François Savard, aka Leonin

Bienvenue sur ma page Ko-fi! My name is François Savard, aka Leonin. I’m a game studies researcher with a huge practitioner side. Indeed, I have been involved in the online video game and electronic sports communities in Canada since 2002, and full time from 2015. As you’re all aware, the online ecosystem can be very harsh. Toxicity, predatory and ethically dubious practices, cyberbullying, and psychological distress are but the tip of the iceberg. Every day, I strive to bring the online community ecosystem to a healthier and safer place for everyone. I won't be able to make an exhaustive list of everything I do because no two problems require the same solution. My interventions must therefore be adapted to the issue in front of me. Nonetheless, here are some examples to give you a brief overview : ❤️ I do scientific research on video games, esports and social media, and I help to improve the knowledge to establish good practice related to these. ❤️ I train volunteers from several organizations working with youth to help them deal with the generation gap. ❤️ I assist organizations and governments to provide more mental health support resources, and to make them available online. ❤️ I work with the video game industry to help them make their games more accessible to people with disabilities while being safer for those vulnerable to cyberaddiction ❤️ I started in 2020 a university student club at UQAM to help break isolation through gaming. ❤️ I founded in 2018 a charity helping those forgotten by the system, such as gamers, directly where they are. I do volunteer work from helping the foundation on the administrative level for it to be sustainable, to being on the online frontline answering distress calls, thus directly saving lives. ❤️ I published in 2017 the first version of my guide contribute to suicide prevention in online communities. The second version is being used around the world and the third version is in revision. ❤️ I cofounded in 2016 a provincial esports federation and we managed to build a strong ecosystem where students can compete while learning to balance their lives. I’m not anymore on the board, but as passionate as I am, I do help them from time to time voluntarily. Why did I create a Ko-fi? Because it takes a lot of resources to do all that charity work and help all cybercitizens. I'm an enthusiast who hasn't stopped for more than a decade out of pure passion, but I cannot do everything alone. Each year, I spend around 10k$ on various expenses such as representation, transportation, accommodation, lab equipment and supplies, services, licenses, etc. With your help, I will be able to cover the cost of doing all that charity work. It will allow me to put in more time and energy into those projects, which in the end will allow us to help even more cybercitizens. Thank you very much for your support!

Show More