Ingress - Smartphone game to get you out of the house and walking places.

Thought I'd put this in here since it's not a regular game and I've introduced complete non gamers to it..

Basically, all the landmarks in your area are portals and to interact, you have to actually visit them with your 3g/gps. For me, I'd stopped exploring Hanoi but now I'm out for a few hours a week.

http://ingress.com/intel

That shows the current and largely irrelevant battle unless ya really get into it. I just like going around being a nuisance.

Iwasfrozen

I'm 12 years old and what is this?

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

What if you just drive to these places

jim-jam

LexieOnRale wrote: »

What if you just drive to these places

I saw a guy play it in the bus one day in Cork. He wasn't even anywhere near were we he was on the screen.

LexieOnRale

LexieOnRale wrote: »

What if you just drive to these places

Over 35mph loses some points I think but it doesn't matter.. I drive my moped because it's too hot to walk.

kneemos

Is this how the world ends?

gordongekko

Is this just an excuse to tell everyone you're in Hanoi?

Canis Lupus

How heavy is it on mobile data? Looks like it could be a passable activity say on a bicycle.

KomradeBishop

Ingress + GPS hack app = Win.

I know a couple of people who play it though (without cheating ) - it seems pretty sociable, for a game, since you are actually out and about playing it.

BeerWolf

Only a matter of time before some idiot runs across the road to collect some XM across the street, getting himself killed by traffic...

--LOS--

but what are you going to do about my battery life?

BeerWolf

--LOS-- wrote: »

but what are you going to do about my battery life?

Get yourself a solar powered battery charger, attached to your back pack and off you go, with your phone charging of it

longshanks

Ok, installing it now, will give it a whirl.

Capt'n Midnight

so it's like geocaching but without the caching

CatLou

I haven't played it in over a year, it's an interesting game but some people take it TOO seriously.
That being said, I also met a bunch of cool people thanks to it

gordongekko

gordongekko wrote: »

Is this just an excuse to tell everyone you're in Hanoi?

Wtf.. If I said London, would it be any different?

In future, I'll say "the city I live in" just for you.

UCDVet

I had some co-workers who were obsessed with a similar GPS based game. I think it was called Conquer or something. You'd go to different places around town and stay their long enough to 'capture' it. Then you'get get points and access to weapons.

Anyway, I wrote a small application that would launch 20 instances of FireFox and send up a bogus GPS location. It was great. I completely destroyed their side, took over the entire town, and destroyed months of their work. They still don't know who did it or how. The stopped playing after that.

The good news is that the game was distracting them from work. So really, I did them a favour.

Company went out of business a short while later though.

anncoates

UCDVet wrote: »

Anyway, I wrote a small application that would launch 20 instances of FireFox and send up a bogus GPS location. It was great. I completely destroyed their side, took over the entire town, and destroyed months of their work. They still don't know who did it or how. The stopped playing after that..

We're all very proud of you.

gordongekko

Deleted User wrote: »

Wtf.. If I said London, would it be any different?

In future, I'll say "the city I live in" just for you.

Wow people living in Hanoi appear to be a bit cranky :-)

kneemos

gordongekko wrote: »

Wow people living in Hanoi appear to be a bit cranky :-)

Probably irate with the heat and traffic.

longshanks

gordongekko wrote: »

Wow people living in Hanoi appear to be a bit cranky :-)

They're easily Hanoi'd it seems.

flanzer

Had a look OP. Homer has something to tell you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6l8MFdTaPE

positron

I love Ingress. If you are installing the game, first thing you will have to do is pick one of the two sides - Enlightened or Resistance. There is a very detailed story and history to each side, but pick Enlightened. Okay, you now know which side I play!

LexieOnRale wrote: »

What if you just drive to these places

You can drive to these places. And then stop and play. You can't play if you are moving faster than 35 mph or so.

Canis Lupus wrote: »

How heavy is it on mobile data? Looks like it could be a passable activity say on a bicycle.

Not very heavy. I play a lot and it's never been over 100-200 mb in a month.

KomradeBishop wrote: »

Ingress + GPS hack app = Win.

I know a couple of people who play it though (without cheating ) - it seems pretty sociable, for a game, since you are actually out and about playing it.

There are hundreds of players in Dublin and around the country. There is plenty of opportunity to play your own game, or to collaborate with your faction members and do amazing things. It's a lot of fun.

BeerWolf wrote: »

Only a matter of time before some idiot runs across the road to collect some XM across the street, getting himself killed by traffic...

This already happaned - in Brazil. Hit by a bus if I remember correctly.

BeerWolf wrote: »

Get yourself a solar powered battery charger, attached to your back pack and off you go, with your phone charging of it

You would need it once you really get into this - you will get out to get some milk and will come back 2-3 hours later after having walked 10-15 kms.

UCDVet

anncoates wrote: »

We're all very proud of you.

As we all should be.

I think the take-away from that is that any game currently based on GPS is trivially faked. So, don't bother taking them too seriously as you can bet other people are cheating.

Canis Lupus

Just bought a bike mount for my phone. Will give it a whirl on that. Good excuse to get me out and about. (I hate walking)

kneemos

There's something very weird about going to places to get points on a game.
Maybe I'm missing something?

Canis Lupus

kneemos wrote: »

There's something very weird about going to places to get points on a game.
Maybe I'm missing something?

Why not I suppose. In this day and age when all you have is kids sitting down in front of the tv on their Playboxes and Xstations it's a game that gets you out and about. Don't see any harm in it myself.

Dyr

longshanks wrote: »

They're easily Hanoi'd it seems.

I'd thank this twice if i could

Dyr

Canis Lupus wrote: »

Why not I suppose. In this day and age when all you have is kids sitting down in front of the tv on their Playboxes and Xstations it's a game that gets you out and about. Don't see any harm in it myself.

Presumably there are paedos out there furiously developing a similar game