Thanks for helping us keep Ingress fun and fair.

I want to share an experience I had last months.


So, things started maybe last summer between another player and myself. The player is from the same faction as I am, and we are separated by something like a 10 minutes walk. Things started to go south between us for several reasons, but let's say that at some point I decided I didn't want to have any interaction with him and stopped upgrading his home portal and avoided playing in his area as much as I could. Then things escalated, implying a lot of virus and ****links to block myself (everyone knows how easier it is to annoy your own faction compared than annoying your enemies).

I'm not the first one in that case, this person has been accused of a lot of things by our mutual opponents in the game, and he has been so outrageous that he is the only player I know or have even heard about who is permanently banned from speaking in COMM.

Since he can't use COMM he used Telegram to insult me, and he even threatened me (things like "never cross my path if you want to walk again" for example). At that point I contacted the police and filled something which is not a complaint, meaning it's not leading to any inquiring from the authorities but is used as a log in case I want to fill a complaint later for the same reasons. So I went out of my local law enforcement office with a paper stating "This person, named X, living at Y, insulted me and threatened me of Z because of a game named Ingress. His name in game is agent_xyz ." This happened on November 14th, 2021. I sent a copy of this declaration to Niantic, reporting said agent. The report has been marked as processed on November 22nd, with no visible effect.

On December 15th I accidentally met the guy, he started insulting me and even punched me in the face. I wasn't injuried, just took one step back so he realized what he was doing and things stopped there. So I went to the police again and this time filled a complaint (I don't know yet if he has been called to the police or not, things can be treated slowly, but I'm sure he'll be at some point since this time an inquiry will go on). I went out of the police office and again sent a copy of my complaint to Niantic, saying "see he threatened me, I reported him nothing happened, now he has hit me, please do something". This report hasn't been treated before January 24th, when I received a message from Lambert, the same as always "we deciced to take appropriate actions". This person is still playing.


I'd be happy to know if I'm the only one in this situation or if this scenario already happened for other players. I can understand my first report didn't lead to anything, Niantic can't establish a relationship between an Ingress account and a Telegram user (although his messages are specifically mentioning Ingress…). But in the case of my second report he has at best been warned…

I can't be lying to Niantic, using an unrelated police report to accuse another player, since the two papers I have are establishing the link between the name of the person I'm accusing and his Ingress name. So I could be lying to the police, which is punishable by law. Or Niantic trusted me, but thought that a player trying to physically injure another is worth a warning. When it's not the first time this player has been reported to Niantic for things related to his potentially dangerous behaviour with other players (and in my case not only potentially). I really don't understand.

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Comments

  • ZeroHecksGivenZeroHecksGiven ✭✭✭✭✭

    good luck is all I can offer.

    I'd say you're best bet is to continue avoiding the agent, block them on all forms of communication and do not give them any "fuel" to keep their fire going. You've somehow become a target and if they are getting a rise out of you, they're not going to stop. And if history is any factor in regards to Niantic, I highly doubt anything will change with the bad actor.

  • I might not be translating it well enough, but if it's what I think it is my country restrict it to couples in an established relationship. Anyway the facts are probably not that serious if you ask a judge, a guy that can't control himself punched another one, once. I'll try to keep it that way and will keep avoiding him. Anyway, I kept my calm and tried not to fight back, but I would have hope for Niantic to take this seriously. Guess they'll keep disappointing me.

  • TheKingEngineTheKingEngine ✭✭✭✭✭

    On December 15th I accidentally met the guy, he started insulting me and even punched me in the face. 

    Is there any camera on the scene? Could you ask the police to detain him?

  • TheKingEngineTheKingEngine ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2022

    Previous cases have proven that if the case was reported by yourself then Niantic would not involve in doing anything for you. Please resort to the court. Still, once you have a police report proving that a specific player have assulted you for in-game issues you may TOGETHER WITH AT LEAST 6 OTHER PLAYERS file reports for "inappropriate actions-hara.ssment on the field/track" along with sending the document of the police record/report. This could lead to a 30-day ban for him.

  • Always expect the worst from our beloved Niantic, and you won't be dissapointed. All u ever get is bot generated responses.

  • Otrera35Otrera35 ✭✭✭✭

    Dangerous behaviors such as threatening and physically harming another agent should be reported to local law enforcement. Better collect pieces of evidence and witnesses that can substantiate the complaint when you submit your report to the local police even to Niantic. Try to avoid direct confrontation even though the toxic agent tries his/her best to elicit a reaction from you. Toxic agents always like a reaction even though it's a negative one. Just walk away from toxic players. By doing so, you can play the game without all the drama and maybe enjoy this game. Are you sure that the toxic agent is not doing the above actions just to make you quit playing? Have you tried taking some self-defense classes to proactively defend yourself?

  • Hi @NianticThia , thanks for taking this seriously. I indeed received an email from Sara if that is what you're talking about.

    I hope this won't happen to anyone else.

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