Lost Ark Players Help Korean War and Vietnam War Veterans in Seoul

Fifty players from three Korean Lost Ark communities spent June 27 at the Nowon Senior Welfare Center in Seoul, cleaning homes and making terrariums with 75 elderly veterans of the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The volunteer day was organized by Smilegate HEEMANGSTUDIO in honor of Patriots and Veterans Month. The foundation is running a parallel donation drive through July 12 to support the same group.

HEEMANGSTUDIO is the gamified donation platform launched by Smilegate Foundation in 2023, built to fold game-IP partnerships into volunteer and fundraising work. The June 27 event is the latest in a series that uses community organizing inside specific games, in this case Lost Ark, as the volunteer funnel. FUNding, the platform’s donation arm, collects contributions the foundation says it forwards in full to the receiving institution.

The June 27 Volunteer Day in Numbers

Smilegate HEEMANGSTUDIO said on June 29 that the volunteer project brought together about 50 users from three Lost Ark communities, named in the Smilegate’s June 29 announcement about the volunteer day as Loawa, Lopec, and Iloa. The day fell inside Patriots and Veterans Month, a Korean civic observance for those who served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Activities were staged at the Nowon Senior Welfare Center in Seoul.

Volunteers worked alongside 75 elderly veterans across two stages. In the first, pairs of one gamer and one senior built terrariums together, with the volunteers and the seniors trading stories as they planted and assembled the small glass gardens. In the second, teams walked to the veterans’ homes to clean areas that the seniors cannot easily reach, including electric fans and window frames. The foundation said the day combined emotional support with practical household maintenance.

• ~50 Lost Ark volunteers from three player communities
• 75 elderly Korean War and Vietnam War veterans served
• June 27, 2026 date of the volunteer day at Nowon Senior Welfare Center in Seoul
• June 10 to July 12, 2026 FUNding donation drive window
• 3 Lost Ark communities that organized members: Loawa, Lopec, Iloa

Loawa, Lopec, and Iloa are Lost Ark player communities that organized their members for the day. Smilegate HEEMANGSTUDIO is the gamified donation and volunteer arm of Smilegate Foundation, the philanthropic entity behind the Smilegate Group. The foundation framed the day as a volunteer activity paired with a separate FUNding donation drive. Smilegate Foundation runs the platform with a roster of game-company partners, including Lost Ark publisher Smilegate RPG. The foundation timed the event to coincide with Patriots and Veterans Month.

Terrariums First, Then the Hard-to-Reach Corners

The day split into two activities, each calibrated to a different kind of connection. Building the terrariums put one gamer and one senior at the same small table for an extended stretch, which the foundation framed as the day’s emotional-support anchor. The terrariums themselves were small glass jars planted with greenery that the pair assembled together, so each senior left with a finished piece from the session. The volunteers and seniors shared stories while they planted, a structure the foundation said was designed to make the contact feel reciprocal.

After the terrarium session, smaller teams walked to the veterans’ homes for the cleaning portion. The volunteers focused on areas that are hard to manage as mobility fades, including electric fans that collect dust in their grilles and window frames that need regular scrubbing. The foundation said the goal was a more comfortable and safe living environment, language that mirrors its standard phrasing for in-home maintenance visits. The home visits were the more practical half of a day the foundation designed to mix emotional and material support. The two-stage format is consistent with the HEALing side of the platform, which the foundation describes as volunteer activity tied to specific social causes.

Where HEEMANGSTUDIO Fits in the Picture

HEEMANGSTUDIO launched on October 24, 2023, billed at launch as the first gamification donation platform in Korea, per the foundation’s HEEMANGSTUDIO’s October 2023 launch announcement. The platform was announced by Smilegate Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Smilegate Group, and is structured around two named services. The platform sits inside a wider set of Smilegate Foundation programs that include the Global Hope School initiative and the Future Lab creative-education space.

The platform’s three named functions divide the work between money, time, and ideas, according to the HEEMANGSTUDIO’s platform playguide. FUNding is the donation arm, where HEEMANGSTUDIO runs themed campaigns that route contributions to specific causes, with the platform’s partner network handling payment rails. HEALing is the volunteer arm, where the foundation organizes in-person activities such as the June 27 terrarium-and-cleaning day for veterans. A third feature, called Suggestion, lets platform users propose social-issue projects directly, which other users can then back with the foundation’s Empathy button.

The platform is also wired into STOVE, the game-services platform operated by Smilegate Group, so users can convert STOVE Points earned across Smilegate games into donation credit. Smilegate Foundation said the integration was meant to lower the friction between playing a game and acting on a social cause. Partner companies include Wemade Play, Devsisters, and Joycity, a roster the foundation has said it intends to expand. The Lost Ark collaboration that produced the June 27 event is part of HEEMANGSTUDIO’s wider set of volunteer activities built around Smilegate RPG communities. The platform itself was the first gamification donation service in Korea when it launched in 2023.

The Donation Drive Runs Through July 12

Alongside the volunteer day, HEEMANGSTUDIO is running a FUNding campaign titled ‘Improving Living Conditions and Providing Livelihood Support for Elderly Veterans.’ The campaign opened on June 10 and runs through July 12.

All donations are routed to the Nowon Senior Welfare Center, the same institution that hosted the June 27 volunteer day. The foundation said the contributions will be delivered without any administrative deductions, a transparency promise that is part of the FUNding pitch. The funds are earmarked for daily necessities for the veterans served by the welfare center.

This volunteer activity is a significant example of a game company, a gaming community, and its users coming together to create social value. We will continue to act as a platform that collaborates with various gaming communities and users to deliver hope to future generations and help gamers participate in charity in an enjoyable way.

Kwon Yeon-ju, Director of Smilegate HEEMANGSTUDIO, said the announcement tied the dual-track approach to the platform’s broader positioning of social contribution as something a game community does together. The FUNding model is the donation side of that platform, where the foundation runs campaigns that mirror its HEALing volunteer days. Kwon directed a similar HEEMANGSTUDIO presence at the May 2026 the May 2026 PlayX4 donation drive in Gyeonggi Province.

The July 12 close gives the campaign roughly five weeks to collect, a duration typical of HEEMANGSTUDIO’s themed FUNding drives. The foundation has run FUNding campaigns tied to civic months before, including the ‘PLAY for DREAM’ drive that ran from May 20 through June 21, 2026 at the PlayX4 game show in Gyeonggi Province. That earlier campaign supported the World Vision ‘Dream Designer’ program, the foundation’s second partnership with World Vision after an initial run in May 2022. The veterans campaign is HEEMANGSTUDIO’s first FUNding drive built around Patriots and Veterans Month.

Three Lost Ark Communities Form the Volunteer Pipeline

Loawa, Lopec, and Iloa are Lost Ark player communities that supplied the roughly 50 volunteers for the day. The three names are the Korean-language handles the foundation used in its announcement.

Lost Ark communities in Korea operate as semi-organized player hubs, with members who run their own forums, Discord servers, and meetups alongside the official Smilegate RPG channels. Mobilizing 50 volunteers for a Seoul senior welfare center in a single day is the kind of pull those communities can deliver when a cause lands. The partnership lets the foundation tap that organization without building its own volunteer roster from scratch.

The Loawa representative, Choi Jin-il, said it was a very meaningful time to express gratitude to veterans alongside other Lost Ark users during Patriots and Veterans Month. In the announcement, Choi also said he was grateful to the Lost Ark users who joined HEEMANGSTUDIO in spreading positive influence. The community-led structure, with the player organizations doing the mobilization and the foundation providing the platform, is what Choi said he hoped would continue as a tradition. The three Lost Ark communities each brought their own membership rosters to the day, with the combined turnout reaching roughly 50 volunteers for the senior welfare center visit.

Other Game IPs on HEEMANGSTUDIO’s Roster

The June 27 volunteer day is one of a series of HEEMANGSTUDIO campaigns built around specific Smilegate Group game IPs. The platform uses those IPs as both donation rails and volunteer funnels.

Smilegate Foundation said it has previously collaborated with approximately 70 game IPs to launch donation campaigns. As a result, approximately 80,000 children and youth from vulnerable social groups have received benefits. That figure comes from the foundation’s launch announcement for the HEEMANGSTUDIO platform in 2023.

1. Tales Runner (Smilegate Megaport): players donate in-game TR currency, which Smilegate Megaport tallies and forwards as cash to HEEMANGSTUDIO.
2. Epic Seven (Smilegate): proceeds from in-game donation packages routed to youth education support projects in South Asia through a UNESCO partnership.
3. Joycity: in-game missions plus item-sale proceeds support sports-activity programs.
4. Devsisters (Cookie Run: OvenBreak): proceeds from IP merchandise sales go to charitable causes.
5. Virtual YouTuber SE:A (Smilegate Entertainment): broadcast proceeds, including a 24-hour donation concert, are routed through HEEMANGSTUDIO.

Each of those earlier partnerships turned a different Smilegate Group IP into a donation surface, and the June 27 event adds a player-community channel to the volunteer side. The HEEMANGSTUDIO playguide lists ‘Game Users’ as its own category of social-issue volunteer activity, with the June 27 veteran-support day as a recent example. The platform’s expansion roadmap, per the foundation, is to keep adding both partner companies and player communities.

The foundation has also used HEEMANGSTUDIO for civic-month campaigns beyond veterans. A May 20, 2026 announcement tied the platform to the PlayX4 2026 game show in Gyeonggi Province, where HEEMANGSTUDIO operated a donation-participatory booth. In conjunction with that booth, the foundation launched the ‘PLAY for DREAM: Giving Wings to Children’s Dreams’ FUNding campaign to support career exploration for underprivileged children and youth. That drive ran from May 20 through June 21, 2026 and supported World Vision’s Dream Designer program. The veteran-day event ran in parallel with the FUNding donation campaign, which is set to close on July 12.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is HEEMANGSTUDIO?

HEEMANGSTUDIO is the gamification donation platform that Smilegate Foundation launched on October 24, 2023, the first such service in Korea when it went live. Beyond FUNding and HEALing, the platform integrates with STOVE, Smilegate Group’s game-services hub, so STOVE Points earned across Smilegate games can be converted into donation credit.

What is FUNding?

FUNding is the donation side of HEEMANGSTUDIO, with each campaign tied to a specific cause or civic month. The foundation’s current FUNding drive supports elderly Korean War and Vietnam War veterans through the Nowon Senior Welfare Center, with all contributions said to be delivered to the center without administrative deductions.

Which Lost Ark communities joined the volunteer day?

Loawa, Lopec, and Iloa, three Lost Ark player communities, supplied the roughly 50 volunteers for the June 27, 2026 event. The three communities organized their members to participate in both the terrarium-building session and the home-cleaning visits.

Where did the June 27 volunteer day take place?

The volunteer day was held at the Nowon Senior Welfare Center, also referred to in Korean sources as the Seoul Municipal Nowon Senior Comprehensive Welfare Center. The center serves older residents of Seoul’s Nowon district.

When does the veterans FUNding campaign close?

The FUNding campaign titled ‘Improving Living Conditions and Providing Livelihood Support for Elderly Veterans’ opened on June 10, 2026 and is scheduled to close on July 12, 2026. All donations are routed to the Nowon Senior Welfare Center.