Ingress AMA Archive
October 23rd 2017
Q1: What is your favourite thing about ingress?
A1: The people. Ingress has enabled some truly awesome experiences for me that wouldn't have been possible without the people on the other end of the scanner.
Q2: Did you get any Ingressing done over your break?
A2: I snuck in capturing a few Portals. But by and large, no.
Q3: Do you know why we don't get the content of the "description" field in the confirmation email when we submit a portal?
A3: I do not know.
Q4: What is the likelihood that the "Seer" medal will be reinstated?
A4: Probably low at this point.
Q5: There used to be a section on the support pages for reporting invalid portals, which has been removed; but does the line "Please only report Portals that are on private residential property. Portals on other types of private property, such as a corporate campus with access only for employees, are still considered accessible, in some capacity, to the public" still hold true?
A5: Yes. I've been told that still holds true.
Q6: In the response rejection email, could you guys put more emphasis on the line which says that "submissions rejected by OPR will not be overturned, please re-submit" ... put it at the top of the email, in large bold letters with a red background?
A6: Good suggestion I've passed it on.
Q7: Good morning Andrew. With all the recent G+ posts on com scraping. Do you think niantic could review the way capture info are shared on coms? For example either allow players a certain number of ‘silent captures’ per time or per level. Or as alternative only show reso deployed and portal captured on coms once the 8th reso is deployed. That way guardians may remain off coms at least for most blatant scraping.
A7: I'm sure there are a few creative ways to handle this.
Q8: Hello +Andrew Krug seeing that there are "leftover" NL-1331 Readiness kit from Dublin and that there are still some available for Glasgow, is there a chance to make them available for London meetup?
A8: I hate to pass the buck, but that is a question for Ethan. I can't answer this.
Q9: How would you describe the spirit of "Mission day"? How much time investment would you consider "reasonable" for the MD badge?
A9: For me, the spirit of Mission Day is to explore and learn about a city. What that means to each person is subjective. If people only have time or the capabilities to do the minimum number required to earn the medal, that's ok. That's why there exists a minimum number. If people want to do more and explore more of the city - they can keep doing missions to do so. So what is "reasonable" is really up to each individual person.
Q10: Hello, Andrew. You did not reflect on what to conduct abnormal phenomena in the scanner, for example, after some events, as it was on Friday 13 this year? Only more often. Any departure from the standard game scheme makes players react more aggressively. Experience Magnus Builder and EXO5 showed that such anomalies make players act more singly than command. Are there plans to conduct an abnormal phenomenon directed at the team game?
A10: That is a possibility. We don't plan on stopping the special events. So the next one could focus on a team mechanic.
Q11: Hello darkness my old friend...🎵
A11: I've come to talk with you again.
Q12: In light of the scraper leaks and Resistance Vanguards being on that list, how is that going to impact the review of the Guardian badge? I notice one agent in particular was a fan of the Guardian badge that was on the list. I'm not sure if those opinions could really be considered impartial while they participate in scraping, unless of course the decision going forward was to legitimise hunting Guardians via scraping of course.
A12: Everything is being investigated and evaluated at this point so I can't really comment on it.
Q13: When reviewing on OPR many submissions are in the middle of a road, for example, I find the need to change the location of the submission and I move it nearer to the object of the portal submission in a safe location. Does the Accessibility rating then refer to the original location, my suggested location or the general area around the object of the portal (i.e., not necessarily where the player will have to stand to execute a US)?
A13: The accessibility rating should always be about be for the actual location of the object.
Q14: Hello! Andrew. Please tell me the world record of EXO 5 Controller. And how many CFs were created during the event?
A14: Let me talk to the team and see if we can't post something about the event.
Q15: Is there a plan for extending the OPR past the 2 cell radius so that portals in outlying areas can also get accepted?
A15: We are working on something to address the areas that don't have enough reviewers.
Q16: When OPR training test opened again for agents who failed twice ?
A16: We are not currently planning to open the test if you've failed it twice.
Q17: Would it be possible to let portals discovered count as unique visits too?
A17: That's a very interesting idea and makes sense. I've passed it on to the team.
Q18: Are the embedded reporters already chosen for the upcoming anomaly series?
A18: They are but they have not been notified yet. I'm hoping to do that in the next 48 hours.
Q19: What programming languages is the Ingress backend written in?
A19: Something that is foreign to me because I am not a software developer.
Q20: What is the official reaction from niantic about the Brokers Guild and the list of agent who use the Riot's Tools ?
A20: Everything is being investigated and evaluated. When the time is appropriate to make a statement, I am sure one will be made.
Q21: In the same way that we updated resonators, it might be possible to update the mods.
A21: This has been mentioned before and I think it is a good idea.
Q22: Where are you on the coffee scale today from one to give me a bucket and make this day go away?
A22: I greeted this Monday with open arms. So far only one cup. But I may need to get a second.
Q23: What do you think about a feature to help mission day? With more and more missions in cities it would be cool if the mission day missions would be on top of the list (or have their own tab). Maybe you could forward that to the feature team?
A23: I think doing something is needed. Whether it is a priority system, filtering, I don't know. But I agree that something should be done.
Q24: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
A24: African or European swallow?
Q25: Is there a reason why ingress drifts so much if wifi isn't turned on in Android 8?
A25: Ingress simply reads the GPS data sent by your phone. Perhaps something with the update changed things and made it less accurate?
Q26: When can we expect you to come to Europe?
A26: I've already been!
Q27: I have heard agents on both sides complain about legit portal submissions being rejected based on factional reasons. Is there a chance that an agent would be able to appeal a rejection and have it put back into the OPR queue at say a minimum 500 km away to remove this possibility?
A27: I'm not sure that's the best solution.
Q28: Welcome back :)did u have a sausage party during ur holidays? 😁
A28: I had a sausage breakfast - Reek.
Q29: What kind of popcorn guy are you? Just butter? Dill pickle ? White cheddar? Chicago mix? Mmmmm Chicago mix.
A29: I don't discriminate. I like all flavors. Although I will say, I haven't had a good dill pickle one. Lay's dill pickle chips though... yummmm
Q30: Are the languages using in ingress help center reports matter? Will different languages affect the probability of requests being deal with?
A30: You can write in to us using any language. However, we can only reply in our supported languages - EN/JA/ZH/KR for now.
Q31: Could you please provide some updates on OPR?
A31: There have been about 238k portals submitted since it opened to the public.
Q32: Will NIA announce the list of winners in #IngressSage campaign? If yes, when?
A32: We will announce our favorites soon.
Q33: What is the key to decrypt the answer to Tony Power's question last AMA?
A33: It is too soon.
A34: I'd love to do a follow up. But finding the time is proving to be hard.
Q35: Hi Andrew, long time fan, first time AMA caller. What's your take on one faction collaborating to group deny or accept OPR submissions for certain areas?
A35: I am against it and feel like it is against the spirit of the tool.
Q36: Ingress official YouTube channel has more than 100,000 subscribes. Does Niantic have "Silver Play button"?
A36: Yes we do.
Q37: What is the best approach to finding out why a new mission gets rejected?
A37: Contant NIA OPS.
Q38: What do we do when we encounter this situation in OPR - a decent portal candidate located in a proper location. BUT it has a title and description that defames/insults a fellow agent (regardless of faction).
A38: It seems like outright rejected is the only correct answer. We do not condone this type of activity. Agents could resubmit the Portal properly if it is a good portal candidate.
Q39: In Puerto Rico there are many players and we wonder if you have considered us for an event (NL bus, Anomaly, etc.) soon?
A39: I think it would be best to not stress an already stressed infrastructure. I'm sure we could show support in other ways that would make an actual difference until the situation improves.
Q40: Is having a local non attack treaty on frackers a violation of the ToS?
A40: Interesting questions. In my opinion, I don't think so. But I'm not a TOS expert. I think the closest it could come to would be win-trading. But you can hack a fracked portal regardless of faction anyway and there is actually a benefit for the opposing faction to do so. So it isn't exactly win-trading in my opinion. Plus, people don't have to agree to the treaty. There is no rule in Ingress that says they have to. If someone attacked it, they are within their rights. But I would rather burn it out then attack it personally.
Q41: You mentioned playing Ingress on a VPN like myself on several occasions before. However the latest builds of Poke Mongo will not run a VPN is this something we can expect from Ingress 2.0??
A41: No idea.
Q42: What and when is the next mini event? Love those things.
A42: I think the goal is to try to do something quarterly.
Q43: Will INGRESS books be translated into Spanish?
A43: Not that I am aware of.
Q44: Any posibility that the name of 'Magnus Builder' medal change to 'Magnus Architect'.
A44: Not at this time.
Q45: How about a badge on how many viruses deployed, or like a special badge for Ingress first saturday a tiered would be awesome as well
A45: Hrmm interesting. I'll pass it on.
Q46: Welcome back I hope you had a wonderful vacation. Oakland autumn lights was this weekend and it was fantastic!! I loved seeing the Niantic portal as well as so many other light up art pieces. It reminded me a lot if Navarro. Is there any plan to have another? I had a lot of fun and would love to do it again.
A46: That park is something we support as a company. We will do things like have a volunteer day to pick up all the trash and debris in and around it. I'm sure there will be more there and potentially in other areas.
Q47: Winter is coming. What kind of protective gear do you recommend to keep your fingers warm?
A47: Gloves. Peanutbutter leaves a terrible mess on your screen and hardens in the cold.
Q48: What do think of a special capsule that gives you the ability to recharge all keys inside at the same time?
A48: That sound pretty overpowered if you ask me. I wouldn't be a fan of it.
Q49: Happy Monday! After reading through all of this, you are probably going to need a drink... So, what is your favorite whiskey? What whiskey is your normal daily drinker? How do you take your whiskey? Have you ever tried Malört?
A49: Basil Hayden. Any bourbon. Neat. Can't say that I have.