Prague, Czech Republic – ESET has launched (together
with its partners) a gondola called Dropion into the stratosphere. For this unique
social gaming experiment dubbed Stratocaching, ESET partnered with a group of
young technology enthusiasts from Czech “No Rocket Science” and Technet.cz.
In all, more than 200-thousand
online viewers and 13-thousand players watched in real-time as the Dropion
soared to the stratosphere, releasing a dozen GPS-tracked seeds and landing
safely in a village 50 kilometers from Prague, Czech Republic. Thousands of
people searched for these seeds from near-space with the help of their
smartphones in this world premiere of Stratocaching - a geocaching game with a
space twist, as reported by Technet.cz, a respected and most visited Czech
technology news portal.
“Exploring is an activity that enriches every individual. It allows us
to create, relax and get inspired by new ideas. ESET was proud to be the main
partner of the Stratocaching experiment and our team has great respect for the
talent and enthusiasm of its organizers. We all enjoyed the moments as ESET Go
Explore Dropion touched the stratosphere,” says Jaroslav Fabian, Marketing
Director of ESET Czech Republic, a subsidiary of ESET.
Stratocaching was the first of
its kind gaming experiment in the world, launched in a country where geocaching
is quite popular (Czech Republic ranks 4th globally based on Geocaching.com).
The project was 16 months in the making and involved scientists, academicians,
professionals, companies as well as enthusiasts who took part in the pre-launch
preparations. Technet.cz highlighted the success of this gaming experiment with
elements of science as follows: “This experiment
also introduced some aspects of near-space physics, meteorology and technology,
and for the enthused fans put space literally within grasp.”
In addition, Lupa.cz, a Czech news
portal, has honored the Stratocaching project and its main partner ESET, as the
best Internet Project in Czech Republic. It received the Crystal Magnifying
Glass 2013 Award in its annual Special Award Category.
Catherine d'Adesky
www.keycommunications.be