‘Stray’ Cat Video Game Helps Real Cats

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A new video game that includes a brave cat is popular with cat lovers. Some of them are using the game to raise money for real cats.

The game was released last month. It is called "Stray." A stray animal is one without a home. Many stray cats and dogs live on city streets.

Thanks to online fundraising services, gamers are playing "Stray" live for audiences to raise money for animal shelters and other cat-connected organizations.

Annapurna Interactive¹, the game's creator, publicized "Stray" by offering two cat rescue and adoption² agencies copies of the game to give away.

Livestreaming game play for charity is not new. But the quick popularity of "Stray" is a bit unusual. It was the fourth most watched game on the day it was first shown on Twitch³, the video game streaming site.

Viewers watch as players send the game's cat through a city to solve problems and escape enemies. The cat in the game does all this while doing usual cat activities, like scratching, jumping or hitting things off tables.

About 80 percent of the game's creative team are "cat owners and cat lovers," the game's producers said.

"I certainly hope that maybe some people will be inspired to help actual strays in real life," said Swann Martin-Raget. He is a game producer of Stray and works at the BlueTwelve gaming studio in France.

Annapurna Interactive contacted the Nebraska Humane⁴ Society to discuss a partnership⁵ before the game's launch on July 19. The humane society jumped at the chance, marketing⁶ specialist Brendan Gepson said.

"The whole game and the whole culture around the game, it's all about a love of cats," Gepson said. "It meshed⁸ really well with the shelter and our mission."

The shelter received four copies of the game to give away. People donated $5 for a chance to win one of the games. In one week, the shelter raised $7,000, Gepson said.

Most of the 550 donors⁹ were new to the shelter, including people from Germany and Malta.

Jeff Legaspi is Annapurna Interactive's marketing director. He said it made sense for the game's launch to do something "impactful," or making a powerful influence. He added that he hopes the game will "bring more awareness¹⁰ to adopting and not shopping for a new pet."

The game is available on PlayStation and the Steam online game platform. Steam monitor SteamDB said "Stray" has been the number-one purchased game for the past two weeks.

Annapurna did not release sales numbers or download numbers for the game.

Words in This Story

fundraise — n. activity done to collect money for a political party, charity, school, etc.

charity — n. the act of giving money, food, or other kinds of help to people who are poor, sick, etc.

viewer — n. a person who sees or looks at something

inspire — v. to make want to do something ; to give an idea about what to do or create

mesh⁷ — v. to fit or work together successfully

1 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

2 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

3 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

4 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

5 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 mesh   

n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络

参考例句：

• Their characters just don't mesh.他们的性格就是合不来。
• This is the net having half inch mesh.这是有半英寸网眼的网。

8 meshed   

有孔的，有孔眼的，啮合的

参考例句：

• The wheels meshed well. 机轮啮合良好。
• Their senses of humor meshed perfectly. 他们的幽默感配合得天衣无缝。

9 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。