Sorry but I was not a big fan of Andrew, on a personal level, great guy. Community Manager wise - so-so.
Now this was probably NOT Andrew's fault, he was probably bound by Niantic to a high level.
I know Andrew did not have direct access to NIAOps. The new manager should be very familiar with HOW they work, even if they have no access.
I am also hesitant about the new CM actually playing the game. If they do, they should NOT engage with their local community.
Why - because all communities are different, all have varying degrees of baggage, and I would prefer a new CM to engage with players globally and not be coloured by local happenings/opinions.
It's fine to have a personality, but posting about in jokes to local areas/lasagna recipes etc was frustrating.
We're starved for communications and having valuable space eaten up by repeated questions, (like almost EVERY AMA) regarding off topic "junk" just made a lot of us get fed up and wonder why the question I thought was important got bumped for something with zero to do with Ingress.
No "SoonTM" replies, ever. Either tell us it can't be discussed, and a brief why, or give ball park dates. If something gets pushed back or abandoned, tell us.
Cater to new players as much, if not more than us crusty oldies. Yes we have a lot of experience, the new players have a lot of perspective on what's good/bad and are the future of the game.
A lot of old players crying about this and that... can be just a lot of old players crying. Engage with the Vanguards, engage on the forums. Make decisions, stick to them.
Evaluation/Feedback systems are more effective when it is done by neutral parties since it encourages a more honest and transparent evaluation from its members. It protects the members from backlash or retaliation from a community that encourages toxic behavior out there. Using the term “community” to a group of people who encourages toxic behavior insults the word itself.
I'd caution a community manager against mistaking the agents who post and comment on every little thing as really representative of the larger Ingress community. The most active agents I know (including the ones who organize big events like Mission Days and Anomalies) don't post much publicly much because they're busy playing Ingress and participating in local communities, and/or they've got other stuff to do with their lives. People who comment in every thread here are just the know-it-alls with too much time on their hands and obsessive personal agendas.
Hey @NianticPooja , quick question on this role. Given all the everything going on in the world at the moment, is it possible the role could remain remote afterwards, or would the person need to attend the LA/SF office regularly when things get back on track? That is, could someone work remotely most of the time, and work at the LA/SF office for certain days of the week/a few days a month/whatever arrangement suits both parties?
@1valdis They definitely will :-) Thanks everyone for sharing your feedback.
@PkmnTrainerJ at present everyone is working remotely but eventually whenever we get back to the offices, this person would work out of either the LA or the SF office. It's hard to say when that will be and what the WFH/WFO split will look like at that time. I'd say if this looks like a good fit for you, go ahead and apply and we can discuss the details as we move further in the process :-)
I agree. Do you have any idea how many times I have asked and asked for someone to look into why my local area is under an Abuse Vector in Wayfarer and why am I being met with silence when other people ask the exact same question and get responses from Niantic people?
Be honest with me. I don't care if the answer is "I'm sorry we goofed up and we don't know how to fix it." Sometimes people can take honesty if it means they no longer have to tear their hair out trying to find an answer.
If you need more info I have several threads about limbo in the Wayfarer forums.
All I want to see is honesty and someone who enjoys the game and appreciates all aspects of it (including Portal Discovery and the work of Seers).
My main suggestion is that they actively play Ingress daily. As well as being vocal in the forums.
Not just the Dogfood/Beta version, but the actual public version
Ie
Playing in the city
Playing in small towns
Playing in the suburbs
Playing in rural areas
Etc
There are a lot of edge cases players encounter, that are not talked about much here in the forums, due to the fact that the majority of players live in cities.
I would also recommend that the new person also actively uses Wayfarer, and shares to us how Wayfarer is being worked on when pogo players continually abuse it, which then affects Ingress and other games.
Lastly, I would also recommend that the new person actually plays all of Niantic's games, as well as non-Niantic games too, and tabletop games. Eg Magic the Gathering, Warhammer etc
Reasoning for this is to have a broader focus on what things make Ingress unique, but also what can make Ingress better.
Honestly I would just love to see Niantic hire or have Wayfarer Community Leaders or Trusted Reviewers. People who go out into the world to find hidden XM (Seers) but also know how to make great Wayspots and how to help others make great submissions too. In a UK XFAC community we will all try to help research a submission if you cannot find info and advise on writing descriptions and even give feedback on the sub as a whole.
Understanding how the wayspots work across all niantic games is important and for me it's important that someone understands how long ago 623 days and counting is for a submission to still be in queue and how ridiculous it is that people who submit the pavement outside their house can actually get their subs to full review by doing nothing whereas I have to re-earn Onyx Recon just to get most of my queue to full review!
It pains me that if I lived the other side of the Greenwich Meridian I wouldn't have had this problem. This invisible line runs right through the east side of the borough I live in. I live and sub on the limbo side.
I don't know what matters first and what matters last, but the list goes something like this
1. Don't be afraid to rely on local organisers. Sometimes it is worth it to moderate their fervour, but they will gladly take on most of the work. However, every job must be valued, so local organisers would not mind some material budget to do their job. I know for a fact that one of the MD organisers in Belarus sold her car to make the event happen. And I can confirm that if the income of the organisers exceeds their costs for the event by even a one dollar -- it's already a success.
2. A lot of older players like simplicity and convenience. They don't want beautiful animations, they want a scanner that can be used long and successfully in places far from civilization. Also, these people are old enough to have problems with their eyesight. And since you will be involved in the further development of the scanner, don't forget about colour optimization and reducing the scanner's network connectivity requirements. There are quite a few portals which are in the 2G zone and to them too it would be nice to have access without dropping the router WiFi on the nearest tree.
3. The basis of Ingress is the fight of two factions against each other. Cross-faction events really bring people from the two teams closer together, but because of this discourage play. Therefore, a balance is needed between cross-faction events and those where factions fight each other. In sports this would be called sports anger, where in the world you are friends, but in the ring you won't feel sorry for each other. And in doing so, you are quite happy. And if the winning faction will receive a prize or the game will be changed, even temporarily, that would be great.
4. Historically, most agents use Telegram. Don't forget about this messenger.
5. If something is not working for you, tell the agents that. If you don't know what to do, ask agents for advice. The main audience of Ingress (at least for me here in Russia) is people aged 35-45. We are quite mature and adequate not to be offended by the truth and we appreciate honesty and openness.
And perhaps most importantly, but most abstractly. Chatting amongst ourselves and the community for Ingress agents sometimes means more than playing Ingress directly. A lot of agents only open the scanner for FS, operations and anomalies, but they are in communication with each other all the time.
Ingress is not just a mobile game. Good luck with your work!
Talk to the Wayfarer people. There is (at times) an unpleasant 'them vs us' atmosphere over on the Wayfarer forum between Ingress players and Pokemon players. You probably can't defuse this, but you should at least be aware of it, take care not to exacerbate it, and maybe later you can advocate for the hiring of a Wayfarer community manager.
Lasagne, Toast and Soon™ were all nice gimmicks, but don't feel you have to carry them on, or construct your own one.
Wonder why the title changed from community manager to community specialist. Cosmetic change, or is there anything substantively different about the role now?
You mean.... Like the release of NL-1331 badge packs direct via the store instead of swag packs which get sold out in 5 minutes to less than 50 people buying the max amount? Seriously, we're coming up on 3 months since we were told we'd get the digital option @NianticBrian
Super bitter.
Of course, I always have the option of paying scalpers 4-5 times the original price if I ever want them:
@NianticThia Welcome aboard. This group cares greatly about what is going on here and when we (collective) feel something has gone wrong, odd, or otherwise pear shaped we will let you know about it. Don't let some of the ideas that get thrown around throw you. We care a lot and need someone who's not afraid to say , " we love the enthusiasm, and suggestions, but there's a gap and here's why there's a gap." in ways that both make the neighborhood merely feel disappointed, instead of this is impossible, and that something has been seriously thought about.
I'm very glad that you came to us, and I really hope that you can make our beloved game even more interesting. 😊
I have a wish (suggestion).
There used to be a monthly contest among agents with a reward of a good passcode.
The contest was as follows: the agents were given one of the glyph signs, and the agents had to draw that glyph sign with the help of fields or links. Then they had to post a short report with the resulting drawing to one of the social networks with the tags #ingress #glyphchallenge #evolution (here I gave an example of the last such contest).
Unfortunately, last time the results of the contest were never announced, and the contest itself was no longer held.
I and my friends really liked this contest. It gave an opportunity to communicate with agents, build interesting structures from the fields, spend a very cool time outdoors, as well as to implement their creative ideas.
It was a very good contest, and I would be happy if it was revived.
Comments
You can let ITO-EN know I buy their tea multiple times a week!
Sorry but I was not a big fan of Andrew, on a personal level, great guy. Community Manager wise - so-so.
Now this was probably NOT Andrew's fault, he was probably bound by Niantic to a high level.
I know Andrew did not have direct access to NIAOps. The new manager should be very familiar with HOW they work, even if they have no access.
I am also hesitant about the new CM actually playing the game. If they do, they should NOT engage with their local community.
Why - because all communities are different, all have varying degrees of baggage, and I would prefer a new CM to engage with players globally and not be coloured by local happenings/opinions.
It's fine to have a personality, but posting about in jokes to local areas/lasagna recipes etc was frustrating.
We're starved for communications and having valuable space eaten up by repeated questions, (like almost EVERY AMA) regarding off topic "junk" just made a lot of us get fed up and wonder why the question I thought was important got bumped for something with zero to do with Ingress.
No "SoonTM" replies, ever. Either tell us it can't be discussed, and a brief why, or give ball park dates. If something gets pushed back or abandoned, tell us.
Cater to new players as much, if not more than us crusty oldies. Yes we have a lot of experience, the new players have a lot of perspective on what's good/bad and are the future of the game.
A lot of old players crying about this and that... can be just a lot of old players crying. Engage with the Vanguards, engage on the forums. Make decisions, stick to them.
Evaluation/Feedback systems are more effective when it is done by neutral parties since it encourages a more honest and transparent evaluation from its members. It protects the members from backlash or retaliation from a community that encourages toxic behavior out there. Using the term “community” to a group of people who encourages toxic behavior insults the word itself.
I'd caution a community manager against mistaking the agents who post and comment on every little thing as really representative of the larger Ingress community. The most active agents I know (including the ones who organize big events like Mission Days and Anomalies) don't post much publicly much because they're busy playing Ingress and participating in local communities, and/or they've got other stuff to do with their lives. People who comment in every thread here are just the know-it-alls with too much time on their hands and obsessive personal agendas.
The community manager job posting is now up. We're working remotely right now but it will be based out of LA or SF. For more info, ping @NianticPooja:
Would be nice if our new Community Manager did read through this topic as part of their onboarding ;)
Hey @NianticPooja , quick question on this role. Given all the everything going on in the world at the moment, is it possible the role could remain remote afterwards, or would the person need to attend the LA/SF office regularly when things get back on track? That is, could someone work remotely most of the time, and work at the LA/SF office for certain days of the week/a few days a month/whatever arrangement suits both parties?
@1valdis They definitely will :-) Thanks everyone for sharing your feedback.
@PkmnTrainerJ at present everyone is working remotely but eventually whenever we get back to the offices, this person would work out of either the LA or the SF office. It's hard to say when that will be and what the WFH/WFO split will look like at that time. I'd say if this looks like a good fit for you, go ahead and apply and we can discuss the details as we move further in the process :-)
I agree. Do you have any idea how many times I have asked and asked for someone to look into why my local area is under an Abuse Vector in Wayfarer and why am I being met with silence when other people ask the exact same question and get responses from Niantic people?
Be honest with me. I don't care if the answer is "I'm sorry we goofed up and we don't know how to fix it." Sometimes people can take honesty if it means they no longer have to tear their hair out trying to find an answer.
If you need more info I have several threads about limbo in the Wayfarer forums.
All I want to see is honesty and someone who enjoys the game and appreciates all aspects of it (including Portal Discovery and the work of Seers).
My main suggestion is that they actively play Ingress daily. As well as being vocal in the forums.
Not just the Dogfood/Beta version, but the actual public version
Ie
Playing in the city
Playing in small towns
Playing in the suburbs
Playing in rural areas
Etc
There are a lot of edge cases players encounter, that are not talked about much here in the forums, due to the fact that the majority of players live in cities.
I would also recommend that the new person also actively uses Wayfarer, and shares to us how Wayfarer is being worked on when pogo players continually abuse it, which then affects Ingress and other games.
Lastly, I would also recommend that the new person actually plays all of Niantic's games, as well as non-Niantic games too, and tabletop games. Eg Magic the Gathering, Warhammer etc
Reasoning for this is to have a broader focus on what things make Ingress unique, but also what can make Ingress better.
A request for more interest in scammers, especially the lagging of GSM networks
Honestly I would just love to see Niantic hire or have Wayfarer Community Leaders or Trusted Reviewers. People who go out into the world to find hidden XM (Seers) but also know how to make great Wayspots and how to help others make great submissions too. In a UK XFAC community we will all try to help research a submission if you cannot find info and advise on writing descriptions and even give feedback on the sub as a whole.
Understanding how the wayspots work across all niantic games is important and for me it's important that someone understands how long ago 623 days and counting is for a submission to still be in queue and how ridiculous it is that people who submit the pavement outside their house can actually get their subs to full review by doing nothing whereas I have to re-earn Onyx Recon just to get most of my queue to full review!
It pains me that if I lived the other side of the Greenwich Meridian I wouldn't have had this problem. This invisible line runs right through the east side of the borough I live in. I live and sub on the limbo side.
I disagree with your point about Xfac events. The reason being, Xfac events really help build in game communities and can relive faction tensions irl.
I don't know what matters first and what matters last, but the list goes something like this
1. Don't be afraid to rely on local organisers. Sometimes it is worth it to moderate their fervour, but they will gladly take on most of the work. However, every job must be valued, so local organisers would not mind some material budget to do their job. I know for a fact that one of the MD organisers in Belarus sold her car to make the event happen. And I can confirm that if the income of the organisers exceeds their costs for the event by even a one dollar -- it's already a success.
2. A lot of older players like simplicity and convenience. They don't want beautiful animations, they want a scanner that can be used long and successfully in places far from civilization. Also, these people are old enough to have problems with their eyesight. And since you will be involved in the further development of the scanner, don't forget about colour optimization and reducing the scanner's network connectivity requirements. There are quite a few portals which are in the 2G zone and to them too it would be nice to have access without dropping the router WiFi on the nearest tree.
3. The basis of Ingress is the fight of two factions against each other. Cross-faction events really bring people from the two teams closer together, but because of this discourage play. Therefore, a balance is needed between cross-faction events and those where factions fight each other. In sports this would be called sports anger, where in the world you are friends, but in the ring you won't feel sorry for each other. And in doing so, you are quite happy. And if the winning faction will receive a prize or the game will be changed, even temporarily, that would be great.
4. Historically, most agents use Telegram. Don't forget about this messenger.
5. If something is not working for you, tell the agents that. If you don't know what to do, ask agents for advice. The main audience of Ingress (at least for me here in Russia) is people aged 35-45. We are quite mature and adequate not to be offended by the truth and we appreciate honesty and openness.
And perhaps most importantly, but most abstractly. Chatting amongst ourselves and the community for Ingress agents sometimes means more than playing Ingress directly. A lot of agents only open the scanner for FS, operations and anomalies, but they are in communication with each other all the time.
Ingress is not just a mobile game. Good luck with your work!
Another couple...
How mutch inventory we get if we soon get 10$ to pay for? It is premium C.O.R.E with 1000 more inventory from free play?
Hi @NianticThia Some light reading for your first week.
Light reading?
I mean, this thread is a little lighter than the open letter thread going on...
Wonder why the title changed from community manager to community specialist. Cosmetic change, or is there anything substantively different about the role now?
You mean.... Like the release of NL-1331 badge packs direct via the store instead of swag packs which get sold out in 5 minutes to less than 50 people buying the max amount? Seriously, we're coming up on 3 months since we were told we'd get the digital option @NianticBrian
Super bitter.
Of course, I always have the option of paying scalpers 4-5 times the original price if I ever want them:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=nl1331+ingress&_sacat=0
@NianticThia Welcome aboard. This group cares greatly about what is going on here and when we (collective) feel something has gone wrong, odd, or otherwise pear shaped we will let you know about it. Don't let some of the ideas that get thrown around throw you. We care a lot and need someone who's not afraid to say , " we love the enthusiasm, and suggestions, but there's a gap and here's why there's a gap." in ways that both make the neighborhood merely feel disappointed, instead of this is impossible, and that something has been seriously thought about.
Good afternoon, dear @NianticThia
I'm very glad that you came to us, and I really hope that you can make our beloved game even more interesting. 😊
I have a wish (suggestion).
There used to be a monthly contest among agents with a reward of a good passcode.
The contest was as follows: the agents were given one of the glyph signs, and the agents had to draw that glyph sign with the help of fields or links. Then they had to post a short report with the resulting drawing to one of the social networks with the tags #ingress #glyphchallenge #evolution (here I gave an example of the last such contest).
Unfortunately, last time the results of the contest were never announced, and the contest itself was no longer held.
I and my friends really liked this contest. It gave an opportunity to communicate with agents, build interesting structures from the fields, spend a very cool time outdoors, as well as to implement their creative ideas.
It was a very good contest, and I would be happy if it was revived.
Thank you!