Peculiar Charity-Sponsored Cult-Like Organization

[thibault]

I recently came upon this strange organization "Gaming for Good" which operates as a religion in Germany. There are around 50 members who are housed and fed in exchange for work - mostly programming, video editing, but also menial duties like cooking and cleaning. They are also apparently paid some type of wage in the form of the group's own cryptocurrency PRPS (purpose), although at any point the group can decide to take back these tokens through a fork as they control the currency.

Aside from the material situation of the group members there are other signs pointing to this being a cult such as some of the ideology/religion that has been developed by the leader Athene. Athene is a twitch streamer who is the face of the group. To be honest I have not dug too much into the ideology too much but at a glance it seems like some basic self help principles mixed with some scientific sounding claims to back it up. Mostly the lingo that has developed around it like "adopt logic as your core value" and once you do that you will "click" and everything in your life will align is a pretty big red flag for me.

The group does charity work and through its efforts has raised over $3,000,000 for the charity "Save the Children". I am surprised to see this organization or at least the leader receive praise from some mainstream media outlets considering the setup of the group - 50 unpaid workers part of a "religion" - which very much seems like a cult.

Finally there have been reports of people feeling emotionally/psychologically abused during their time with the group although I don't think they ever mentioned any specific instances of abuse.

All in all an organization that pretty much runs like a business with an operational cost of only $15,000/month for 50 employees some of which very skilled seems like the definition of a cult to me. However I was very surprised to discover the existence of such a modern, high-tech cult. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

Investigation on the organization :

Edgy, tongue in cheek propaganda of the cult :

[Leo Gura]

Lots of red flags around Athene.

As soon as you spot a manipulator, that's the biggest tell-tale sign of devilry.

Truly selfless and awakened people have no desire to control or manipulate others, not even for their own good or awakening. Not even to save the world. Manipulation itself is ignorance, greed, and fear made manifest.

God has no desire to manipulate people. Only a dispassionate hope that they wise up and awaken.

[Raptorsin7]

@Leo Gura He likely had an awakening and then used that as justification for all the crazy behavior since. But he always a crazy bullshitter even back in the WoW days.

[Esoteric]

Germany usually have a good record of not letting organizations like this get out of hand the last couple of decades... For some reason

[thibault]

@Leo Gura Yeah in many of the videos I watched of him he did come off as very manipulative and controlling but I was also pretty baffled as he does seem pretty charismatic and charming. It's hard for me to comprehend exactly how deluded he is and how conscious of his manipulation he is. I can only imagine that the charity work - raising money for children in Africa - is the noble justification that he uses to manipulate. Overall I just have this eery intuition that he is very much conscious of what he is doing and his motivations actually being far from pure.

[Leo Gura]

3 hours ago, thibault said:

but I was also pretty baffled as he does seem pretty charismatic and charming

But?

That's how con artists and narcisists are.

I had a bad vibe from him the first time I saw someone post about on this forum. He seems like a bullshitter. But I could be wrong. I know nothing about him. Just his vibe.

[Preety_India]

I never got a good vibe from him. 

Seems like a controller. 

Watched a few of his videos. Yikes

 

[Carl-Richard]

On 5.2.2020 at 5:18 PM, Leo Gura said:

But?

That's how con artists and narcisists are.

I had a bad vibe from him the first time I saw someone post about on this forum. He seems like a bullshitter. But I could be wrong. I know nothing about him. Just his vibe.

His interview with Dr. K (healthygamergg) is quite telling. He is undoubtedly a narcissist or atleast a bit stuck up his own ass.

[Consept]

Was he the one that was talking a lot about logic being the foundation for truth and reality or something like that, a few years ago? 

[Consept]

I think a good way to judge whether someone narcissistic or manipulative is to see how they react when they receive valid criticism, this guy does not react well. 

Also you can tell he does believe he is incredibly intelligent but not only that there's a lot of arrogance with it. Loads of red flags, I would say it's a cult. 

[Unemployed]

LMAO this dude is trolling the world and everyone is just eating it up lol OMG