Muthead League to honor families of Jacksonville victims with charity tournament [Update]

In lieu of a traditional season six, the Muthead League will team with Curse Entertainment and Mavs Gaming to host a charity Madden tournament to honor the families of the victims of August’s shooting in Jacksonville, Florida.

The focus [for this event] isn’t on competition. There is no bracket,” Kacey Mast, Curse’s Director of Marketing told GameDaily. “There is no prize money. The competitive players that are participating are coming to honor Trueboy and SpotMePlzzz.”

“Following the tragic events at the Jacksonville MCS event, we didn’t feel right moving forward with Muthead League Season 6 as planned,” Muthead said in an announcement. “The overwhelming feedback from the competitive players that we were in contact with was that they didn’t want to let this tragedy stop the community from doing what we love, playing Madden.”

Scheduled for this Saturday, October 6, at 3:00 PM EST on Muthead’s Twitch channel, the event will see the $10,000 prize pool originally set aside for the tournament donated to the families of the victims. In addition, donations will be encouraged during the stream and will benefit the Jacksonville Tribute Fund established by EA in the wake of the tragedy. EA kick started the fund with a $1million donation. Muthead’s upcoming event comes after EA announced that it canceled the remainder of its Madden qualifying events for the season.  

“The overwhelming feedback we got from the competitive players we work with was that they wanted to do something to honor the players we lost,” Mast said. “The goal with the upcoming exhibition games is to rally the Madden community together, allowing the Jacksonville survivors participating the opportunity to speak directly to the community while encouraging donations to the Jacksonville Tribute Fund.”

The events in Jacksonville have raised questions about security measures at gaming events going forward. Last year’s E3 drew criticism for its lack of security. Efforts were increased this year, but, as reported by GameDaily, there is still a long way to go with industry events as a whole. One Jacksonville victim is suing EA over negligence, which will hopefully bring attention to the need for more security at gaming events.

The Jacksonville Fund and Muthead’s event are bright spots in the face of tragedy, and serve as great examples of the games industry’s ability to come together as a community. While there are still many security concerns that need to be addressed, it’s nice to see organizations like Muthead doing their best to help those in need.

The shooting profoundly impacted Muthead’s community, according to Mast. “Some of us had personal or professional relationships with the victims, and many more watched Trueboy and SpotMePlzzz compete at the highest levels of Madden over the past several years,” she said. “The community has come together on Muthead’s forums, in Twitch chat, and on Twitter to talk and help each other heal.”

Updated on 10/4/2018 at 4:30 ET