What will sports look like 150 years from now?
That’s the topic Shawn Caldera, founder and owner of Volcanic Gaming, will be tackling at TEDxUNBC.
The topic of the Nov. 17 event held in UNBC’s Canfor Theatre is Destination: Future, which asks speakers to examine what the world will look like 150 years from now, and what we should be doing today to build the best possible future.
“The topic of the future was really exciting to me,” says Caldera, “It was something I felt I was able to offer some knowledge in, with something that is only currently being buzzed about, I felt I could talk about high school Esports and the future athlete.”
Caldera’s says his Prince George-based company, Volcanic Gaming, is “one of the first western Esports startups of its kind” and aims to bring Esports to communities across Western Canada.
“Essentially, Esports is competitive video gaming,” explains Caldera.
“What Volcanic Gaming does is bring that to whatever communities we can using events, educational services, and online communities.”
Caldera’s TEDx talk will focus on high school and collegiate Esports.
“Especially how Esports is the largest growing high school sport and how it can benefit students and help students learn better, engage students, and give educators other options to get students involved in their schools,” says Caldera.
He says Volcanic Gaming is currently trying to build a Canadian collegiate nationwide league.
“We do a lot of stuff with high schools, and we do tech education for young adults and teens,” says Caldera, adding “we utilize all of our resources to make sure esports is strong in Canada and that we stand a good chance against other countries with the rise of Esport competition around the world.”
Caldera says much like traditional sports, anyone can play video games but “how great you are takes practice, skill determination, proper diet, proper lifestyle and sleeping habits.”
He says although the Esports scene in Prince George and even Vanderhoof is budding, Volcanic Gaming is the only organization running Esports events.
“There are game stores around and they host some awesome events but what volcanic does, is we work with those entities like Game Quest, Wonderland, Great White, and those groups to bring those more casual gamers to a level in which they are competitive,” says Caldera. “I think we have built a great epi-center of Esports in the north here.”
Volcanic Gaming runs meet up events every other week on a monthly basis for a variety of games.
“You come in, you drop in, you play some games, you learn about the culture and make some friends,” says Caldera, adding that anyone who wants to learn more about Northern B.C.’s Esports scene can check out Volcanic’s website or Facebook Page to find out more about their events.
“We are also going to be offering opportunities for local streamers on twitch and YouTube to use our podcasting booth which we have built in association with Innovation Central Society at the Hub Space to get those kinds of gamers on board too,” says Caldera.
To learn more about the future of Esports, check out Caldera’s talk during this year’s TEDxUNBC event.
TEDxUNBC Destination: Future is the second TEDx event to take place in Prince George. 2017 had seven local speakers give talks about a variety of topics which are still available to view on TEDxUNBC’s website.
Tickets ($105 each) for TEDxUNBC 2018 are available online.
