Yes there is a very good chance that by 2024, esports will be a demonstration sport at the Olympics and that if it is a success a medal sport in future games. This may sound unrealistic but bear in mind two facts:
- Esports was a demonstration event in the recent 2018 Asian Games and is moving to a full medal event in the 2022 edition. The games played will be purely sports games with no violent content in them.
- From 1912 – 1948 there was an art competition in the Olympics, where competitors competed in categories such as painting, literature. Ireland won 3 medals in this time including Ireland’s first ever Olympic medal won by a certain Jack Butler Yeats for his painting “The Liffey Swim”
People may think that the Olympics were and always will be a physical sporting event but as you have seen that is not the case. When such a significant historical and cultural institution has had to evolve over the years what does it mean for us and business in general? Simply put, you can’t stand still, you must always be moving forward and planning on how to improve the way you do things.
The workplace is going through significant change very rapidly and it is being driven by employees who want flexibility in the working lives. Remote working has taken off and according to a report by Blueface Technology 78% of Irish firms have some form of a plan for remote working. Remote working saves employers money and they have a happier work force.
One thing remote working and esports have in common is that the participants don’t have to be in the same room, teams are now spread all over the world and coming together online to work on a project or a game. The first co-working space opened in San Francisco in 2005 and since then it has grown and grown. Whether you are “Hot Desking” or renting a desk, co-working spaces allow people across the world to succeed in the evolving workplace.
Andrew