine, even if that is not the primary goal.

Have the Montpellier Metropolis or the Occitanie region reacted to this event?? Do they help finance it??

Of course, I have already met Carole Delga and Michaël Delafosse. We benefit from free days for the places where we organize the event. However, they do not finance everything, we want to stay as far away from political institutions as possible, because we want to remain as free as possible.

How is Z Event financed ?

We don't have any sponsors, because we don't want to monetize this event too much. My company finances the transportation and accommodation costs. For the rest, we just ask the associations to help us finance the event, in equal parts between them, because it is very expensive to organize. The associations will also largely recover this investment through the donations they receive. For them, it's like a marketing budget.

How are the associations helped by the donations made during the Z Event chosen ?

We went to see the Fondation de France, which provided a list of associations, as in the previous edition. We simply asked that they help poverty and insecurity by reaching all types of public. We wanted to help the homeless, farmers, the poorly housed, etc. We chose a well-known “large” association, Secours Populaire, as well as other smaller and more specialized ones, such as Cop1, which is aimed at students.

Do you follow the actions of these associations once the donations have been made ?

Of course! It is not the founders who do it, because our role is to organize the donations. However, we publish articles about the associations on the event's social media accounts. It is the Fondation de France that takes care of this, as well as redistributing the donations among the beneficiaries. We even went to the Central African Republic with my co-founder Dash, to see how the donations were used by Action Against Hunger.

What's new in the event this year ?

Apart from new associations, we are opening the event to 100 streamers who will contribute to the collection of donations from home. This year is a bit of a test of this formula, which we intend to generalize and open to everyone, but this year is a bit of a test, because the objective is a bit complicated technically.

Read also: Z Event 2021: streamers collect more than 10 million euros in donations, a record

Why did you create a charity event, rather than a paid event, as you also do throughout the year??

First of all, it is important to know that, in our environment, organizing an event brings in little money, but rather aura. Show that you can organize big events. For me, organizing a charity event is temporarily forgetting your activity to participate in a cause greater than yourself. Taking advantage of your notoriety to help those who really need it. This consists of making the invisible visible, for me charity is almost a duty.

Who is Zerator ?

Real name Adrien Nougaret, Zerator is one of the leading French figures in video games. He owes this fame to his audience of "streamers" by filming his video game sessions and broadcasting them on the Twitch platform, on which he has 1.6 million subscribers, as well as to the public events he organizes. The name Zerator is inspired by a Starcraft video game character and the comic strip Kid Paddle.

In 2016, Zerator created with his friend Alexandre "Dash" Dachary the charity event Z Event, which supports different NGOs each year. The first edition, brings in 170,000 € to Save The Children, for children around the world. The first million Z Event is reached in 2018, for the benefit of MSF.

How do you reconcile the organization of a charity event with your career as a streamer ?

The interest is to get out of the Internet sphere. People talk to me most about Z Event in the street, it's what they know best. Nevertheless, I try as much as possible to separate Z Event from me. Of course, there is the Z in the name, we thought about changing it, but it's very difficult, because this name is very popular and very positive. Even if I put forward the associations and their presidents as much as possible, I am the organizer of the event, so I benefit from the notoriety. But I'm not fooled by it…

How did you receive the congratulatory tweet that Emmanuel Macron sent to Z Event in 2022 ?

As a spotlight on the event precisely. That the highest authority in the country talks about the Z Event allows us to shine a spotlight. Afterwards, we don't really know how to receive this reaction. We will have political recovery every year, it's inevitable, but it's a rather good sign.

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