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I started Ingress thinking it would be fun, good exercise, and force me to explore my city more. Instead, I stared into my phone until I arrived at a Zipcar par

I started Ingress thinking it would be fun, good exercise, and force me to explore my city more. Instead, I stared into my phone until I arrived at a Zipcar parking spot which, through whatever agreement existed between Google and Zipcar, was a point of interest in the game. I quit, and I've never been tempted to play again. Just going for a walk without my phone is much nicer.

pavlov 12y ago
I suspect the same applies to most things one can do with or without a phone.
- eidyia 12y ago
  except maybe going to the toilet
michaelochurch 12y ago
Native advertising strikes again! The 20th century word, "dishonesty", is so much less cool-sounding.
- icebraining 12y ago
  Actually, the 20th century had a few different words for it, like "advertorial", "product placement", etc.
TeMPOraL 12y ago
I actually started to track down where you live to find what city you're talking about. I was going to find that portal and prove to you that the fact it's a Zipcar parking spot is a pure accident; there are lots of portals at commercial spaces (bars, restaurants) submitted by users because there is something special and important to local culture about them, and no one is making any deals. In the middle of my search I stumbled upon this: http://www.zipcar.com/press/releases/googleingress http://www.zipcar.com/press/releases/googleingress http://www.zipcar.com/ingressplayers http://www.zipcar.com/ingressplayers I didn't knew about it before. I'm not sure what to think about it. Maybe it's fair that they did it; I need to read more. But I'm getting worried. The moment they'll try to monetize players will be the moment this game will die. People will leave with a bad taste in their mouths. I'll leave with a bad taste. Someone will step up, make a similar game. But it won't be the same anymore. It won't be The Game. So dear NIA, please don't screw up what you created. Don't sacrifice the game to Moloch for a quick buck.
- jamornh 12y ago
  I wonder how else they could monetize this game that would not leave a bad taste in the player's mouth though. It is a free game after all and so far there's no banner ads or any sort of direct monetization happening within the app itself. Since they need to pay for the servers and the app's development, what would be the best way to sustainably develop this app while also not turn off players by charging some money in some way?
  - hmsimha 12y ago
    I was under the impression that Ingress data would be used to augment/improve google's maps and location information.
- vsync 12y ago
  You can get some nice gear too if you buy Hint brand flavored water!

pavlov 12y ago

I suspect the same applies to most things one can do with or without a phone.

eidyia 12y ago
except maybe going to the toilet

michaelochurch 12y ago

Native advertising strikes again! The 20th century word, "dishonesty", is so much less cool-sounding.

icebraining 12y ago
Actually, the 20th century had a few different words for it, like "advertorial", "product placement", etc.

TeMPOraL 12y ago

I actually started to track down where you live to find what city you're talking about. I was going to find that portal and prove to you that the fact it's a Zipcar parking spot is a pure accident; there are lots of portals at commercial spaces (bars, restaurants) submitted by users because there is something special and important to local culture about them, and no one is making any deals. In the middle of my search I stumbled upon this: http://www.zipcar.com/press/releases/googleingress http://www.zipcar.com/press/releases/googleingress http://www.zipcar.com/ingressplayers http://www.zipcar.com/ingressplayers I didn't knew about it before. I'm not sure what to think about it. Maybe it's fair that they did it; I need to read more. But I'm getting worried. The moment they'll try to monetize players will be the moment this game will die. People will leave with a bad taste in their mouths. I'll leave with a bad taste. Someone will step up, make a similar game. But it won't be the same anymore. It won't be The Game. So dear NIA, please don't screw up what you created. Don't sacrifice the game to Moloch for a quick buck.

jamornh 12y ago
I wonder how else they could monetize this game that would not leave a bad taste in the player's mouth though. It is a free game after all and so far there's no banner ads or any sort of direct monetization happening within the app itself. Since they need to pay for the servers and the app's development, what would be the best way to sustainably develop this app while also not turn off players by charging some money in some way?
- hmsimha 12y ago
  I was under the impression that Ingress data would be used to augment/improve google's maps and location information.
vsync 12y ago
You can get some nice gear too if you buy Hint brand flavored water!