Ingress History Pt I: /r/ingress from 11/15 - 12/31
Introduction:
Ingress launched in its public beta on November 15, 2012. Before this, an ARG (that’s alternate reality game, not augmented reality game) had teased the existence of the Niantic Project and the scanner. Successful participants in the game, Googlers, and other select soon-to-be-agents received invite codes for Ingress. The Ingress subreddit (/r/ingress) was created on launch day. I used the reddit API to extract a month and a half of posts, ending on Dec 31st. I picked this corpus of data to look at because it was early, and because of the difficulties of wrestling with G+ -- Google’s swerve towards the deletionist impulse has left gaps in the collective history of more than one community. Do bear this in mind when you create content in the future -- internet giants have proven an untrustworthy partner for virtually any historic project, and the ease of data creation may mean more libraries of data burn daily than in any Alexandria of antiquity.
This early time in Ingress’ history was formative. Here we can see the formation of the first communities, rivalries, the birth of Ingress’ agent culture, large fields, confusion and clarity about game mechanics, faction choice, what battery packs to buy, and intense debates about the dangers of GPS spoofers to the game -- and that was the first three days.
For people who play Ingress today, many things were absent at launch. Notably, there was no initial cap on inventory, no capsules, no septicycle scores, no inventory layout screen, and the commitment to carousel motion was even stronger. Also missing was open access to the game. Since invite codes were required, Niantic pushed them out through a wide variety of mechanisms -- sometimes over IRC, sometimes to people who completed puzzles which suffused the lore, and most of all to people who showed off their creativity on social media. The last would prove enduring as the amount of Ingress player-created art whose creative output would basically eclipse official content many times over.
What is striking is that despite the things that were missing is that in a very short time the things that make Ingress Ingress began to emerge. The game incentivizes being social as a winning strategy -- so communities began to spring up almost immediately. Many of these communities did not persist, but those that did went on to shake the game’s play and still exist even now. People experienced the magic of meeting friends (and foes) out in the real, and it made them realize that Ingress was a really rare and new thing. People began making larger and larger fields -- and other people complained. At the same time, cheaters learned the thrill of tormenting people invested in a virtual game tied to the real world. Farms became a thing; the first level 8 portal took only six weeks to make, freeing many players from the handfuls of items that they got from item codes. Always with us was a persistent question -- what is Ingress for even?
Firsts
This is a list of firsts. Remember these were all taken from Reddit; it’s possible these things happened in parallel on g+, or happened in the game without notice, but given that this subreddit was created on the same day Ingress was released, in many cases it was a primary source.
Nov 15th:
- First post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/138suv
- First reference to the schlarp wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/1390k9
- First screenshot of the client: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/1398zz
- First Facebook fan page: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/1399i8
- First “Stupid” Portal: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/139h50
- First lore puzzle: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/139kvi
- First “what even is this game”: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/139oh6/game_introduction/
Nov 16th:
- First request for an invite: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/139pqe
- First video of the client: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/139ql7 https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13aelm)
- First attempt to make sense of global MU: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/139sb1
- First request to switch factions: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13av7y
- First Ingress meme: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13az44
- First intel screenshot: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13bdyj
- First post about GPS spoofing: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13biw6
Nov 17th:
- First post complaining about battery life: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13cynb
- First post soliciting a real world meetup: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13d88n
Nov 18th:
- First account of running into another player: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13dm30
- First bikegress: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13dugo
- First empty field: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13dxqo
- First ideas for improvement; https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13evpu
Nov 19th:
- First charger review: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13evpu
- First maps on the globe: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13fxm7
Nov 21st:
- First > 1 MMU field (but it was spoofed): https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13l696
- First ghost field? https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13pce1
Nov 29th
- First police detention: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13zehg/so_i_got_arrested/
Dec 2nd
- First all US screenshot: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/145vqh/state_of_the_union_1222012/
Dec 4th
- First field art: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/14806g/constellation_resistance_and_his_dog_portal/
Dec 13th:
- First level 8 portal (and level 8 field): https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14rshb
Dec 15th:
- First request for Niantic to communicate better: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/14wh4z/should_niantic_communicate_better/
Dec 16th:
- First appearance by NIAOpsdaemon:https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14xvip
Dec 17th:
- First player-made Ingress T-shirt: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14zp3c
Dec 18th:
- First account of a hard portal: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/1520d1/well_****_the_least_accessible_portal_in_my_city/ -- and then this capture by someone in Brasil! (https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1hqRO-Gb8FCifwfMcsXh-BO9nHJmQ76nVZN24iek8W88)
Dec 22nd
- First post by a vanguard (hi Vain!): https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/159hqv
Dec 23rd
- First capture of northernmost US portal: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/15cihl
Fields
“Links are just the beginning. If we use links to enclose an area like this one, a polarized XM field is formed…”
-- Oliver Lynton Wolfe (http://www.nianticproject.com/?id=sc124a)
When Ingress started, there was no septicycle (or cell scoreboards). Instead, there was just a periodically updated global score which tallied all the MU standing in the world at a particular time.
As today, people had questions.
Even outside of the limitations global score, there was an attraction to large fielding as a source of agency and fame -- “your name in lights”. As today, there were people who complained about fields interfering with play, the likelihood of cheating, and (most of all) there being very little insight into why the scoreboard was what it said. Within just a few weeks of Ingress we see reports from people who had driven hours or walked for hours to make fields; the game was afoot! Here we can see a graph generated by players early on, racking total global MU over time.
http://ingressportal.com/w/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/MU_Control_History_2012.png
All told, this was a somewhat mythical era in fielding. Large cities could be fielded with a simple application of time by a single team or a single person owing to the lack of portal density or same-team blockers. No effective counter-fielding existed, but this is fortunate since there were also no ADAs or Jarvises. Early fielders simply had to wait for the other side to smash, or to desperately convince other players not to recharge.
Later, fielding would become much more difficult, but so too would the fields themselves become more difficult to take down; breeding some of the most intense and competitive Ingress gameplay when it became coupled with more regional and time-based scoring mechanics. Below is a list of posts celebrating fields and fielding-related posts of note. Given the early stages of Ingress and its communities, there is seldom a way for us to verify the provenance of these fields. Some (perhaps even the first) were the work of spoofers; others were made by legitimate players, and others still somewhere in between. Other posts concern the mechanics of fielding and feature questions that even seasoned Ingress agents still ask.
Over time fielding would become a culture all its own in Ingress and “to be a fielder” became a well-defined type of person. But in November of 2012 no one was -- these posts chronicle the beginning of that idea.
November 16th:
- Mistaking MU for player base size -- what does it really track? https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/139sb1/77_of_people_are_on_the_enlightened_team/
November 17th:
- What is the fastest way to make fields? https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13buje
November 19th:
- A 90km2 field! - https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13fbje/almost_had_a_90km2_area_under_one_cf_but_just_out/
- Agents notice that fields in game can appear on the loading screen map. - https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13fxm7
November 20th:
- The first notice of “swings” in MU over a short span of time - https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13i6dz/well_either_someone_just_covered_half_the_us_in_a/ ->
- How do I destroy my own link? (No Jarvis or ADA!): https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13inl5/how_do_i_destroy_my_own_link/
- A “giant” field over Brooklyn is noticed (perhaps the cause of the MU shift noted above) https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13itlp/thats_one_gigantic_field/
- The first known tie global score -- 1.3M a piece: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13j6h9/its_a_tied_game_at_13_million_mind_units_a_piece/
Nov 21st
- A megafield over Milan and discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13l696
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13jmd2/what_happened_tonight_huge_increase_in_resistance/ [The field was spoofed]
Nov 22nd
- “If only there were more hard to reach portals” -- Jeep portals!: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13m1nt
Nov 24th:
- Ghost field
Nov 25th:
- Colorado springs field -- with layers!: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13qmqs/colorado_springs_enlightened_steps_up_their_game/
Nov 26th:
- Destroying 100k MU in a single go: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13sq77/one_of_the_best_feelings_in_the_game/
Nov 29th:
- Spoofer discussion (context: Milan fields) https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13zax3
- Long island (“Crossing the Streams”) - first sighting of so-called “Ghost” fields? https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13zd5i/the_buggy_long_island_control_field/
- Finding NYC portal keys in Dallas: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13zxs0/i_found_nyc_portal_keys_in_dallas_tx/
Dec 1st:
- Megafield over Zurich https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/143kcw
- German field of size; north anchor Bremen. https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/144h7e https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/144j2k
Dec 2nd:
- Right on the edge of a field: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/1452i8/living_on_the_edge/
- Fielding diagram and question -- about field layers: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14659t
Dec 3rd:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/146gzn -> ENL fields tri-state area
Dec 4th:
- First field art [also in firsts]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/14806g/constellation_resistance_and_his_dog_portal/
Dec 5th:
- 774 square km of California’s central coast fielded blue: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/14ba8m/my_resistance_fields_just_over_66_km_at_their/
Dec 6th:
- Field from west of Lichenstein; 160km on a side: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ekqy
Dec 7th:
- Admonishing yolos before they were called yolos. :) https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14eymo
Dec 9th:
- Seattle city field: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14jkeq -> Details from Sangersequence on Seattle field https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14jk7j https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ti8z https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ly4o -> Seattle field/Saboosh banned. https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ti8z -> Saboosh banned, spoofing, great discussion
- Oslo megafield: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14jrj6 -> Oslo megafield
- Fields over Davis, CA: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14k7au -> Blue Davis fields
Dec 10th: - https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ly4o -> Seattle field/Saboosh banned.
Dec 14th:
- MU bug (this occurred on 12/12, but discussion occurred later). https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14tlpe -> MU bug https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/14tnxj/so_the_enlightened_are_a_little_bit_in_the_lead/ http://www.nianticproject.com/?id=sc1112
Dec 15th:
- Field over San Antonio, Texas: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14vmab -> San Antonio, Texas fielded
Dec 16th:
- This is the occurrence of a bug involving co-linear portals and massive MU; it’s unknown if this was responsible for the 12/12 MU bug. https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14xu0z https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14yd7t
- Megafield over Madrid: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14xw4a -> Madrid field; 4M MU https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/14xxa6/madrid_has_been_enlightened_1000000_mus/
- St. Petersburg Megafield: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14y2dn
Dec 17th:
- Discussion of remote portals - https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/150a7j
Dec 20:
- Complaints about layered fields hampering visibility: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/156faz
Dec 21st:
- Fields ruin everything!: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/15911j
Dec 23rd:
- Seattle fielded blue: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/15cc7e/20_days_a_little_bit_of_teamwork_and_a_whole_lot/
- The (then) northernmost portal in the US [71.287986,-156.80172] and its capture: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/15cihl
Dec 24th:
- Critiques of field topology https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/15cw7i/heres_a_tip_dont_use_the_spoke_model_to_create/
Dec 27th:
- Sydney res control field https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/15i5fh
- Memes expressing rage at bad linking. <3 https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/15ish9 -> rage at bad linking (but no use of term yolo).
The World as it Was
“Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.”
When Ingress began, the world was drastically different. What portals there were came from databases of historic markers (such as hmdb.org), curated from Panoramio (a geo-first photo sharing site purchased by Google), post offices, and a few other thing sources. As a result, seeing ten portals in a group was causes for a celebration; seeing a park of 30 was a bonanza.
One overlooked fact about early Ingress is that even though the player base was small, the relative shortage of portals meant your odds of meeting another agent in the field was much higher. The portals were like watering holes in the day and campfires at night; they were a place people came together. The scarcity of portals (and agents to link them) made many fields possible that would not be easy or even possible until flip cards and organized communities came into their own in the next year. For places without portals, the ability to submit new portals from the scanner arrived soon, and then the world truly began to change.
This section contains screenshots people posted from their home cities. Often this was show off what they’d done on their first day, or to comment on how many (or how few) portals they had. A few people took time out of their day to take screenshots of cities for people who didn’t yet have an invite -- so they could see how the factions were balanced or whether there would even be portals waiting for them. These provide an invaluable time capsule of 2012, and hopefully you can see the beginnings of the cities we all Ingress in today.
Along with the posts listed chronologically below, I also created a Google Photos album with some of the images from this list:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/D7XfovPrTc9wkjF29
Nov 17th:
- Boston/Cambridge: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13cdd4/we_got_a_lot_done_in_my_town_yesterday_and_today/
- Rochester: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13dewy/after_about_six_hours_playing_over_the_last_two/
Nov 18th:
- Sao Paolo/Brazil: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13efqy/sunday_ingress_longboard/
- Indianapolis: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13etuy/central_indianapolis_is_mine/
- Downtown Ottawa: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13f3x8/one_man_one_mission_zilch_other_things_to_do/
Nov 19th:
- Detroit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13fmvn
- University of Washington: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13frr7/say_hello_to_the_university_of_washington/
- London: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13h64n/central_london_battleground_19nov2012/
Nov 20th
- Calgary, Alberta: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13ho8f/the_battle_for_calgary_alberta_has_been_a_little/
- Cleveland, Ohio: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13hqsr/looks_like_i_got_a_bit_of_work_to_do/
- Oklahoma City, OK: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13hs28/my_first_day_results/
- “Message me a city and I’ll look it up for you” - an amazing thread where people without invites got help to get a peek at what their city looks like: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13io3u/waiting_for_an_invite_ill_look_up_your_town_so/
- Links to Google’s campuses in NYC and Mountain View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13ja9q/its_pretty_obvious_what_faction_googlers_are/
Nov 25th
- Survey of cities: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13rlth/its_interesting_to_see_the_state_of_different/
Nov 27th:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13ujiq -> [social/location] DFW Nov 30 (https://i.imgur.com/2q00j.jpg)
- Orlando: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13vo37/i_see_your_maine_field_and_raise_you_the_largest/
- Anchorage (one portal): https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13wi84
Nov 28th
- Finland: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13xga9/all_mine/
- Cardiff, Wales: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13xigk
- Augusta, GA: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13xomm/augusta_ga_is_enlightened_just_need_to_get_the/
- Bay Area & Charlotte: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13xupf/ingress_is_getting_interesting/
- Austin, TX: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13yi1g
- London, England: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13ynjg
Nov 29
- Orange County, LA: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/13z3le
- Nashville: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/140573/fun_battling_in_nashville/
Nov 30
- Charlotte: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/1417fi -> Charlotte one-sided
- Manhattan: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/141fc2/resistance_holding_down_downtown_nyc/
- Perth, WA: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/141k9z -> Perth, WA
Dec 1
- Bloomington, IL: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14332y
- Atlanta (Before and After): https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/143rtp
- Minneapolis, MN: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/143z1a
- Berkeley, CA: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/145c86
Dec 2nd
- State of the US 12/2: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/145vqh -> State of the US 12/2
Dec 4th
- Vancuver, Canada: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/1491jh
Dec 6th
- Portland, Oregon: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14d5of
Dec 7th
- Tucson, AZ (A report): https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/14fjek/hey_guys_remember_that_time_i_went_to_tucson_and/
Dec 8th
- Placerville, CA: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ggq6
- Melbourne, Florida: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14hqq2
- Looking up more cities: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/14i1ik/any_way_to_look_up_portals_without_actually_being/
- Calgary, Canada: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ipi9
- Nashville, TN: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ja1h
Dec 10th
- Hampton Roads, VA: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14k5k0
Dec 16th
- Washington, DC - amazing! https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14ylcq
Dec 22nd
- Kingston, NY
- The Louvre (bragging): https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/15al96
(Contd - https://community.ingress.com/en/discussion/12923/ingress-history-pt-ii-r-ingress-from-11-15-12-31)
Comments
Very nice! It's interesting to look back at how things were and also note how some things never changed lol
Just a minor correction:
Melbourne, Australia: https://www.reddit.com/r/ingress/comments/14hqq2
This is actually Melbourne, Florida, not Australia.
You are of course correct -- I had to go through a lot of old images and it was next to Sydney and I just assumed!
My learned friend. This is fun, nerdy and great!
First new feature requested by community added to the game
- Recharging a portal with a portal key
Though most of the conversations were on the Google+ social media platform
I believe recharging was present in the game's launch; there are screenshots showing it from as early as Nov 20 [e.g., https://decodeingress.me/2012/11/20/ingress-portal-key-and-remote-recharge/]. What changed was the granting of AP, which iirc was 2013.
dogboy, I see you and I can hear you
I don't think we have ever met?
Truly brings back some memories. My husband got an invite code first and he invited me. I believe every agent got 10 invite codes to be used for recrute new players. I remember inviting new players and making sure they selected our faction. Those were the days 😂