then big OPs will allow to take both leader boards as usually base is being covered several times. unless ada / jarvis won't be counted or might be only opposite faction MUs should be calculated. but sounds interesting
What about the ones that can only be reached by 1 person then, key replicating wouldnt matter, so that one person would get keys constantly for an anchor that can never be hit by the opposing team. I say this because there is an exact portal like this in my area.
My suggestion for this would be if you have a portal that is always being used as an anchor, make it that the decay rate increases each week to the point that it will die after say 5 weeks, no matter if its recharged or not, and if it dies that way it can't be used for links for a day or 2. This could be used for mountain, island, basically every pita portal.
Edit: thinking more on it, maybe make it that the portal decay starts to increase I general but that reverts so long as the agent/s who are in the portal recharge in person, but as soon as that portal is used for a link of any kind, the recharge in person no longer works, the portal will decay away
The core competitive aspect of Ingress is to capture and hold territory.
The core competitive aspect of Ingress is whatever Agents choose to compete with each other on. Some agents go for capturing and holding territory. Some go for checkpoints and MU. (N.B. These are not the same due to MU density, layers, and timing.) Some go for personal stats. Some go for denying other agents whatever it is they seem to want.
(As an aside, it's worth noting that checkpoints and MU are "the scoring mechanic" in the game. Personal stats are also measured in-game. Denial isn't measured directly in-game, but is instead driven by personal motivation and its indirect effect on checkpoints and stats. The same goes for capturing and holding territory.)
In light of Matryoshka, a lot of the back-and-forth on the forums can essentially be summed up as Agents not agreeing on what to compete on. It's a disagreement between Agents who just want to hold their corner of town or work on personal stats, and Agents who are playing for checkpoints and MU and "community."
The leaderboard would really only motivate the checkpoints and MU players, who are already motivated to take down MU. "Capsules Not Duping" would be an attempt at getting those folk to play their game differently, which would make a difference only to those Agents who currently aren't playing the game but might if only it weren't so "difficult." Emphasis on might.
I was going to right a big speil there about toxicity in my area. But I'll just summarise instead. Yes, in a perfect world, this game would be fun, friendly and competitive, but from what I've seen, the game rewards toxic gameplay and complete domination of one faction over the other, with the dominant faction causing players from the other faction to either stop playing or jump sides. This can be done by just being dominant or through through shadier means. Unless niantic does a major shift that punishes toxic play styles, this will always be the case
My suggestion was (mostly) not about big ops. It's more about local areas where one faction significantly outnumbers the other. Individual players in a dominated area usually feel like there's nothing they can do to contribute to winning the cell score. If you know there's nothing you can do to win then you have no incentive to drop AgentEnthusiasm's layered fields over his neighborhood five minutes before checkpoint since doing it will only make a tiny dent in the score and the fields will be rethrown within hours. Why bother?
The flip side of this is that AgentEnthusiasm doesn't have to play much either-- they can just throw the fields once and they stay up for days or weeks because nobody has an incentive to remove them.
My proposal changes this from a static situation to a dynamic one. Every individual's contributions to the cell cycle now have value, and one player has the power to make a difference. I believe this is a powerful incentive and it could wake the game up in many areas.
(Edited because the forum software still stars out that four-letter K-word for taking down a portal.)
A lot of the toxicity comes out of the isolation. Events like First Saturday are a great method of humanizing the other team and making them less of a "faceless enemy" and show people that most Ingress players are alike.
And even if there are 'some' toxic agents, the more of the general group that interact with each other, the more these Agents attitudes are seen as the aberration, not the community spirit. If you look at truly toxic regions, it's generally that the toxic players are in charge and actively prevent interaction between their team and the other, going as far as ostracizing members who choose to 'fraternize with the enemy'. Breaking that cycle is key to reducing internecine 'warfare'. Ingress players are to a large extent all the same.
From what I've seen in my area, it is the toxic players who are in charge of the dominant faction, and the "fraternizing with the enemy" thing isn't an issue for then as they control the cross faction chats, so rather than making the toxicity better, they try to downplay it more.
No, you were saying that interactions would help, but when the toxic players are the ones who are in control of the xfac chats and therefore can basically laugh off any and all toxic play fron their side, it makes it worse. I'm not saying this is the same everywhere but this is what the situation is in my area (and has been long before I was playing, just happens to be that because I'm new I saw it straight away) and visually every player on my side says the same thing about them. To be clear, there's probably nothing niantic can do unless the change a lot for the game to punish toxic gameplay and to find a way that allows fluid gameplay, bot the static dominant gameplay that it promotes just now
Also to be clear, I have met some of these players, my opinions haven't changed on them because I met them, just because they could be nice irl, doesnt meant the way they play and act in game isn't toxic and they revel in the toxicity
Interacting while being 'under the control' of the toxic players doesn't really count, while the toxic players are paraphrasing everything in the worst light in private chats, and probably 'monitoring' the less intractable players. If a team is dismissing inappropriate play in XFac chats, there's a good chance they're normalizing it, or normalising "there's nothing we can do" or "it's not our job to police our community".
To be clear, there's probably nothing niantic can do unless the change a lot for the game to punish toxic gameplay
Niantic can definitely improve efforts to police inappropriate gameplay, like multi-accounting and spoofing, but Niantic cannot "fix" communities, because Niantic didn't create communities. Niantic needs to improve clarity on rules and what behaviors they consider inappropriate, because some people don't read past the legalese in the TOS and claim that's all that's necessary, then use that as cover to allow anything and everything to go on inside their community.
Also to be clear, I have met some of these players, my opinions haven't changed on them because I met them, just because they could be nice irl, doesnt meant the way they play and act in game isn't toxic and they revel in the toxicity
While there are always some players who enjoy the toxic style, what I'm talking about isn't to somehow "fix" them. But as a whole the community can be moved away from following their play styles. It's like having a sociopath in management. If you shift people away from having that person or persons lead the direction, then most people will be able to see the reality of their play style and toxic behavior. Humanizing the other team is one of the tried and true methods of doing that. To some extent it also sounds like you're suffering from a similar mindset of lumping every player into "them". If you really think about it honestly, I doubt you can claim each and every player on the other team is somehow toxic. If you do think that, then part of it is changing your own perception.
Nit just me that thinks that unfortunetly, its moat of my team and its their actions that cause this mindset, not us creating the mindset. And to me, when you have a team that has players intimidating others out of playing and the rest of the team.allows it to happen, then those are just as toxic. Again I have to point out that I've been playing for a year and can see this, the rest of the people I talk to have told me (with examples) that several have been like this for years
I k ow what you're trying to say, but at the end of the day, not every scenario works your way. Its why i pointed out that most communities are probably closer or better than the one round here.
I've been playing for many years and have seen a lot of toxic play, nice play, legit and illegit play. You play in the cell that I play in (Scotland/Glasgow) and you seem to be talking about the cell that I'm playing in, so I get the impression that the various mentions of toxicity is referring to our cell.
My suggestion of a tweak to gameplay is that people should more heavily converse with players that have knowledge of the history of the cell's gameplay, that people converse with the wider team networks. For example, in my local area there are a couple of cross faction chats that are equally balanced in terms of factions, and it's great when players get involved in these xfaction chats, but some don't actually want to get involved, instead preferring to sit on the side and fling mud at the opposition.
Gazzas, if you have an issue with a faction, I'd recommend that you reach out to your local xfac-friendly colleages (aka- allyb [he is AWESOME!], or kblackie, or even go as far as Olaf three cheesy tall, and try to get a dialogue with all players. Because I can assure you, the cell that you're in, my faction absolutely pride themselves in their ability to welcome ALL players in our regular meetups, whether they're ENL or RES (and this is pre-covid times, but hopefully soon we'll have some post-covid farms where _as usual_ ENL or RES are always welcome, because that is how we roll.
I have met many a player from both factions.. Across the UK.. Some a bit salty.. Some great people.. Have kept in contact with most of them.. Some of my friendliest game players are on the other side.. I hold the utmost respect for all players..I've also lost a few good pals due to ill health & miss them dearly, on both sides.. .. Its a game after all.. We respect the community for all who respect us.. This is what makes us excel in our gamesmanship.. You mention Toxic players.. I've met a few in the 8 years ive played.. And laughed them off.. Name calling at its best doesn't have any ground here with a supportive/fantastic community..
So my advice would be get in touch with your xfac and be know to others you are a great player.. And would like to be part of the community..
If a team is dismissing inappropriate play in XFac chats, there's a good chance they're normalizing it, or normalising "there's nothing we can do" or "it's not our job to police our community".
Why continue emphasizing joining a community if nothing can be done to police its toxic players? Why not go back to the original premise of Ingress wherein individual/lone play should be emphasized? This policy "it's not our job to police our community" shows that Niantic does not want to own accountability for the game it has created and the results that occurred with the game. Does Niantic want toxicity to persist because it fuels the "competitive" play to keep the game going? At the end of the day, Niantic is still a company and a business.
Strange you should mention paradoxical toxic members.. I have never came across any comments in my cell from our members..towards the opposition.. Only others trolling coms for their narsistc rewards have aired their own accounts and comments on com.. meeting bar a few opposition members. I cant take this as only a direct route to try to attempt to cause havoc and disruption towards the community that thay no longer or try to understand or be part of..
Fyi. The person in regards.. Are not in any xfac communitys.... I rest my case..
Why continue emphasizing joining a community if nothing can be done to police its toxic players?
That's 100% the opposite of what I said. Standing up for following the rules, and not cheating is exactly how to change those communities. Present an alternative option to listening to the toxic 'leaders'. It's completely up to the players to police their own communities, and if the people currently in a leadership position won't do it, it's up to others to stand up and not tolerate it.
This policy "it's not our job to police our community"
You're misconstruing the statement. That's what toxic leaders say when they want to normalize letting their community do whatever they want and not follow the rules. Niantic is definitely actively trying to police the game as a whole, but they aren't part of your private communities, and aren't part of determining your local culture. That's completely on the players, and its the community's responsibility to not tolerate it in places where Niantic can't see and has no sway.
Yet, there are so-called communities that seem to be so obsessed with learning the business of lone players, particularly during times when those players are not playing. Activities include but not limited to creating charades/plays, spying on the personal form of communications such as text messages, messaging app messages, phone conversations, etc. In this situation who causes havoc or disruption? As another agent pointed out, no matter what the reason is used. It does not justify the above actions by those community members. There are lone players who want to enjoy the game, be left alone (meaning respect their privacy), and don't want drama. Recruitment and orientation done by those communities are obviously not sufficient nor successful. It seems lone players are at the disadvantaged, the least protected ones, and the easiest ones to be preyed upon because they do not have good community members to back them, nor stand with them, and even explain and show how things are supposed to be done properly in this game. Trying to obtain help from Niantic does not help also because it is not their job to police a local community. Then, here we are asking what ways can we tweak and improve the gameplay, retain its current players, and recruit new agents? The reality is when one chooses to play this game one has to conform, stop asking questions, follow how things are done, and don't challenge the status quo. Otherwise, one gets bullied and intimidated.
Yo, how about clearing all links from the map every end of cycle?
-No permafields.
-Significantly lower spoofing impact.
-Actual use of quantum key replication.
-Real gameplay window for every agent every cycle.
"What about links and fields per day stats?" You mean those without badge, cluttering the profile and meaning nothing? I don't even know why do they still exist.
Disagree with everything but getting rid of some of those stats. Maximum time field held should go.
I think there are people who have attempted to maintain long lived fields who watch it which was fine when it is a tiny 5 mu field out of the way but when it's the big ones and it is difficult/impossible to take down perhaps a metric they can watch isn't the best thing.
I can't really speak for other areas but certainly in Scotland both teams have all the tools, or the ability to crowdfund to access all the hard to reach portals and both have done in the past and do in the present. It would be a shame to remove or devalue what is an attractive part of the game for some, a difficult, challenging part where a lot of effort has been spent to get them. I'd also imagine what constitutes a PITA portal can be very different depending on who you ask.
As individual players we don't all have the ability to reach those places, cap those portals, throw those links or fields. But as teams as a whole we often do and that's where this game really sets apart from others.
Like I say, I can't speak for the rest of the world but that's certainly the case here.
Off topic, it's a shame to see our local players having yet more mud slung at them in this thread. As others have mentioned @gazzas89 perhaps get to know folk and give a human face to the names, there's some wonderful players on both sides and it's saddening to see, yet again, more character assassinations.
I have to say going to pita portals is great fun. Boat rides are very relaxing and islands are interesting. Anything that messes with the decay rate or auto neutralize these after a certain time period is probably a bad idea @gazzas89.
I'd suggest each key has a certain amount of "recharge power" to it, but eventually could be used up (removed from inventory at that point). however, with any power in it at all you could still link w/ it.
edited to be clearer: you can use as many keys as you want to recharge until the key is spent
This ignores the fact that players are actively maintaining those links. They're not just staying up for months by themselves.
Not ignoring it at all. Just opining that "maintaining" those links takes roughly 60 seconds a week and is harmful to gameplay, while destroying those links takes significant resources in time or money, or borders on the impossible. "What should be a portal?" is a very subjective question. "What is an actively visited portal?" is not.
This is why stopping Capsule Duping of Keys is important
I don't disagree with this, or even just reducing the duping of keys (only dup with a kinetic capsule maybe? or maybe that would that be worse because it's targeted and reliable); but it is a long-term approach (it's not difficult for a pair of agents to get 20 keys from a single expedition to a portal, and I have no doubt that some of these portals currently have thousands of keys in circulation) and doesn't help the issue of standing links and fields that just sit. But in terms of favoring portals that are actively visited, it would be a good improvement.
Another poster suggested limiting the number of times or the amount of XM that a single key could be used to recharge. I don't think that approach would be as balanced, since it would prevent holding onto an out-of-the-way portal for emergency blockers. If you don't have a lot of keys to the portal because they're not duping, then throwing that emergency link becomes a much more nuanced decision, but it is still an option.
Sadly, because of both reductions in players and an increase in the number of portals due to PoGo submissions, a portal in the middle of a city could be considered 'not actively visited'. That said, there's definitely considerations for how long since someone visited the portal.
One worrying aspect would be trolls creating L1 opposite faction alts to create a link to a known remote anchor, so that it can be killed off without visiting it. Throwable link distance is factored by portal, not the level of the player.
One worrying aspect would be trolls creating L1 opposite faction alts to create a link to a known remote anchor, so that it can be killed off without visiting it. Throwable link distance is factored by portal, not the level of the player.
Anything trolls do is detrimental, but in this case I think it would be minimal, depending on the determination of the troll. Supposing that the increased decay of a linked portal doesn't kick in until some amount of time (a few checkpoints at least, a cycle at most) has passed from when the portal was linked to, and the "last visited" time is counted only when the portal is linked, and supposing too that the holder of the emergency portal key keeps an eye on it, then it does the troll no good to throw the vampire link from a easy to reach portal - it it could be flipped and destroyed, and the troll uses up one of their own keys to the remote anchor; if the troll throws from their own remote portal (that they have helpfully captured for the other faction) then they have to spend the same increased amount (as their opposite faction alt) to keep that portal up so that the vampire link remains, and for longer than the owner of the remote portal keeps recharging. It would be a sleazy way to attack otherwise unreachable portals, but not an easy one-shot ****.
You can say what you want but in the year ir so I've been playing, I've seen 3 players of res stop playing because they felt intimidated. I also know a player who is now uncomfortable to play at night as one of your agents followed them and, even after i told this agent about the res agents worries, the agent brushed them off and continues to play the same whilst also leaving fairly condescending messages on comms. This is just in the year I've played mind, I've heard so many other stories from several agents about similar or worse styles of play. I'm not saying g everyone is the same, and I've spoken to some nice ones. I wo t even say I'm perfect, but I'm going off of what I've seen and been told on regular basis
If you wish to continue this though, feel free to message me on telegram
You're right @gazzas89 , this would be better taken to telegram, this forum, and certainly this thread, isn't the place to be debating local grudges and accusations. You're more than welcome to contact any of us directly or join the local xfac communities as previously mentioned by a few folk if you'd like to discuss further.
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then big OPs will allow to take both leader boards as usually base is being covered several times. unless ada / jarvis won't be counted or might be only opposite faction MUs should be calculated. but sounds interesting
What about the ones that can only be reached by 1 person then, key replicating wouldnt matter, so that one person would get keys constantly for an anchor that can never be hit by the opposing team. I say this because there is an exact portal like this in my area.
My suggestion for this would be if you have a portal that is always being used as an anchor, make it that the decay rate increases each week to the point that it will die after say 5 weeks, no matter if its recharged or not, and if it dies that way it can't be used for links for a day or 2. This could be used for mountain, island, basically every pita portal.
Edit: thinking more on it, maybe make it that the portal decay starts to increase I general but that reverts so long as the agent/s who are in the portal recharge in person, but as soon as that portal is used for a link of any kind, the recharge in person no longer works, the portal will decay away
The core competitive aspect of Ingress is to capture and hold territory.
The core competitive aspect of Ingress is whatever Agents choose to compete with each other on. Some agents go for capturing and holding territory. Some go for checkpoints and MU. (N.B. These are not the same due to MU density, layers, and timing.) Some go for personal stats. Some go for denying other agents whatever it is they seem to want.
(As an aside, it's worth noting that checkpoints and MU are "the scoring mechanic" in the game. Personal stats are also measured in-game. Denial isn't measured directly in-game, but is instead driven by personal motivation and its indirect effect on checkpoints and stats. The same goes for capturing and holding territory.)
In light of Matryoshka, a lot of the back-and-forth on the forums can essentially be summed up as Agents not agreeing on what to compete on. It's a disagreement between Agents who just want to hold their corner of town or work on personal stats, and Agents who are playing for checkpoints and MU and "community."
The leaderboard would really only motivate the checkpoints and MU players, who are already motivated to take down MU. "Capsules Not Duping" would be an attempt at getting those folk to play their game differently, which would make a difference only to those Agents who currently aren't playing the game but might if only it weren't so "difficult." Emphasis on might.
I was going to right a big speil there about toxicity in my area. But I'll just summarise instead. Yes, in a perfect world, this game would be fun, friendly and competitive, but from what I've seen, the game rewards toxic gameplay and complete domination of one faction over the other, with the dominant faction causing players from the other faction to either stop playing or jump sides. This can be done by just being dominant or through through shadier means. Unless niantic does a major shift that punishes toxic play styles, this will always be the case
My suggestion was (mostly) not about big ops. It's more about local areas where one faction significantly outnumbers the other. Individual players in a dominated area usually feel like there's nothing they can do to contribute to winning the cell score. If you know there's nothing you can do to win then you have no incentive to drop AgentEnthusiasm's layered fields over his neighborhood five minutes before checkpoint since doing it will only make a tiny dent in the score and the fields will be rethrown within hours. Why bother?
The flip side of this is that AgentEnthusiasm doesn't have to play much either-- they can just throw the fields once and they stay up for days or weeks because nobody has an incentive to remove them.
My proposal changes this from a static situation to a dynamic one. Every individual's contributions to the cell cycle now have value, and one player has the power to make a difference. I believe this is a powerful incentive and it could wake the game up in many areas.
(Edited because the forum software still stars out that four-letter K-word for taking down a portal.)
A lot of the toxicity comes out of the isolation. Events like First Saturday are a great method of humanizing the other team and making them less of a "faceless enemy" and show people that most Ingress players are alike.
And even if there are 'some' toxic agents, the more of the general group that interact with each other, the more these Agents attitudes are seen as the aberration, not the community spirit. If you look at truly toxic regions, it's generally that the toxic players are in charge and actively prevent interaction between their team and the other, going as far as ostracizing members who choose to 'fraternize with the enemy'. Breaking that cycle is key to reducing internecine 'warfare'. Ingress players are to a large extent all the same.
From what I've seen in my area, it is the toxic players who are in charge of the dominant faction, and the "fraternizing with the enemy" thing isn't an issue for then as they control the cross faction chats, so rather than making the toxicity better, they try to downplay it more.
That's precisely the situation I'm talking about. "Only where I can watch what you say" is literally toxic behavior.
No, you were saying that interactions would help, but when the toxic players are the ones who are in control of the xfac chats and therefore can basically laugh off any and all toxic play fron their side, it makes it worse. I'm not saying this is the same everywhere but this is what the situation is in my area (and has been long before I was playing, just happens to be that because I'm new I saw it straight away) and visually every player on my side says the same thing about them. To be clear, there's probably nothing niantic can do unless the change a lot for the game to punish toxic gameplay and to find a way that allows fluid gameplay, bot the static dominant gameplay that it promotes just now
Also to be clear, I have met some of these players, my opinions haven't changed on them because I met them, just because they could be nice irl, doesnt meant the way they play and act in game isn't toxic and they revel in the toxicity
Interacting while being 'under the control' of the toxic players doesn't really count, while the toxic players are paraphrasing everything in the worst light in private chats, and probably 'monitoring' the less intractable players. If a team is dismissing inappropriate play in XFac chats, there's a good chance they're normalizing it, or normalising "there's nothing we can do" or "it's not our job to police our community".
To be clear, there's probably nothing niantic can do unless the change a lot for the game to punish toxic gameplay
Niantic can definitely improve efforts to police inappropriate gameplay, like multi-accounting and spoofing, but Niantic cannot "fix" communities, because Niantic didn't create communities. Niantic needs to improve clarity on rules and what behaviors they consider inappropriate, because some people don't read past the legalese in the TOS and claim that's all that's necessary, then use that as cover to allow anything and everything to go on inside their community.
Also to be clear, I have met some of these players, my opinions haven't changed on them because I met them, just because they could be nice irl, doesnt meant the way they play and act in game isn't toxic and they revel in the toxicity
While there are always some players who enjoy the toxic style, what I'm talking about isn't to somehow "fix" them. But as a whole the community can be moved away from following their play styles. It's like having a sociopath in management. If you shift people away from having that person or persons lead the direction, then most people will be able to see the reality of their play style and toxic behavior. Humanizing the other team is one of the tried and true methods of doing that. To some extent it also sounds like you're suffering from a similar mindset of lumping every player into "them". If you really think about it honestly, I doubt you can claim each and every player on the other team is somehow toxic. If you do think that, then part of it is changing your own perception.
Nit just me that thinks that unfortunetly, its moat of my team and its their actions that cause this mindset, not us creating the mindset. And to me, when you have a team that has players intimidating others out of playing and the rest of the team.allows it to happen, then those are just as toxic. Again I have to point out that I've been playing for a year and can see this, the rest of the people I talk to have told me (with examples) that several have been like this for years
I k ow what you're trying to say, but at the end of the day, not every scenario works your way. Its why i pointed out that most communities are probably closer or better than the one round here.
I've been playing for many years and have seen a lot of toxic play, nice play, legit and illegit play. You play in the cell that I play in (Scotland/Glasgow) and you seem to be talking about the cell that I'm playing in, so I get the impression that the various mentions of toxicity is referring to our cell.
My suggestion of a tweak to gameplay is that people should more heavily converse with players that have knowledge of the history of the cell's gameplay, that people converse with the wider team networks. For example, in my local area there are a couple of cross faction chats that are equally balanced in terms of factions, and it's great when players get involved in these xfaction chats, but some don't actually want to get involved, instead preferring to sit on the side and fling mud at the opposition.
Gazzas, if you have an issue with a faction, I'd recommend that you reach out to your local xfac-friendly colleages (aka- allyb [he is AWESOME!], or kblackie, or even go as far as Olaf three cheesy tall, and try to get a dialogue with all players. Because I can assure you, the cell that you're in, my faction absolutely pride themselves in their ability to welcome ALL players in our regular meetups, whether they're ENL or RES (and this is pre-covid times, but hopefully soon we'll have some post-covid farms where _as usual_ ENL or RES are always welcome, because that is how we roll.
I have met many a player from both factions.. Across the UK.. Some a bit salty.. Some great people.. Have kept in contact with most of them.. Some of my friendliest game players are on the other side.. I hold the utmost respect for all players..I've also lost a few good pals due to ill health & miss them dearly, on both sides.. .. Its a game after all.. We respect the community for all who respect us.. This is what makes us excel in our gamesmanship.. You mention Toxic players.. I've met a few in the 8 years ive played.. And laughed them off.. Name calling at its best doesn't have any ground here with a supportive/fantastic community..
So my advice would be get in touch with your xfac and be know to others you are a great player.. And would like to be part of the community..
Contact myself or any of my team..
Yours.. BomberBob
If a team is dismissing inappropriate play in XFac chats, there's a good chance they're normalizing it, or normalising "there's nothing we can do" or "it's not our job to police our community".
Why continue emphasizing joining a community if nothing can be done to police its toxic players? Why not go back to the original premise of Ingress wherein individual/lone play should be emphasized? This policy "it's not our job to police our community" shows that Niantic does not want to own accountability for the game it has created and the results that occurred with the game. Does Niantic want toxicity to persist because it fuels the "competitive" play to keep the game going? At the end of the day, Niantic is still a company and a business.
What if a certain amount of recharging “used up” your key?
Strange you should mention paradoxical toxic members.. I have never came across any comments in my cell from our members..towards the opposition.. Only others trolling coms for their narsistc rewards have aired their own accounts and comments on com.. meeting bar a few opposition members. I cant take this as only a direct route to try to attempt to cause havoc and disruption towards the community that thay no longer or try to understand or be part of..
Fyi. The person in regards.. Are not in any xfac communitys.... I rest my case..
Thank you
Why continue emphasizing joining a community if nothing can be done to police its toxic players?
That's 100% the opposite of what I said. Standing up for following the rules, and not cheating is exactly how to change those communities. Present an alternative option to listening to the toxic 'leaders'. It's completely up to the players to police their own communities, and if the people currently in a leadership position won't do it, it's up to others to stand up and not tolerate it.
This policy "it's not our job to police our community"
You're misconstruing the statement. That's what toxic leaders say when they want to normalize letting their community do whatever they want and not follow the rules. Niantic is definitely actively trying to police the game as a whole, but they aren't part of your private communities, and aren't part of determining your local culture. That's completely on the players, and its the community's responsibility to not tolerate it in places where Niantic can't see and has no sway.
Yet, there are so-called communities that seem to be so obsessed with learning the business of lone players, particularly during times when those players are not playing. Activities include but not limited to creating charades/plays, spying on the personal form of communications such as text messages, messaging app messages, phone conversations, etc. In this situation who causes havoc or disruption? As another agent pointed out, no matter what the reason is used. It does not justify the above actions by those community members. There are lone players who want to enjoy the game, be left alone (meaning respect their privacy), and don't want drama. Recruitment and orientation done by those communities are obviously not sufficient nor successful. It seems lone players are at the disadvantaged, the least protected ones, and the easiest ones to be preyed upon because they do not have good community members to back them, nor stand with them, and even explain and show how things are supposed to be done properly in this game. Trying to obtain help from Niantic does not help also because it is not their job to police a local community. Then, here we are asking what ways can we tweak and improve the gameplay, retain its current players, and recruit new agents? The reality is when one chooses to play this game one has to conform, stop asking questions, follow how things are done, and don't challenge the status quo. Otherwise, one gets bullied and intimidated.
Yo, how about clearing all links from the map every end of cycle?
-No permafields.
-Significantly lower spoofing impact.
-Actual use of quantum key replication.
-Real gameplay window for every agent every cycle.
"What about links and fields per day stats?" You mean those without badge, cluttering the profile and meaning nothing? I don't even know why do they still exist.
Disagree with everything but getting rid of some of those stats. Maximum time field held should go.
I think there are people who have attempted to maintain long lived fields who watch it which was fine when it is a tiny 5 mu field out of the way but when it's the big ones and it is difficult/impossible to take down perhaps a metric they can watch isn't the best thing.
I can't really speak for other areas but certainly in Scotland both teams have all the tools, or the ability to crowdfund to access all the hard to reach portals and both have done in the past and do in the present. It would be a shame to remove or devalue what is an attractive part of the game for some, a difficult, challenging part where a lot of effort has been spent to get them. I'd also imagine what constitutes a PITA portal can be very different depending on who you ask.
As individual players we don't all have the ability to reach those places, cap those portals, throw those links or fields. But as teams as a whole we often do and that's where this game really sets apart from others.
Like I say, I can't speak for the rest of the world but that's certainly the case here.
Off topic, it's a shame to see our local players having yet more mud slung at them in this thread. As others have mentioned @gazzas89 perhaps get to know folk and give a human face to the names, there's some wonderful players on both sides and it's saddening to see, yet again, more character assassinations.
I have to say going to pita portals is great fun. Boat rides are very relaxing and islands are interesting. Anything that messes with the decay rate or auto neutralize these after a certain time period is probably a bad idea @gazzas89.
what would you suggest for this where the agent has multiple copies of the same key?
I'd suggest each key has a certain amount of "recharge power" to it, but eventually could be used up (removed from inventory at that point). however, with any power in it at all you could still link w/ it.
edited to be clearer: you can use as many keys as you want to recharge until the key is spent
This ignores the fact that players are actively maintaining those links. They're not just staying up for months by themselves.
Not ignoring it at all. Just opining that "maintaining" those links takes roughly 60 seconds a week and is harmful to gameplay, while destroying those links takes significant resources in time or money, or borders on the impossible. "What should be a portal?" is a very subjective question. "What is an actively visited portal?" is not.
This is why stopping Capsule Duping of Keys is important
I don't disagree with this, or even just reducing the duping of keys (only dup with a kinetic capsule maybe? or maybe that would that be worse because it's targeted and reliable); but it is a long-term approach (it's not difficult for a pair of agents to get 20 keys from a single expedition to a portal, and I have no doubt that some of these portals currently have thousands of keys in circulation) and doesn't help the issue of standing links and fields that just sit. But in terms of favoring portals that are actively visited, it would be a good improvement.
Another poster suggested limiting the number of times or the amount of XM that a single key could be used to recharge. I don't think that approach would be as balanced, since it would prevent holding onto an out-of-the-way portal for emergency blockers. If you don't have a lot of keys to the portal because they're not duping, then throwing that emergency link becomes a much more nuanced decision, but it is still an option.
"What is an actively visited portal?" is not.
Sadly, because of both reductions in players and an increase in the number of portals due to PoGo submissions, a portal in the middle of a city could be considered 'not actively visited'. That said, there's definitely considerations for how long since someone visited the portal.
One worrying aspect would be trolls creating L1 opposite faction alts to create a link to a known remote anchor, so that it can be killed off without visiting it. Throwable link distance is factored by portal, not the level of the player.
One worrying aspect would be trolls creating L1 opposite faction alts to create a link to a known remote anchor, so that it can be killed off without visiting it. Throwable link distance is factored by portal, not the level of the player.
Anything trolls do is detrimental, but in this case I think it would be minimal, depending on the determination of the troll. Supposing that the increased decay of a linked portal doesn't kick in until some amount of time (a few checkpoints at least, a cycle at most) has passed from when the portal was linked to, and the "last visited" time is counted only when the portal is linked, and supposing too that the holder of the emergency portal key keeps an eye on it, then it does the troll no good to throw the vampire link from a easy to reach portal - it it could be flipped and destroyed, and the troll uses up one of their own keys to the remote anchor; if the troll throws from their own remote portal (that they have helpfully captured for the other faction) then they have to spend the same increased amount (as their opposite faction alt) to keep that portal up so that the vampire link remains, and for longer than the owner of the remote portal keeps recharging. It would be a sleazy way to attack otherwise unreachable portals, but not an easy one-shot ****.
You can say what you want but in the year ir so I've been playing, I've seen 3 players of res stop playing because they felt intimidated. I also know a player who is now uncomfortable to play at night as one of your agents followed them and, even after i told this agent about the res agents worries, the agent brushed them off and continues to play the same whilst also leaving fairly condescending messages on comms. This is just in the year I've played mind, I've heard so many other stories from several agents about similar or worse styles of play. I'm not saying g everyone is the same, and I've spoken to some nice ones. I wo t even say I'm perfect, but I'm going off of what I've seen and been told on regular basis
If you wish to continue this though, feel free to message me on telegram
You're right @gazzas89 , this would be better taken to telegram, this forum, and certainly this thread, isn't the place to be debating local grudges and accusations. You're more than welcome to contact any of us directly or join the local xfac communities as previously mentioned by a few folk if you'd like to discuss further.
Links decaying, needing XM proportional to its length to be maintained.