The surprising lessons of the 'GeoGuessr' world championship

Imagine landing nearly anywhere in the world without being told where you are — and still being able to pinpoint your exact location from just a few clues. A dedicated group of online players are competing at an international competition in Sweden this weekend and opened up to CBS News about how the game has changed the way they see the world.

"CBS Saturday Morning" co-hosts Jeff Glor, Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson deliver two hours of original reporting and breaking news, as well as profiles of leading figures in culture and the arts. Watch "CBS Saturday Morning" at 7 a.m. ET on CBS and 8 a.m. ET on the CBS News app.

[ItsJCrew]

Very respectful journalism on a pretty niche internet subculture. Glad geoguessr is getting some recognition!

[lllIIIlIllIIll]

I love how she felt it necessary to emphasize that Rainbolt is his actual legal name. By far the coolest surname I've ever heard of.

[TF_Tony]

Really love how respectful this whole segment is. They could easily have gone down the 90s "nerd" route of laughing at niche interests, but no, the reporter actually took the time to engage this topic in good faith.

[HarryKD]

Didn’t think I see Geo Guesser featured on tv today

[Asdayasman]

Very balanced and fair reporting on something niche and nerdy. A breath of fresh air from legacy media. Thank you.

[lilacrimosa]

Everyone's talking about how respectful this journalism is (because that sure is rare when reporting on video games) but I want to point out that the interviewer was straight up enamored with these players. It wasn't just respectful, they were all eating this up. I love it.

[jahook]

Wow, that's a really well prepared segment! Great to see all the guys on TV!

[Lembo]

As an Estonian it's fun to see someone who concluded that learning a few words of our little language was worth it in order to be better at this game.

[ukdnbmarsh]

ahh yes Rainbolt - incredible detective, i love the things he does to help others locate places that mean alot to them

[kiriappeee]

I love the ending comments about infusing yourself with wonder and a yearning to explore and be more aware of the world around you. That is the kindest and most respectful way of holding up the players who've dedicated so much time and effort to be masters of GeoGuessr

[thekamotodragon]

I appreciate how gracious this story was to the geoguessr community. Nothing but positivity when covering this hobby, my hobby, for this story, which is pretty rare nowadays. Anytime a new story usually comes out about a niche hobby, esp a video game, it's normally marred by some judgement or negative comments, but this wasn't so thank you.

[Repz]

GeoGuessr just had Grand Final competition, Blinky from France vs MK from US. The Final was insane, locating points to as close as 17 meters.

[AABoeingMAX]

Cool story, the journalist did a good job covering a wide topic. They missed GeoWizard though and he's kind of necessary for telling the GeoGuessr story properly, though he's said recently he's turned down some opportunities involving GeoGuessr so maybe they tried to reach him.

[kkadu]

I can't stand 99% of news segments on internet culture, but this one... this was peak.

[PullsPressesCarries]

Finding the location of the photo gave me goosebumps, that's incredible!

[HappB]

3 majors and 2 minors at northwestern is insane

[DOPYT]

The best thing is really Rainbolt finding places people look for through pictures.

[bzdtemp]

Playing GeoGuesser had me researching Australian power companies, as the game landed me in the middle of nowhere however eventually I came across some big power lines only I had to learn which company used their configuration, as it would at least tell me what general area of Australia I was in.

[senryuuhoutaro]

I wholeheartedly applaud, the journalism that took place about GeoGussr. The gaming community always gets ridicule from the mainstream media, this one is just Chef's kiss respectful.

[munbu]

if theres ever a geoguesr tournament, the contestants should only be given a photo of the venue with not address attached