The Man, The Mystery, The Martyr...

e-Sports! This is a word many will come to know in the days, weeks, and months ahead here in Jamaica. Fighter's Allegiance Jamaica, Str8 Games, and The Lab GameTV have answered the call to battle and currently are teaming up with LIME Jamaica to spread the good word of competitive gaming also referred to as e-Sports. How did this happen you might ask? Where did the initiative and infrastructure come from to facilitate a corporate investment in such a new and emerging market? Well let me introduce you to the man who started it all, a man who has seen the best and the worst of what the competitive gaming scene has to offer; CEO of Empire Arcadia, Isaiah-Triforce M. Johnson. I managed to get a quick interview with him so please take the time to educate yourself on the man so many love to hate...

1. What is your name?
My name is Isaiah-Triforce M. Johnson.

2. Is that your legal name?
Yes.

3. How did you come about such a name and why did you decide to make it as your legal name?
My friends didn’t want to call me GameMaster and tried to find a name for me. They knew I loved the Legend of Zelda a lot and they eventually came up with Triforce. It didn’t really end there though. My Father told me that your real name is the name you give yourself, not the name you are given at birth. I didn’t want to disrespect my Father by removing my first name so I amended it to my first name and that is why you get Isaiah Triforce Johnson. Everyone calls me Triforce for short though.


4. What exactly is Empire Arcadia?
Empire Arcadia is a Development Company for Digital Entertainment, Culture, Community, Industry & eSports. The organization has an eSports team named after the company and we use the exposure that we get from competition and winning to bring attention the organizations other services.

5. What is E-Sports?
eSports is just the modern name for competitive gaming. Its origin came about in 1999 around the CPL tournaments when gamers wanted to change the term to be more commercially viable. A lot of gamers got turned away from sponsors when they went to them asking for sponsorship for playing “video games”. Back then and even still now, the concept of paying someone money to pay video games is not appealing. Thus the moniker “eSports” was created to give outside business the true concept and vision of what Walter Day had laid the foundation down for competitive gaming. From that point on, more and more businesses get what we mean by eSports and have helped expand competitive gaming tremendously.

6. How does the Empire Arcadia represent and impact E-Sports?
Our team is one of the oldest teams to date. We pride ourselves on that. Over the years the team has scene players come and go and right now we’re looking to adapt to the ever evolving eSports industry. As new games come into play we are working with new players to help maintain this historic legacy brand.

In terms of our impact on eSports, I would like to think we've made a significant impact. I think we can do a whole lot more but the brand team has brought exposure to eSports on a commercial level throughout various countries around the world. The United States and Europe as a whole doesn’t really need our help. However areas like the Jamaica, St. Maarten and other island’s throughout the Caribbean, along with countries like Belize in Central America and Kenya in Africa are all areas that we’ve been working to develop eSports in. So far I’m confident that we’re coming along well. We recently just finished a integrated eSports project with LIME Jamaica.

7. What has the business accomplished in order to reach their goals?
Over the years we've accomplished a lot from the grassroots community. Of recent our goal to bring eSports to my home country Jamaica has seen tremendous success. This is all part in thanks to our partners Andrew Johnson of Fighters Allegiance Jamaica, Gregory Moore of Str8 Games and Wayne Benjamin of The Lab Video Game TV. With their help Empire Arcadia has been able to work with telecommunication giants such as LIME Jamaica and Digicel Jamaica to lay down the first corporate backed eSports tournaments in Jamaica.

Our most accomplished goal is the amount of competitions and world championships that we have won. We've won so much that we have the Guinness World Record for the most tournaments won by a video game team. We are nearing our milestone of 2,000 tournament wins, which at our pace we should reach before the end of the first quarter in 2015.

8. Wow that’s pretty impressive, where can people check out more information on your records and Guinness World Records?
You can check out our record on the Guinness World Record Page

9. Who are the main players in the business who have helped the business reach where it is today?
The main players that have helped me with the business reach its goal are not necessarily here. Although many of the champions are now on new teams, for Empire Arcadia to be here, that is credit goes to the unsung players who don’t necessarily just compete. Players such as Royal “Lance” Eustache, Phillip “KDZ” Atkinson, Todd Rogers, Arthur “Red” Hill and many more who are not in the spot light, all have helped maintain the organization to this point.

10. What made you decide to approach E-Sports and its development as your life’s goal?
Originally, I was just a casual gamer; as were we all. Some time around 2006 I realized the true potential of Empire Arcadia. The organization became bigger than myself and then submitted to my position to serve it. Since then I’ve also realized that eSports in its purity is really the advancement technology and entertainment. This can aid in human evolution and because I love video games so much, I have accepted this as one of my life’s work.

11. What have been some recent projects that you and the Empire Arcadia been spearheading?
Well right now our major focus is preparing a new front line of players for 2015. Along with building a League of Legends team. I’m currently working as an eSports consultant and architect for a new gaming league by laying down its foundation throughout several countries around the world. This is a pretext to what is going to come in 2015.

I don’t want to say much because everything launches in 2015 but what I can give out is their social media information at now. The League is called the MVG. It stands for Multimedia Video Game League. You can visit their Facebook Page and you can also follow them on their twitter page which is @MVG_League.

The Global eSports initiative that I’m currently working on for MVG directly affects the Caribbean and Central America for 2015. Our mission is to help bolster the eSports landscape; by partnering up with existing eSports foundations in Jamaica such as Caribbean Games and the Belize Gaming League in Belize. The professional services along with its commercially viable image will grant both entities international support and strengthen the integrity of the eSports industry in these key locations. Keep your eyes on their social media pages for upcoming news.

12. What do you think is the potential for e-Sports across multiple gaming genre?
We haven’t even scratched the surface of eSports true potential. Despite the fact that there are too many gamers and games out there, the demand is still high. Which is a good thing by the way. When we eventually get to the point of creating a Global eSports Network, I think that is when we will see the true potential of competitive gaming which will dwarf the combined accomplishment of what traditional sports has done for us in terms of entertainment. That statement may come as a surprise to many, but eSports has something that traditional sports does not have to help it evolve and that is technology.

With technology the world is literately and I stress literately is at our finger tips. No matter who you are or what you do, the technology in video games and the multimedia platforms that they are available in such as phones, tablets, handhelds, arcades, computers and consoles just opens up the world to not only spectate but also participate in a way traditional sports does not.

13. How well do you think implementing a better E-Sports influence in a region such as Central America will benefit the region?
Developing eSports in Central America is “CRITICAL”. I didn’t just randomly decide to go to Belize and set up eSports there with the ambitious eSports director Ahijah Holland. This is a strategy. Just as Jamaica is the focal point for the Caribbean, Belize is a crucial point for Central America. It will be one of the merging points to connect the entire west to eSports. From the North American Union, down to Central America, connecting to South America and then throughout the Caribbean; which finally connects the entire Latin America region. We will be one step closer to our ultimate goal, a “Global eSports Network”. If I were you guys keep an eye out for Belize and Jamaica in 2015. There is a rivalry coming.

14. In closing what do you see as the potential end game scenario that you want to accomplish with E-Sports and Empire Arcadia?
The potential end game for Empire Arcadia in eSports is to become one of the world leaders in this industry. We’ve already partly accomplished that in the competitive element. Now we need to follow suit from the business stand point. This is why the organization is taken a slightly different approach as we head towards 2015.

Well that is about it from your friendly neighborhood gamer Zalgo_Cometh, as we forge ahead on this new path. Next big event upcoming is a League Of Legends tournament being held on the 27/11/14. Please do make the effort to come out and support the event as the more support these get the better they can grow to be. Until next time keep on gaming...