Twitch can be a cesspool of awfulness at times. If it’s not one streamer being swatted or another being accused of misogyny, it’s the possibility of legal action between major streamers. There is, however, some good on the platform. WowGrandma78, a grandmother and Twitch streamer who celebrated her 80th birthday this month with a subathon, is one such example. She’s been live streaming for 12 days now. She has no intention of stopping until the clock runs out–which is extended by three minutes every time someone subscribes.
WowGrandma78—guess she’ll have to rebrand herself now—turned 80 on March 17th, according to her Twitter account. To commemorate the occasion, she went live on Twitch to host a subathon, a subscriber marathon in which a streamer’s stream is extended by a set amount of time for every new subscriber.
WowGrandma78 has been doing this since March 17th which means she has now live streamed for approximately 288 hours on Twitch.
While sitting in front of a camera for 288 hours and counting may seem like a long time, WowGrandma78 is no stranger to it.
She started her Twitch channel in January 2020 with “the intentions of having a friendly and safe place,” according to her channel’s About Me. She is a literal grandmother with six children, nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
She streams every day, mostly at night, as a restoration druid in World of Warcraft. Other games, such as the browser-based Wordle-style word guessing game Words on Stream, appear on occasion. However, as stated in her bio, WoW has been her preferred game for nearly two decades.
Expect chill broadcasts with lots of WoW and friendly conversation if you visit her livestream. She spends a lot of time telling stories about her life, such as the time she had to call the fire department because her youngest son was obsessed with fire and accidentally burned a neighbor’s doll. She’s also answering questions about raising children, greeting people in the chat, and kicking ass with her druid while doing so.
It’s quite lovely. WowGrandma78 and a chatter named Kapers_ had a heartwarming exchange in which the chatter said their expected child’s name would be Sloane. WowGrandma78 thought it was a lovely name and offered some parenting advice.
The slideshow that plays when WowGrandma78 takes a break is another highlight of her subathon. WowGrandma78’s life is chronicled in this long carousel of images and text, which follows her from birth to adolescence, through her first children, and into retirement. It’s a fun way to meet new people. And there’s an even better way to celebrate a birthday: by playing games and showing people how your life has progressed.
WowGrandma78 hasn’t responded to a request for comment in time for publication, which I understand is because she’s too busy playing World of Warcraft. It’s her birthday, and the raids must be completed.
