Morgan joined Cure Cancer’s Game On Cancer® team in September, 2021, and as an avid gamer and streamer, she is keen to work with our community and help support our researchers working across all different cancer types through running our annual streamer/creator campaigns and events.
So Morgan, what got you into gaming?
My older brother! He got me into a lot of things – playing basketball, watching the rugby and of course gaming. I played heaps as a young kid and my game cube was definitely put to good use, but things really kicked off when we got our first Xbox and would spend every waking moment playing Halo (Reach was my favourite).
Also fun fact: another massive influence for me is my nan! She’s been gaming far longer than us and has a massive collection ranging from her DS and Gameboy games, to the good ol’ 64 and whichever newer games she’s been playing on her Xbox and Playstation consoles. When I was little, we’d play through Super Mario 64, but I know her favourite these days is Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
What’s your favourite game?
Surprise surprise – Rocket League! I thought I was going to be a variety streamer but realistically I’m a Rocket League main. I’ve been playing Rocket League since 2018 but only really casually. I gave it a break for a while and came back to it mid 2021 when I built my PC and decided to take it more seriously. It’s a goal of mine to keep ranking up and play as best as I can, so I’ve been spending a lot of time in training and free-play trying to get better and improve my mechanics. Most streams I’ll be grinding comp matches but it’s also a really easy game to get my community involved in with custom matches and tournaments!
I’ve also picked up Valorant recently and have been really enjoying it!
If you could go for a coffee and chat with one game character, who would it be?
Ummm… I’d say either Lara Croft or Ellie from The Last of Us. Both smart, strong, resilient female characters. I think a coffee and chat could be valuable and a lot to learn from and Ellie has a good sense of humour!
What’s a game you’re keen to try?
I’m keen to branch out a little bit more and have a few games on my list that I’m yet to try, notably Rainbow Six Siege. I’m also yet to play through the Halo Infinite campaign and Deathloop is also up there on the list! I’ve revisited some old favourites recently such as Warzone and Minecraft, and also played through It Takes Two (highly recommend!) so will have to make some time to try some others.
What is your background/experience?
I graduated from Uni at the end of 2018 with a double degree, majoring in Finance and Japanese. I spent a year working as a Financial Analyst in Corporate Finance at a big firm in Melbourne and although I thoroughly enjoyed it and am grateful for the experience, it wasn’t the field where I saw my future self. I moved to Sydney and worked in gaming and marketing, then was lucky to come across this role and was excited to be able to utilise skills I’d obtained in relation to client communications, as well as my more creative side. I’d worked in content creation in my old marketing team but continued to develop my skillset more when I started streaming for myself, so I’m lucky to be able to combine skills I’ve developed from something I’m passionate about into my work.
What excited you about being the Community Executive in the GOC team at Cure Cancer?
I think I’m in a really lucky position to be in a role related to my biggest hobby. I’ll be chatting games with my boss and it’s completely relevant to our work haha! And working with other streamers is exciting – everyone is so passionate about what they do and about building wholesome, supportive communities, so being able to work with them is a lot of fun.
But the biggest point that drew me to this role was the opportunity to make a difference and support such an incredible cause. It’s something I felt like I was missing in other roles and it really does drive me to work hard, particularly as I’ve had friends and family go through cancer. Cancer is just one of those things that unfortunately almost everyone has experienced, either personally or through their loved ones. Cure Cancer’s aim is to make this the last generation to die from cancer, and the research works towards all different cancer types, so being able to help ignite the gaming community is such an incredible effort and I’m glad to be a part of it.
