How will the competition be?
Last year, test tournaments called Fidgetal Games were held in Kazan, designed to develop organizational aspects before the main competitions. The anniversary and tenth largest Fidgetal Games concluded on October 22. 17 countries participated, including Spain, China, Serbia, Turkey, Chile, Nigeria and Cameroon. From these events you can get an idea of exactly what the competitions of the future will look like.
Phygital sports is a functional digital biathlon.
Athletes first play a digital stage in the form of a simulator or computer game, then enter a real sports field or arena. The disciplines are divided into 5 “challenges”: “Sports”, “Tactics”, “Strategy”, “Pace” and “Technology”. The tenth Phygital Games featured competitions in “Sports” (phygital football and phygital basketball), “Tactics” (a combination of CS:GO and Warface with laser tag) and “Strategy” (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang). Everyone had their own tricks and nuances.
In physical basketball, all participants and spectators were amazed by the playing field itself on the physical stage; Underneath each player was a large LED monitor that highlighted the team color and heart rate indicator. And all this data circulated on the site after the athletes.
“When I first saw the graphics on the court, I was in shock, wow,” said Fidgetal Games basketball referee Kira Ponomareva.
A large number of chips awaited the participants and spectators of the “tactics” challenge (tactical combat + laser tag). For example, a virtual stadium filled with digital viewers tuning into the broadcast from their gadgets. They took part in this stadium and could send various commands or emojis into the chat, which were reflected in their digital avatar. It is still difficult to start a “wave” in this way, but it is already more than possible to “explode” a virtual stadium with emotions of joy or disappointment due to the events taking place in the game.
There were some great innovations in the actual laser tag arena as well. During the broadcast, it was possible to follow the health status of the players, see the map showing the players on the field, and even see who made a frag on whom. It was interesting to watch the pulse of the athletes on the field (at some moments it rose above 200), and the nicknames of the participants in the match were not only displayed, but also moved with them on the field.
“This is an incredible tool that makes commentating much easier,” said renowned esports analyst and commentator Sergei Smile Revin.
This is a new sport
Dmitry Ryzhkov, Deputy General Producer of Match TV, noted that with each subsequent event, fidget becomes an increasingly holistic product.
“At first the TV channel did not understand what the fidget was and treated it with caution, but the less time remains for the Games of the Future, the clearer our understanding of this holistic product will be,” says Dmitry. “Our employees, who film all these competitions directly on the site, see and understand how interesting it is and how it can attract attention. We have to film this new sport in a new way and show it to the audience. “We have already used a format that is not used anywhere else.”
However, various technical features and broadcast quality are still a superstructure, and there must be a solid foundation underneath to ensure the interest of large audiences in physical sports. Participants are sure that the basis of the popularity of the new sport is the combination of digital and physical parts.
“Everything requires change. “It is impossible to look at the same thing for 100 years,” said Vladislav Khovansky, winner of the international fidget football tournament as part of the FC Inform (Belarus) team. — A striking example is media football, which we represent. In this context, new rules are emerging and people are interested in watching such competitions. And it’s great that you’re doing these kinds of experiments with phygital spores. I think this format will come, because it is a new trend, a new movement that draws young people from behind the computer to the football field. This is great”.
For some countries, the combination of a football simulator and playing on the field will be the key to wild success.
“Everyone is crazy about football in Chile and almost all young people are interested in e-sports,” said Eduardo Lientur Gaillardo, winner of the Fidgetal Games and goalkeeper of the CHP CHILE team. — And we attach special value to football simulators. Therefore, I have no doubt that phygital will take root and develop rapidly in my country. And our participation in the “Games of the Future” will help with this!”
Phydital opens new paths
Football coach Mikhail Ashrafyan says that the nature of competition in physical sports is attractive: “First of all, it is entertainment, because the game requires two skills. Someone is stronger in the field, someone is at the console – this adds intrigue and tension. “There have been many times in the tournament where the team that lost on the console won on the field.”
The growth of the mobile sports audience is possible, among other things, thanks to the organic “exchange” between classic and e-sports.
“E-soccer players often have no idea what real sport is. Likewise, professional football players cannot fully master the console,” says Randy-Stan Sumu Yungua, vice-champion of Africa in e-football and leader of TEAM CMR (Cameroon). “So holding competitions like this brings them together and makes people see that anything is possible. Football and e-Sports are major players in world sports these days. And phygital opens new development paths for them.”
MDMX (China) basketball player Cheng Wu agrees with him and also offers another effective way to improve phygital movement: “It is easy to accelerate popularization; We need to organize similar tournaments in China. We have a larger population than anywhere else, and at the same time, young people are interested in sports and everything related to e-sports. I am sure that the wiggly lily will bloom very quickly in my country.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who initiated the organization of the first “Games of the Future”, suggested organizing a second tournament similar to China.
The format of physical sports allows not only to attract the viewer, but also to train him. The teams of the tenth Fidgetal Games included coaches, some of whom pointed out the possibility of using simulators to motivate children to play sports. “There is an opportunity to go to a great tournament,” said Kirill Volodkin, Belarusian EXPT player, basketball coach and founder of his own school in Minsk. “Then playing on console will take on additional meaning.” “Two months ago, I would never have imagined that I would be playing console and then real basketball.”
The logic of technology development will push physical sports towards increasing popularity. This opinion is shared by the majority of participants in physical competitions.
“I think that in the age of technology and the internet, all of this will develop very quickly on its own. In such a competition format, the interest of the audience on the other side of the screen will be great. I think it will gain a wide audience in a short time and take this new sport forward on a world scale,” says Kuzbass Academy team captain Denis Voitik.
Thus, phygital will not compete with both “parent” sports, but will complement them, and the “Games of the Future” will take it to the highest level.
“There is classical sports, there is e-sports, and there is phygital as a combination of these. They don’t need to compete with each other. This is just a new branch,” says Robert Ufenok77 Fakhretdinov, vice world champion in cyber football. “And of course the well-conducted Future Games will also play an important role.” The scope of the test games shows that the country and the organizers are ready to host a top-level tournament. “When players from other countries arrive, the whole world will see the hopes of a new sport.”
Preparations for the “Games of the Future” are reaching their final stage. This event will determine how physical sports invented and designed in Russia will be presented to the widest audience worldwide. The totality of the huge work carried out in the sports, organization and technical sections shows that this presentation must be made at the highest level.