Why are Russia and Belarus blocked from Niantic games?
This is a serious question for Niantic.
You allow play in China - The Chinese government apparently is locking up over a million Uyghurs.
You allow play in Myanmar - Just Google for what's going on there.
You allow play in the USA, Australia, UK and others - Illegally invaded Iraq under international law and over 200,000 civilians dead according to good documentation. (Russia is just a light weight compared to this). Not to mention renditions, torture etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse
Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria... I could go on.
So - Russia and Belarus is singled out. Even though Russia has complained for years about NATO expansion on it's borders to the EU & USA.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine - the USA explicitly ruled out any ban on Ukraine NOT joining NATO. Then everyone acts surprised when Russia gets upset over this and decides to invade.
Don't get me wrong - I am against the invasion and lament the loss of life and suffering.
The singling out of Russia by Niantic reeks of hypocrisy and corporate "me too-ism".
So Niantic - what actually is your reasoning for banning some and not others?
Comments
I'm not Niantic, but I would expect it has to do with sanctions.
North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia, Libya and others all sanctioned by the USA to various degrees.
@NianticThia @NianticBrian I know you are going to say it's because Google blocked payments from Russia and Belarus.
What percent of Agents actually paid something? Can you give us such statistics?
Русские, вы знаете что делать. Остановите войну, отстройте наши, уничтоженные вашей армией города, а уж потом говорите какие вы хорошие и требуйте включить вам игру.
Russia unreasonably attacked Ukraine. He is threatening the whole world, and the little psychopath "Putler" will see what he still plans ....
It is said that it was a "denazification" of Ukraine. See those fanatics with the Z logo who are chanting in all the propaganda. A complete copy of the "hitlerjugend" ... then who would need denazification? Yes exactly ... Russia
Why are people disagreeing with my sanctions comment when you can look up the list on US government web site? It's fact. :)
So Niantic - what actually is your reasoning for banning some and not others?
Simple. Aside from "what they did themselves", Russia and Belarus are the only ones currently invading another sovereign nation, whereas China, Syria, Israel etc are all civil matters. And even the "what they did themselves" war has ended as the final nations pulled out of Afghanistan.
I would say they're probably disagreeing with the point you are making, rather than the facts you are quoting. But who knows?
Um Israel and Saudi aren't purely civil matters.
Israel is invading the sovereign nation Syria. Turkey is invading the sovereign nation Iraq. The United States invaded Libya, Syria, Cameroon and other sovereign nations. Why did Niantic not react in any way to these military invasions, but reacted in the case of Russia? And what does Belarus have to do with it, which did not attack anyone?
Russian brothers, a lot of your guys and men are dying on our Ukrainian soil... And you just need to play the game, nothing more? Are you offended that for all the atrocities perpetrated by the Russian army, you were deprived of the opportunity to play the game? Are you completely out of your mind? Admin, close this topic and think about it, maybe crazy idiots for whom the game is more important than the life of their fellows should be banned not only in the game but also on this forum?
According to the constitution of Russia, you, ordinary Russian people, are the power in the country. So what's stopping you from taking it into your own hands and stopping the war? For our game, you are perfectly coordinated, so what prevents you from coordinating to stop hostilities in the real world? Just don't say that you are poor and that you have a fascist state. There is no need to replace your cowardice and unwillingness to change anything with other concepts.
I'm sorry, but as a resident of a city that is subjected to Russian air raids several times a day, I can no longer remain silent. I'm tired of the regular sirens of the need to run and hide in a bomb shelter, and of your whining that you can't do anything about the Russian government that you yourself elected.
This misses my point. I fully agree with you that Russia should not be invading Ukraine. I have Ukrainian coworkers and Russian coworkers. The situation is terrible.
However, lets not pretend that Russia is wholly bad and NATO is wholly good or that the USA is lilly white. All have done terrible things.
My point is, the ban on a GAME only impacts average citizens. Something that traditional sanctions always try and avoid doing.
Sanctions usually target those in power, key resources etc.
This just appears to be Russian people bashing for no real reason other than "company x has done it so we better too". Hypocritical to boot.
Ingress is not just a game. It is primarily a communication tool and a way to exchange of opinions with people all over the world. These are the basic things that lead to peace and mutual understanding of people. Depriving people of the opportunity to communicate with each other can only lead to enmity, but not to peace. Also Ingress is a means of self-expression. It is not possible to express one's opinion freely at the moment in real life In Russia, but Ingress agents could do it in the game by creating fieldarts calling for peace and mutual understanding, as was done before the shutdown of Ingress in Russia. Now Niantic has deprived the Russians of such an opportunity. Russian citizens will not be able to influence the authorities and government in real life in any way, all attempts of this kind only lead to the fact that they end up in prison. Only in Ingress do they have the opportunity to somehow express themselves.
I agree coz' the game isn't about politic....can be, but can't now.
Today - Russia and Belarus, tomorrow - someone else. Just think.
Agree. I'm seeing a lot less communication from Russians on chat platforms. The banning of the game has bought a curtain down on what was good communication.
Reducing communication is an evil thing that just leads to worse feelings. Already seeing a lot of nasty lashing out comments and Niantic has only itself to blame for this.
Hello, pals! My name is 5hwed and I'm known as Enlightment agent roleplaying hardcore smurf-hater and fighter. During last 5 years of ingressing I've based my own game slyle and long term game strategy according to Sun Tzu and Mijamoto Musasi as an destructive and supressive game concept.
To make long things short my main principle in game was "NEVER MAKE A FIELD IF IT DO NOT SUPRESS SOME POOR SMURFS WILL".
How did i come to this? I've literally implemented every string of Sun Tzu's Art of War into Ingress mechanics to test how they actually work. There's even a banner by that name that no one can go through atm (ha-ha).
I'm the kindest and wide open person in RL (everyone knows me personally would prove that), but at the same time my in-game electronic alter-ego has become a part of me. Well sometimes the only way to continue exisance is to cut away what is not functional anymore. This is the time when I surely know that it's time to cut away the harsh and mean agent 5hwed and turn my eyes to something else.
Some may act like crybabies beggin' for bully to bring their toy back, but this is the way only to increase that bullys smugness. And also it shows that those beggars had no purpose on their way through portals and links etc. Otherwise, they would thank Ni for giving them so much free time to spend, as i do.
P.S. - make some more anime series - we care (nope)
Leave the country and let it rot, and play Ingress as usual on the new place, or do whatever is necessary to change the country for the better and let Ingress be back. Simple...
Depose Putin, leave Ukraine,
The real answer lies within the fact that a major world power is attacking a country for the expansion of their own sovereign borders. This has not occurred for a long time, at least in my lifetime. You must bear the consequence to the actions of your leaders in power.
I'm sure there are tons of agents in Ukraine who would LOVE to be able to play Ingress, let alone have a home, food, water, electricity.... Complaining about your inconvenience of not being able to play a leisure game on the internet is absolutely a bad look, talk about entitlement. You will receive no answer, no explanation, no consideration. Niantic owes you nothing, nor will it look bad for providing no response.
Don't like it? Well, this has fundamentally changed the global supply chain. There are no more intellectual property rights to consider with American companies. You're free to do whatever you want. Want to copy Ingress completely and host it in Russia? Go ahead. Call it Ingress, steal the graphics, steal the mechanics and names of everything. There are no laws or enforcement to prevent this. Go nuts. Your countries are going to be splintered off from the rest of the world's internet. I bet you are having to use a VPN right now to access everything non-russian you love.
Edit: For being the country that birthed the concept of Communism, there's a whole lot of "wasn't me, comrade!" floating around.
Russia has never brought the concept of communism. Apparently, you are confusing Russia with the USSR, which is a very big mistake. These are completely different countries.
@SSSputnik I understand you.
I had tears when the game was shut down in Russia. I felt so meh let my sojo go.
The situation is Ukraine is so repugnant.
Living safe on an big island I can't relate to it .... Yet loosing ingress oh .. I can imagine that.
Those poor agents. Doesn't Niantic know Ingress has infected our souls. To lose ingress so quickly like that must be like loosing a limb.
Niantic does block PoGo in most of China. Not sure about ingress. But they have technically done something about China's...many shortcomings.
Not pulling out of Russia would have lead to a LOT of bad PR that Niantic does not want, on top of the difficulties with running the ingame shops due to the huge list of sanctions. You're also ignoring that they're based in the US, yet you're going to complain about them not shutting the game down there? Especally over a response to 9/11 of all things. The US is hardly perfect, but did you really expect it to just sit around and do nothing after an attack on it's own civilians? Give me a break.
Serious question for you: Do you really think it's practical for niantic to get involved in every unjust situation out there?
Uh, what did Iraq have to do with 9/11? Iraq was all about oil and imaginary WMDs.
I think you mean Afghanistan?
I don't expect Niantic to get involved in ANY action. Why pick this one?
I mean, the EU is still buying massive amounts of gas from Russia.
Its all this hypocritical picking n choosing which is the problem.
@SSSputnik Niantic is an American company? .... We see ingress as a global family ... a game to link communities... Yet Niantic is a corporate concern based out of America. American political/diplomatic environment must influence decisions.
It's a mess. It's awful. We are terrified for Ukraine civilians. And worried even for the soliders who fight who really should be at home with families because there is peace.
I'm glad you wrote this post because I was able to say how I feel so disquieted that the map is blank where it should be full of activity.
Knowing a bit more about how the decision was made and how Niantic is planning to reconnect with agents when sanctions are over. Would be insightful.
Talking about places where almost every portal is blank where it should be full of activity why don't we mention the Saint-Denis district in the middle of Paris? Which is btw situated in France where Ingress were never shut off. Any ideas?
Funny thing btw that almost all streets of the Paris are fully covered with Google Car even the small ones exept Saint Deni. For a long time Google couln't cover Saint Denis at all cos first few automated photo cars were stolen as like as never existed and only after few attempts they've called for police support and managed to cover main streets but not smaller ones cos police officers rejected to escort Google Car through.
It's very obvious why they picked this one...to avoid getting lambasted by the vast majority of the internet.
And no, I meant Iraq. It happened first after 9/11. Connect the dots.
Looking at your account name, I bet you're not 33-34.
That are you thinking about it now?))
What does that have to do with anything?