Ingress: The World Around You Is Not What It Seems

My name is M0RGANITE and I come to you today with an important message for humanity.

A mysterious energy has been unearthed by a team of scientists. Every day, you are being exposed to this exotic matter that researchers believe is influencing the way we think and taking over our minds. These Shapers instill ideas, thought process, and the desire to act out certain events. You are not safe – not at the grocery store, or sitting in church, at work, or at the park with your children.

There are some that believe that this mind hacking will bring about the next chapter in human evolution. These people, known as The Enlightened, seek to embrace the power that this energy may bestow upon us. Others like myself are part of The Resistance and we struggle to defend and protect what’s left of our humanity.

This is your wake up call. We must control it or it will control us.

 

INGRESS

A few years ago, Jeremy got into this game called INGRESS which he has recently sucked me into. It’s an augmented-reality massively multiplayer online location-based game that you play using a phone app which is available for both Android and iOS.

The rich, sci-fi backstory of INGRESS is often ignored by players, but I really think it’s even more fun if you know the history behind the game play.

 

How to Play

The game play consists of capturing “portals” at places of cultural significance such as public art, landmarks, monuments (basically anywhere with large amounts of foot traffic) and linking them to create virtual triangular “control fields” over geographical areas. Progress in the game is measured by the number of “mind units” (MUs) captured via such control fields, i.e. people nominally controlled by each faction – The Enlightened, or The Resistance.

The real trick is – You have to leave your home in order to play this game. Game play relies heavily on the player physically moving about the community in order to interact with portals. You can do so on foot or by vehicle, although some gameplay options are changed or removed while driving in order to encourage you to be physically active.

Players acquire game items (resonators, weapons, etc.) by maneuvering themselves within 40 meters of portals and “hacking” them by selecting this option on their scanners (your phone is your scanner). Any player can hack any portal and receive items which you can use to do other actions like attempt to destroy and reclaim a portal for your faction, strengthen portals your faction controls, etc.

 

What You Need to Play

You will need an invitation to play this game (which I am happy to provide!). You can download it, but cannot gain access without an invite. Edit: You no longer need an invitation. This game was created by Google and for a long time, only Google employees could play the game. It’s slowly branched out as invites were sent to family and friends. At the heart of the game system – if you’re playing, you probably know someone who is somehow connected to Google. Niantic spun off from Google in August 2015 to become its own company.

But the most important thing you need is a strong data connection and arguably, an unlimited cellular data plan because it uses up quite a bit of data as it is using GPS and constantly scanning around you. A back up battery for your phone or the ability to keep your phone charged isn’t a terrible idea either – especially if you are playing on foot!

 

Why I’m Playing

Besides the fact that it’s been fun having an interest I can share with Jeremy, I really like the idea that it gets us out of the house… and on our feet. We’ve mostly played from inside of the car (it’s been raining here a lot lately), but it’s really easy to go out on foot and play this game. It gets you active, you can meet new people, and it’s fun!

The cool part is that there are so many people who come together to make the game play what it is. It isn’t always about Us vs Them. Check out this video – it’s a regular report that comes out featuring actual Ingress players and he results from event “anomalies” made to promote game play and people actually interacting!

 

Want To Play?

I have plenty of invites available! You can comment below with your email address or message me privately on Facebook. I will send you an invitation to your email and you can install the app and join the fight from there!