Ingress AMA Archive

A1: I think that's a wonderful idea. I'll pass it along. With other priorities at the moment, Ingress 2.0 being the main one, I'm not sure we'll see anything like this immediately. But I like it.

A2: Maaaaaaaaybe. We were actually commenting about maybe letting the Agents decide the next few phrases based on some sort of voting system. What do you think of that? Tag me in a post with your reply.

A3: But then I would have to stay awake and completely forget answer questions. On a serious note, I've been toying around with the idea of creating a form people can submit questions to ahead of time. But I also have to be careful about soliciting too many questions because I won't have time to read them all of answer them all. So it is a fine tradeoff.

A4: We're going to need a bigger office. /insert Jaws meme

A5: I was told some good news on this front today. I would probably get fired if I told you though. Because I like my job I'll stop typing before I incriminate myself.

A6: Well... the secret is out about the volunteer and POC coins. So we do recognize those people using physical objects. That's new as of a few months ago. I think it could be fun to recognize more people with both physical and in-game items like badges. Some of the categories you recommend probably can't happen for obvious reasons. But others could and I'm sure as a community we could come up with a bunch.

A7: We are 75% through the queue. There is 25% remaining. We are very close to having submissions reopen.

A8: Some XM researchers believe that, in theory, a Portal could be linked infinitely both within and without our dimensional node. However, this would be difficult to achieve in practice, especially using our existing scanner technology. The upper bounds of linking is still be researched. We would not turn down an opportunity to research this again should you unite to do so.

A9: Because you had ME there a few months ago! I'm kidding. I have no idea.

A10: How many more do you want? I know a guy that make things happen.

A11: PAC x ADA

A12: I would like there to be one in October between Anomaly series. That is just my personal preference and what I am advocating for currently.

A13: There are ongoing discussions about what the best course of action would be. However, nothing is finalized at the moment.

A14: My personal opinion is on the record. Intentionally cooperating during the course of general game play should not occur. This does not include special events like Mission Day, First Saturdays, Anomalies, or even special fielding missions to make art. I don't know how NIA OPS interprets this though and this is just my opinion.

A15: Define soon. I don't think anything will happen prior to Ingress 2.0 being released. The team is really focusing on getting that done. However, once it is released and deemed stable, the opportunity for new things will be limitless. I'm really excited for 2018.

A16: There is context here that I am missing. However, I personally try to reinforce exactly what you said. I know our other employees also try to adhere to it as well. Are we perfect? No. We are human. Not ADA. There are times I'm sure when an employee has reached out to a friend for information because it was quick and easy. This is an entirely human thing to do and is not exclusive to one region.

A17: I used to do a YouTube show called The Android Show back in the day and wrote for a website named Android Activist. I'm a big proponent of open source development and rooting a phone is something very common in that ecosystem. Rooting enables a number of things you could not otherwise do without. Therein lies both the good and the bad of the situation. Obtaining root access is not evil. What the person does with it can be. Don't blame root. Will 2.0 allow root? I haven't heard anything definitively one way or the other. So I'll assume things will be the same as they are now until I hear otherwise.

A18: Send me a message with what ideas you have. At this exact moment in time, I am not aware of anything specifically for Africa. But that doesn't mean tomorrow we won't.

A19: With portal submissions returning very soon, I don't foresee the need to give Africa special dispensation.

A20: Probably not a bad idea.

A21: You want the imperfect glyph to be perfect?

A22: Here are the most popular ones: 1) neutral portals give more very rare items; ----- this is a myth 2) the newly installed AXA shields get destroyed easier than the ones installed a while back (say, a day ago); ----- not sure 3) installing the shields precisely in 1st and 4th slots is the best way to protect the portal; ----- this is a myth 4) you should install mods to obtain them back from a portal hack sooner; ----- not sure 5) if mufgs don't produce any stuff, you need to drop it and acquire or unload stuff and load them up again or unload then drop/acquire and load, probably even reordering items, after that they'll start duplicating the items; ----- this is a myth 6) resonators are defended better when installed close to the center of the portal under the animated dome of the shield. ----- sounds too crazy to be true but I don't know

A23: A Schnitzelwurst? Do I have to pick one?

A24: I don't know.

A25: As I understand it, it is 5 minutes between notifications until your resonator is off the portal. Then you'll get no more notifications. So if multiple people are on a portal, only the last gets the notification. But I am not aware of situations with no notifications at all. Can you send me the recent details in a private post?

A26: The problem was three fold. I discovered a glitch in the script I was using so it didn't send the code message to everyone. I tried to correct this by doing things manually however... someone(s) was reporting posts as spam which effectively hid them. Lastly, some people didn't check their G+ feed for a private message post from the Ingress account and missed the post altogether. Regardless of the issue, if people contact I am happy to provide them a code. #goodintentions

A27: Absolutely!

A28: All of the above, plus more.

A29: It is largely based on strategic value because if you can easily recapture a portal, like one in the middle of a city, that is different than one on a mountain top in terms of resources required to recapture. They aren't automatically setup because we need to verify the claim that it was a spoofer and not a legitimate Agent.

A30: We've talked about this internally. How do you, the Agents, feel about this? Tag me in a post with your thoughts.

A31: Two a week is actually a pretty low false positive rate when you consider the amount of bans that occur and the amount of unique Agents playing weekly. I'm honestly not sure that we could get it lower. That said, I don't think it is two week on average. I'd have a hard time naming 10 Agents over the last six months that had a false positive and were unbanned.

A32: They are done reviewing their process and have put processes in place to ensure things don't get missed. Ping me and NIA OPS on your appeal. It might just be a problem of human error.

A33: I really can't provide a definite because I don't know. But to set expectations, if it has been this long, I wouldn't wait any longer. But stranger things have happened.

A34: You would have to talk to him. If you can find him.

A35: Niantic’s mission is to use emerging technology to enrich our experiences as human beings in the physical world. We seek to build products that inspire movement, exploration, and face-to-face social interaction. (taken from nianticlabs.com)

A36: I do not know.

A37: I do not know

A38: As I understand it, this will be a feature of Ingress 2.0.

A39: Great question. I would love to bring it back. But doing it live every Thursday was hard and a lot of work. If I did bring it back I would make it a pre-tapped (not live show) that I could film when my schedule allows. Would people watch?

A40: Oh god. I want to tell you. I really do. I think you'll see it soon enough or a demo of it.