The Virtual World of Esports
It was the year 2016. You are taking a nice brisk stroll through your favorite park. You are listening to the birds sing and watching the squirrels run back and forth from tree to tree. Your eyes are diverted to a group of teens running to various places in the park holding their phones as if they were Tricorders and they were performing a Star Trek enactment.
“I’ve got one!”
“I found one here!”
“Darn, Zubat! Come back here!”
You have read about the phenomenon. No, I am not referring to Sudden Teenage Insanity Syndrome (STIS). If that was a thing, it would be classified as a pandemic. It is common knowledge that during the years from ages 13 to 20, people go a little crazy. We chalk it up to the “the teenage years”. But I am not referring to the teenage years, I am referring to the release and popularity of Pokémon Go. Pokémon Go was one of the first augmented reality (AR) games for a mobile device. It overlays imaginary Pokémon on top of the real world, with the purpose of “catching them all”.
Even though Pokémon Go is not technically an Esports platform, it is an MMORPG-based competition, the first step towards the Esports world colliding with the augmented reality world.