AUSTIN, TEXAS – Imagine you were shrunk to a tiny version of yourself and plopped onto a drone. You take hold of the controllers and begin speeding around objects at 80 miles per hour as though you’re piloting a Star Wars fighter dodging intergalactic enemy ships.
This is what it’s like to be a first-person-view drone pilot, and it’s one of the many new sports that have been born out of advances in video technology. Many of these sports are at the convergence of traditional sports and video games, but don’t confuse them with esports.
Video-enabled sports, such as drone racing, intermix the digital and physical worlds in a way that esports do not by implementing physical gameplay alongside the video technology that’s crucial to their existence.