Monthly Archives: October 2014
Ingress: Agent ranking – 20
Ingress: Public spaces considered as a private (Guardian) space
An interesting development, particularly when the game (Ingress) is predicated on teamwork, collaboration and sportsmanship in a public space. A portal in public space (is regarded as public domain and open for all players) once claimed as personal or private is extremely provocative and somewhat problematic. This is not always the case, as I found out when observing an interaction between two Enlightened players.
What’s a guardian portal? Well, according to Superjase on Reddit a Guardian portal can be:
- a portal you keep recharging with the hopes it will last for 150 (90) days to get a black (platinum) badge (i.e. potentially a guardian badge portal)
- the portal you currently own for the longest period of time.
Sure, there’s strategy, but that doesn’t make that public space any more yours that it does mine. Right?
Ingress: Recent achievements
This could be You (Tube)
A poster at a local tram stop for a fascinating marketing campaign by Google to sell online fame and (potential) content monetisation to young people.
If you see something the same, say something (different)
Public promotional posters with the same black, red and gold colours and design affectation with a completely different messages. Interesting accidental design trend.
Ingress: What becomes of a portal that is no longer anchored by the real world location?
Ingress is a game based on real world locations. In a game predicated on a relationship between the physical and the synthetic, what becomes or should become of a portal that is no longer anchored by the real world location that informed its very creation?
Should the portal stay as synthetic memory of a once culturally important physical location or should it be removed or allowed to slowly decay and disappear just like any other form that abides the transient nature of physical existence ?
Should the game creators intervene or should the local players who inhabit the physical space battle it out for a synthetic space that really should no longer exist?
Does it even matter when it’s all just a game?
These are the questions I asked when a physical location in my area (that informed the creation of a portal) was demolished.
Ingress: Follow the portal key road
