Herman@s: The Origin Story
Back in August 2020, in the heat of the COVID-19 Pandemic, my wife’s phone was blowing up with messages and calls from familiar faces. People who I had worked with, educated, learned Spanish from, and broken bread with for the last half-decade were dying…at an alarming rate. There were murmurs locally on the ground that this was just a strong pneumonia and that everything would pass, but we knew that wasn’t the case.
At the same time, I was getting burned out from FPS games. The late hours, toxic communities, and the fact that my kids are growing up (and seeing what I actually like to spend my time doing) was inevitably forcing a change. In addition to that, I found that I wasn’t sleeping well with the elevated heart rate and blood pressure that late night, high-octane gaming can cause.
Enter MSFS 2020. I had flown briefly as a kid in FS 98, but not in any serious capacity. I knew what I was getting into, so I jumped in feet first. I scrubbed my computer of all FPS and shooting (violent) games, and installed only one. I grabbed a used Logitech 3D Pro and began to fly with FS streamers when I could. What I saw was an incredibly supportive community, people with a willingness to learn, trying new things, starting from scratch. It was love at first flight.
Over the next few weeks, as calls and obituaries continued to stream in from our herman@s on the ground in Venezuela, I felt the need to start pushing myself from a philanthropic standpoint. I’m now in my early 30’s with not a whole lot to show with regard to what I’ve been able to give back (other than my day job of sharing knowledge and methodologies with my students).
Fast forward to one morning in late August 2020: I woke up abruptly with an idea that seemed insane. Certianly, my better half thought so at the time. The question kept coming back to me: How could I use flight simulation to link real-world operations to in-sim operations packaged as a charity effort benefitting Venezuelans?
I wasn’t going to answer that quickly, but I knew I needed to study…a lot. Herman@s as an idea is, at its core, three things: 1) real world relief operations for a community facing malnutrition, starvation, and death, 2) a crowdfunding effort using Twitch (ArticTern) streams and community support, and 3) a legal, functioning nonprofit organization in the state of WA with all of the inner workings and networking of an org. you might expect.
Step 1 was to erase my old gamer identity and affiliations. I had actually already handled that prior to this idea and I settled on ArticTern for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I’ve always been fascinated with the epic migration of the tern. Secondly, I thought it would be interesting to track one and follow its journey in the simulator. I never got to the latter, due to obvious reasons with the connection of the channel to the charity. If you wonder why I’m missing the first “c” in my name, it’s because ArcticTern was taken, and because we never pronounced the first “c” in my native, Midwestern accent.
Step 2 was figuring out how to actually manage the on-the-ground operations out in Venezuela from here in the states. Few things move at a quick pace historically in Latin America, not counting the largely crippled infrastructure that is now a reality in Venezuela. Luckily, my wife’s family is a large one, and some people still close to us haven’t left the country yet out of pride and/or due to their inability to access dollars for travel. So we began rebuilding connections and gathering a small group of committed workers to talk via zoom and WhatsApp (when the internet/power was online in the village). Partnering with an old church group in the area, we now employ around 10-15 workers who cook and distribute food, medicine, and masks.
Step 3 was actually starting a nonprofit organization here in the states — no easy feat. After we reached 100 followers on Twitch I made a pledge to the community that I would be seeking official nonprofit status. We passed that mark in October, and it took about four months of research and paperwork to get recognized by the state. Around that same time (now Feb. 2021), I was contacted by StreamLabs Charity and their financial partner Pledges Inc. They offered to match all donations 1-to-1 and, to this day, allow me to function under their umbrella as a 501c3 tax-exempt organization. This was a huge leap forward for us, and really boosted our donation base.
Step 4 was figuring out how to connect viewers of the channel to the cause, and to have the community feel involved in the charity on stream. Back in November 2020, I piloted a software called “OnAir” which is a persistent world addon for flight simulation that simulates cargo hauling and passenger jobs for virtual airlines. I had kind of burned myself out on the software, but right around the time we were approved as a nonprofit, I had the idea of taking those realistic jobs in the OnAir world and linking them geographically to the area we actually serve in the real world. Now, on a Saturday, what you’ll see during an Herman@s stream is myself and several other virtual pilots making deliveries of urgently needed supplies to Venezuela. We get to choose the jobs that mean the most to the community and make them a reality within the simulator, just as we do in real life (just without the multimillion-dollar aircraft…yet)
