The Story Behind HoopCam
Recall the very first time you realized you weren’t going to be a professional basketball player — Remember that feeling?
You HAD to choose another path— something practical!
Study hard. Get good grades. Get a good paying job.
Sound familiar?
Looking back. Did you regret not giving your passion more effort, more energy? to try to make it work? I know I did. And it feels terrible.
Why did we give up?
Quite simply, it’s because “basketball as a job” didn’t exist — at least for the rest of us. Making the NBA was (next to) impossible. It was “play as far as you can, but have a practical way out so you can have a job”.
“... play as far as you can, but have a practical way out so you can have a job
So we compromised. “Perhaps we can just play for fun”. And just like that, we dismiss our dream and put it on the shelf. Maybe someday. Maybe.
That someday is upon us.
Times are Changing
We’re seeing unprecedented change across the globe. Major shifts are impacting our global economy right now:
- Social media. People getting paid. Content creation as a habit.
- Remote culture & Gig Economy as an accepted way of work.
- Advances in technology: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Machine learning.
Social Media is quite “Anti-social”
Facebook. Instagram. Snapchat. Musically.
The world just can’t get enough of social media. Except it’s done more harm than good.
Chamath Palihapitiya, Former Facebook VP of Growth, remarked how it’s a global problem that social media is ripping society apart.
It has raised an entire generation of addicts. Their lives are being wasted away. What we need is a real network that makes people more social, not less.
The Future of Jobs?
The Gig economy is not that new of a concept. Became popular with designers, some developers, marketers, and lately video gamers (eSports).
The way we understand jobs is incomplete. Once we clearly define the flow of value, the players and roles, we can learn to create a new job category on our own.
AI. Blockchain. Oh My!
Machine Learning is one of the fastest growing areas of AI. Through training on big datasets, we are able to see near-human level in image recognition, video analysis technology, etc.
It is really exciting to see what new abilities AI can offer us.
Action Recognition is now possible at a generic level. We can use machine learning to know in real-time whether a player has a “ball in hand”, “playing defense” and other actions.
As this area continues to improve, we will be able to detect moves made by players: presenting a more interesting breakdown of a player’s action during the game, and opening up a new area of exploration and comparison.
The Rise of Cryptocurrency & Blockchain
Since 2009–2014, several proposals were published that opened up an entire world of possibility. They gave rise to Bitcoin and Ethereum — the two most popular cryptocurrency in the world today.
For the first time in human history we are given tools to write smart contracts, our own rules — that can control creation, distribution of digital money.
And the world is just beginning to take notice.
If you’re reading this, know that we are the privileged few. Because what we’re about to reveal is still largely a secret to 99% of the world.
Where do we go from here?
What will we do next?
Connecting the Dots
We will create HoopCam, the world’s first basketball eSports platform — driven by the global community itself.
By designing blockchain smart contracts that allow sponsors to pay directly to us, they can show their brand on the games we produce with the HoopCam app, and the smart contracts ensure we all get paid in real time.
In the Near Future…
Imagine your day goes something like this.
On your lunch hour, you visit a nearby court. You play five short 1v1 games against other players.
You collect points for every game played plus a win bonus. You are awarded a share of tokens (called HoopCoin).
At the end of the month, you realize it’s not a small sum. And so you invest more time. You bring more friends along to play.
To film games. To label videos. To audit games.
You are social again!
A New World
Now imagine millions, TENS of millions of others doing the same!
Players from around the world forming leagues and competitions.
We’ve not just created a fun way to play basketball games. Like ride-sharing, we’ve created a new job category entirely. Who could have imagined getting paid for playing basketball!
Next Stop
The vast amount of new game video data being created would drive advances in machine learning.
We would be able to detect and count different moves you make, and attribute points to make your profile richer, in every sense of the word.
The Journey Ahead
The journey towards this vision, like any worthy journey, consists of obstacles.
Level 1: Expand on the Fun
We would need to create an experience that is fun and engaging for all the users. We are aiming for weekly participation. To make use of time you’re already spending on playing basketball, and rewarding you for it.
Level 2: Empower the “Lifers”
We would then align with, and provide incentives for “basketball lifers” — those who already dedicate their lives to basketball, to join as ambassadors, players, promoters and other specialists.
Let’s take a look at what we’ve accomplished so far, and what the Product Roadmap looks like ahead.
What we’ve accomplished so far
- Prototype app built
- First 1v1 tournament in Hong Kong
- Android app published to Play Store
- First Rating system
- Began Machine Learning Research
- Initial Machine Learning results positive
- First 1v1 in LA
- Influencer early bird buy in
2019 and beyond …
- Coming soon
Let’s Make History
We’ve had a great start in getting users to test out the playing experience. We need your help to make it even better!
Join me in this new movement, as a player, a promoter or otherwise — we need your feedback to shape the future together!
Yours truly,
Eric Tsang (Founder of HoopCam)
— Get in Touch with me → eric@hoop.cam
