Win trading is not of itself a violation of the ToS and AMAs have clarified what is and isn't considered cheating. For example IFS is officially sanctioned win trading and is not cheating. It depends exactly what is happening.
Let me be very candid about this, as I’ve said this before, and it clearly needs to be repeated. Official Niantic events such as IFS, NL1331, Mission Days, Glyph Challenges, Anomalies, etc. are not win-trading. You do not have to like that statement. But those are the rules. Things were changed because it felt redundant [with the cheating section].
My advice, outside of official events, do not privately collude with one or more people from the other faction to benefit from each others actions as that is against the spirit of the game and will likely open you up to being reported for cheating. If it is done publicly and without intent to negatively impact the community, such as announcing a cross-faction get together at a bar, that’s not in my opinion cheating because everyone has access to the information about the actions in advance. However, just publicly announcing your actions doesn’t absolve you of cheating. There has to be no negative impact to the community. Announcing you and your xfac friend are going to take down a zero-cell sat phone required Portal that is being currently used as an anchor over a region is likely to get you reported for cheating.
I will give an example - a resistance player can easily recruit enlightenment agents (among Pokémon go players) and this will not be a violation of the rules. The agent of enlightenment can do the same.
I suggest talking with the player(s) involved before trying to take actions against them. The frontier of allowed or forbidden wintrading is blurry and varies from players to players. (Some still says IFS is a cheating event even is it's an official event allowed by Niantic.) Explains them that wintrading to gain levels quickly is bad and not appreciated.
It's hard to help without knowing the specific of the situation you're talking about but knowing the RES local leaders of your region, the RES player involved will not be treated lightly.
Part of the fun of the game IS being covert and hidden. Like a ninja on a mission. If you can achieve your goals with no interference whatsoever, then that, at least to me, is a heck of a lot of fun.
Sanctioned events like IFS, NL-1331, and anomalies aren't win-trading. Privately colluding with the opposite faction at 2 in the morning IS win-trading.
Some of the ENL are my friends, and that's why I like to give them a hard time when they least suspect it. ;)
Wintrading is still cheating. If you go out with RES and target specific goals (scoring uniques, bannering together, etc.) that is still considered cheating. Everyone knows when you're doing it. It's just difficult to prove and to enforce.
Cheating is what gives you advantage inside the game that you wouldn't have in any other way.
Doing banners with opposing faction should not be cheating if these do not require other action than hack/mission number. Personal relations are not part of the game.
Taking advantage of a personal relation (of any kind) is not cheating, is being completely disrespectful to those affected.
But, you know, there are just too much people that put Ingress above respect.
It has been clarified in AMAs quoted above that for official events it is NOT cheating. Doing mission banners together is not cheating as it doesn't give one side an advantage.
I don't and never support day to day wintrading be it from those who joined before or after me, but if ENL and RES agent want to complete a mission banner together, I don't see it's wrong. I don't see it even warrants them to be banned either.
But, while these are heavily frowned upon, we can't really do anything except hoping and praying (lol) that once we clicked the report submit button, NIA finally see it's not right.
changing faction or recursing to the other colour so can level up with opposite faction (ENL to RES or vice versa)
asking them to join the opposite faction (OK) but then collude and planning with them to blast and refield (not OK).
the keywords on all other people have said.. colluding ("cooperate in a secret or unlawful way in order to deceive or gain an advantage over others.").
But hey, I am just one person's opinion.These people are still well alive and their accounts are very much active. I hope this kind of toxic gameplay will be minimised, but one can only hope. Ha ha..... =_="
So... how to report Wintrading? Do i need to make 2 separate reports, one for ENL and one for RES? What additional information can support a Wintrading Claim?
If is not in the TOS, does Niantic even cares that i do a report for Wintrading?
Take action against someone in your faction? Sounds extreme. And threatening, honestly. What makes you think that you or any other “leader” has the right or the power to take action against someone in your faction? Report it if you’d like, it seems like a giant waste of time to me when they are absolutely no threat to you or your game.
I've seen blatant cases, (opposite faction friends, at a open isolated area, deploy field, smash and repeat for hours).
Then you get cases where in portal dense CBD areas, agents of opposite faction who work close to each other, or even in same building basically doing the same thing. Legit or no? Defending territory or what?
It's a how long is a piece of string question. Discuss first.
Frankly, any play in this age should be encouraged :)
Well you totally missed the cheating on BannerRuck then! Also if you think doing banners with the opposite faction is cheating then you may need to read the rules again and not interpret them to your own fitting.
kakugen911
✭✭
Comments
Win trading is not of itself a violation of the ToS and AMAs have clarified what is and isn't considered cheating. For example IFS is officially sanctioned win trading and is not cheating. It depends exactly what is happening.
Krug opinion in that thread>>>
RedSoloCup Niantic › admin June 13
Here is what I said in an AMA from February:
Let me be very candid about this, as I’ve said this before, and it clearly needs to be repeated. Official Niantic events such as IFS, NL1331, Mission Days, Glyph Challenges, Anomalies, etc. are not win-trading. You do not have to like that statement. But those are the rules. Things were changed because it felt redundant [with the cheating section].
My advice, outside of official events, do not privately collude with one or more people from the other faction to benefit from each others actions as that is against the spirit of the game and will likely open you up to being reported for cheating. If it is done publicly and without intent to negatively impact the community, such as announcing a cross-faction get together at a bar, that’s not in my opinion cheating because everyone has access to the information about the actions in advance. However, just publicly announcing your actions doesn’t absolve you of cheating. There has to be no negative impact to the community. Announcing you and your xfac friend are going to take down a zero-cell sat phone required Portal that is being currently used as an anchor over a region is likely to get you reported for cheating.
I will give an example - a resistance player can easily recruit enlightenment agents (among Pokémon go players) and this will not be a violation of the rules. The agent of enlightenment can do the same.
There is no longer a battle for our planet.
Hello @kakugen911,
I suggest talking with the player(s) involved before trying to take actions against them. The frontier of allowed or forbidden wintrading is blurry and varies from players to players. (Some still says IFS is a cheating event even is it's an official event allowed by Niantic.) Explains them that wintrading to gain levels quickly is bad and not appreciated.
It's hard to help without knowing the specific of the situation you're talking about but knowing the RES local leaders of your region, the RES player involved will not be treated lightly.
Part of the fun of the game IS being covert and hidden. Like a ninja on a mission. If you can achieve your goals with no interference whatsoever, then that, at least to me, is a heck of a lot of fun.
Sanctioned events like IFS, NL-1331, and anomalies aren't win-trading. Privately colluding with the opposite faction at 2 in the morning IS win-trading.
Some of the ENL are my friends, and that's why I like to give them a hard time when they least suspect it. ;)
Wintrading is still cheating. If you go out with RES and target specific goals (scoring uniques, bannering together, etc.) that is still considered cheating. Everyone knows when you're doing it. It's just difficult to prove and to enforce.
It is what it is.
huh doing banners togethers with members of your own team is cheating ???
Cheating is what gives you advantage inside the game that you wouldn't have in any other way.
Doing banners with opposing faction should not be cheating if these do not require other action than hack/mission number. Personal relations are not part of the game.
Taking advantage of a personal relation (of any kind) is not cheating, is being completely disrespectful to those affected.
But, you know, there are just too much people that put Ingress above respect.
It has been clarified in AMAs quoted above that for official events it is NOT cheating. Doing mission banners together is not cheating as it doesn't give one side an advantage.
LOL. This thread is for Enlightened agents only. Move on, nothing to see here. :-)
It's easy. If there is collusion, it is cheating, if not, it is fair play.
I don't and never support day to day wintrading be it from those who joined before or after me, but if ENL and RES agent want to complete a mission banner together, I don't see it's wrong. I don't see it even warrants them to be banned either.
But, while these are heavily frowned upon, we can't really do anything except hoping and praying (lol) that once we clicked the report submit button, NIA finally see it's not right.
But hey, I am just one person's opinion.These people are still well alive and their accounts are very much active. I hope this kind of toxic gameplay will be minimised, but one can only hope. Ha ha..... =_="
So... how to report Wintrading? Do i need to make 2 separate reports, one for ENL and one for RES? What additional information can support a Wintrading Claim?
If is not in the TOS, does Niantic even cares that i do a report for Wintrading?
Take action against someone in your faction? Sounds extreme. And threatening, honestly. What makes you think that you or any other “leader” has the right or the power to take action against someone in your faction? Report it if you’d like, it seems like a giant waste of time to me when they are absolutely no threat to you or your game.
Wintrading is notoriously difficult to prove.
I've seen blatant cases, (opposite faction friends, at a open isolated area, deploy field, smash and repeat for hours).
Then you get cases where in portal dense CBD areas, agents of opposite faction who work close to each other, or even in same building basically doing the same thing. Legit or no? Defending territory or what?
It's a how long is a piece of string question. Discuss first.
Frankly, any play in this age should be encouraged :)
Well you totally missed the cheating on BannerRuck then! Also if you think doing banners with the opposite faction is cheating then you may need to read the rules again and not interpret them to your own fitting.
Cheating or not, I don't think anyone has ever been banned for wintrading in the history of the game.