Ingress: Portal Submissions: The Glitch

The Glitch

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Ingress: The Squad: Values

I am currently not playing. I am not out, but I am not active. I am waiting for my 1,000 portal submissions to go through. Then I am going to build a team, The Squad. For the longest time I thought I would keep mum about it. But I am at a point when I feel I should open source the value system I have written about The Squad. And so here goes.

June 6, 2013
The Squad Values

(1) We believe in Life/Work/Ingress balance. If you are playing for less than 10 hours a week, chances are you are not intense enough for The Squad. But if you are playing for more than 20 hours a week chances are you are messing up your Life/Work/Ingress balance. That is a no no.

(2) We believe in sportsmanship. The mark of true sportsmanship is that you truly enjoy meeting agents from both sides. You play as hard as you can, but then you truly enjoy meeting people from the other side. Be respectful of others on both sides. This is a game. It is supposed to be fun. Don't take the game too seriously.

(3) The Squad is 100% AP driven. We want our agents to get to 10 million in AP as fast as possible. We constantly look for ways to help agents do that. So when we come across a green L7/L8 farm, our first instinct is to hack it to burnout, not to take it down. Because we are AP driven.

(4) Most agents prefer not to join teams. And even those who join teams mostly play solo. And so The Squad will have a very limited agenda.

(5) You don't talk about The Squad outside The Squad. You can say things like "I am a member of The Squad" to recruit people, but that's about it.

(6) When you play solo, you play any way you want. You have the option to tap into The Squad's knowledge base of tips and the collective wisdom of the top agents, but there are no rules. It is a game. It is supposed to be fun. Go have fun your way. When you play solo there is only one rule: We don't talk about The Squad outside The Squad.

(7) The Squad is focused around events it organizes. All socializing happens during Action Time. There is a formal start to an event. And there is a formal end to an event. When the event is over, we go back to Life/Work. We don't hang out, we don't have beer. But if members choose to informally hang out that is fine too, but that is not part of the formal event.

(8) G+ socializing is largely a waste of time. COMM socializing is largely a waste of time. This game is played out there in the field. Your 10 hours a week is about action time in the field not staring at the Intel map at home.

(9) The Squad is a thinking kind of team. We have our tips, our knowledge base, our tactics, and strategies, but all are subject to challenge, and all are subject to empirical evidence. We shift our tactics as necessary. And new ideas can come from anywhere on the team.

(10) We are part of the global Resistance.

(Image: my newest portal submission.)

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Ingress: Imagining 10,000 Agents In NYC

I think we are in an early phase of moving from 1,000 portals and 500 agents in New York City to 2,000 portals and 1,000 agents. And the pace is not fast enough for me. But it is only a matter of time when the game gets bigger and we will eventually end up with 100,000 portals and 10,000 agents in the city. I can see that happening. And I can see that happening by next summer at the most. I can't wait for the game to go public.

When there are 10,000 agents in the city there will be at least 10 blue and 10 green teams in the city. Each team will have a slightly unique character. The current crop of L8 agents will be largely irrelevant to those future generations of agents. Face it, this is not a complex game. You will still play the game with the Intel map and the app. Everything those 10,000 agents will do will get reflected in the Intel map, and you will still just be reacting to the Intel map. I think 10:1 is a healthy ratio. As in, there are 10 portals for every agent. Less than that and the game is hampered. Like right now. There are not enough portals in my home territory for me to be able to get into recruiting in a major way.

Most agents will choose to play solo, like now. Even those who join organized teams will mostly play solo, like now.

Complex fielding will remain the top challenge in the game. The game will turn New York into an even more of a walking city than it already is, and has been before the game, and that is awesome. The game also has a Neighborhood Watch element to it. Agents hungry for AP visit portals in the remotest locations at the oddest hours.

If you think of the game as a great way to explore neighborhoods in the city, this game is as interesting as the city, which is very interesting. If you think of the game as a way to meet people as I do, this game is a great icebreaker. You do meet plenty of people.

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Ingress: Could The Squad Be Cross Faction?

Last night agent BxBomber (green) put forth an interesting thought. How about having a cross faction Squad? I had not thought about it, but the idea makes tremendous sense.

A cross faction Squad would be a mark of good sportsmanship. I can think of few secrets in this game. This is a simple game. I am a blue agent. When I see a green L7 farm my first instinct is to hack. I get the same AP for capturing a L3 green portal as I would a L7 green portal, but L7 portals are harder to capture.

To me the most exciting aspect of this game is complex fielding. And so what I have been most excited about for the past few months now has been making portal submissions.

What would a cross faction Squad do? It would come up with best practices in the game to publicly share. It would organize cross faction events. That would include L7 and L8 farms. It would make major efforts at portal submissions and player recruiting. It would come up with a set of values.

I am open to the idea. Let the brainstorming begin.

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Ingress: Is Victory Possible?

Ingress is a great way to explore the city. It takes you to parts of the city you never have been and would not have gone. I am talking about 20 blocks from where you live. The game is also a great way to meet people. And there are good practices. Strategies are possible. But this is not exactly chess.

Right now the city looks about 60% blue. Would it be possible to make it 90% blue? I think it is possible but  it gets harder as the percentage goes up.

When you are dominant, your players start taking it easy. Most prefer not to get regimented. When the city is largely blue it is great for the most active green players. They have more portals to capture.

But even going from 60% blue to 75% blue would fit my definition of victory.

Another definition of victory would be if we could turn permanently green areas like the High Line, the East Village, Williamsburg, Long Island City, the UN blue for a few days in a row.

I am under no illusion we are creating anything permanent. Permanent victories are not possible. If they were, the game would not be fun. But I think it is possible to shift the ground.

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