Hello dear Niantic
I started playing Ingress, I think, in 2014. At first I played alone, then I met my neighbors, and it became more interesting. Then I met people from other cities, and it became even more interesting. Then with people from other countries - well, you understand the sequence, you all played it, I hope.
Ingress in Russia, and in particular in Moscow, where I live, has always been about people who are passionate about the game and its possibilities. Someone liked to understand the technical part and come up with new features, someone loved into the lore, someone was focused on the social engagement. The point is that Ingress has never been about business or politics.
Ingress in Russia has always been crazy active. We drew fieldarts and large fields, read about the Ursa Major and Green Marble operations, and experienced a genuine, sincere admiration for the subtlety of planning and the huge amount of time spent on working out plans. Dozens of anomalies, mission days, links and fields. Thousands of incredible, passionate people who have never asked you for anything other than the opportunity to play. We always did everything ourselves and without your help, but we were glad to finally see you in Moscow in 2016 on Aegis Nova. We still in touch with people whom we met in Moscow, Paris, Warsaw, Prague, Tallinn, Minsk, this can continue endlessly.
Today we are going through a difficult, unbearable time, and every day we make difficult decisions. And at that moment you decided to join the formal boycott of the Russians. I understand what drives companies that sell things in our country - you know, shoes, bags, other stuff. Their logistics now leaves them no chance of running a normal business, and this is primarily a business decision, they are honest about it. And we understand them - we are very sorry, but this is what it is. I sincerely tried to understand what motivated you, because even in the darkest times I always try to understand the other side, and sometimes I succeed.
Not in this case.
Western business is finally honestly saying that they are given certain preferences for public cancelling of Russia. And we're ok with that. This is a business, and it should work as efficiently as possible. There are costs, they grow, in our case many times over. Many companies have no other way out to somehow even out the situation.
Not in this case.
What are you spending? Looks like nothing. We have been asking for years to fight spoofers. You answer us with gray portals and links between Russia and Ukraine, which were done by a spoofer. You can't answer what will happen to the money players spend on your service. And the most unbearable thing is that you opened this Pandora's box and gave permission to bully innocent people. There is no logic, no sense, and no humanity in this decision.
If you ever have a plan to return to Russia, you need to choose your words for an apology very wisely. Because thousands of people who have been wasting their time, their money and their strength on you for ten years have received a vile and senseless stab in the back. And I still try to believe that apology will be accepted, although every day this feeling is fading away.
Comments
You should understand that people who are ready to protest do that because of their sincere desire to help Ukraine and not because they're deprived of a possibility to play a game. If someone is going to risk their life, the cause should be greater than pixels.
You demand us to go and protest and yet you don't even try to hide your hatred towards all Russian people in general regardless of their thoughts or actions. No matter what we do, you still hate us. You're driven by desire to revenge. I understand that, it's your right. You want to make suffer the ones who hurt you, but your words can't hurt them because they don't care. So you are hurting the ones you can reach, the ones who care. Think about it.
I'm sorry for the government actions. But my conscience is clear. I never asked for this war or this government.
Please do not worry about our streets, how this connected to Ingress?
You demand us to go and protest and yet you don't even try to hide your hatred towards all Russian people in general regardless of their thoughts or actions. No matter what we do, you still hate us. You're driven by desire to revenge. I understand that, it's your right.
This right here is the propaganda machine that your government is pumping out. No-one outside Russia hates Russian people. Prior to this, most Ukranians considered your people brothers.
People hate the dictators in Russia and Belarus. But it is impossible to affect the leader of a country without affecting the people of a country. While the Russian government commits atrocities, it will continue to have the entire community of the world against it's actions. I have a number of Russian friends including a colleague at work, who hate the Russian government as much as the rest of us, and try to explain the situation to friends at home in Russia, only be told that they're lying and that they're a shill for hateful foreigners.
The world is not against you. It's against the actions of your government, and it's only means short of violent bloody war on Russian soil, is economic and social actions.
You're caught in the middle of this, but you are not the target. Your government is hiding behind you.
You all write correctly, well, for an ideal world. In real life, there are messages like this.
Russian [REDACTED] burn in hell.
Hello Russian [REDACTED]. Russia is now hated by the whole world. Hope you feel the pain
I hope that the mother of every Russian soldier will see the corpse of her son and feel the shame that your people deserve.
Putin does not read COMM. This is exactly what I wrote about - this is the flow of hate that Niantic has blessed on this platform. Propaganda works both ways.
I mean, welcome to the internet? Report each and every one of these accounts because their sentiments are not shared by the world at large, nor are they appropriate for the Ingress community. Trolls exist everywhere and want to take every opportunity to be horrible, and the only thing we can really do is ignore them and report them, and hope that action is taken.
This is definitely not the sentiment of the world at large towards the Russian people. Just the Russian government and upper echelons of the military. Some people may have less descriptive ways of saying it, but like most trolls, if you sat them down in real life, they'd hide behind their chair.
Nobody hates russians, Nia will take action with trolls, we all one big family, i like your picture, ok.)
Always believe in the best outcome, and demand that others rise to your ideal 😉
I happen to be one of those who is able to read the original news sources, not the propaganda machine. I read the news and the comments. And even here on this forum I feel the hatred. Have you noticed that when the USA bombs any country, the news says "the USA", never "the Americans", but when Russian Federation does the same, the news say "the Russians".
I'm not one of those who blindly follows the propaganda. I don't read or watch Russian news sources. But I see that people are being manipulated into hating all Russians and believing sanctions will work. Spoiler: they won't.
Have you noticed that when the USA bombs any country, the news says "the USA", never "the Americans", but when Russian Federation does the same, the news say "the Russians".
To clear up a misconception, this is because Canadians, Mexicans, and the various Latin American and South American countries have for years complained that saying "the Americans" and only meaning the United States of America, labels those other countries as horrible without any involvement in the things the US is doing. North America, South America and The Americas are the continents. The US is a country on that continent. It'd be like complaining that reporting says "Russia" not "Asia".
I don't hear any formal reporting saying "The Americans" at all, at least in the western world. It's only people in general conversation. The US is not known as "the Americans" really any more, it's US, USA, United States etc. The rest of the Americas made them stop claiming total ownership.
So in that regard at least, that's a misinterpretation. All US references should be US or USA, not Americans.
And "Russia" like "the USA" is the the country, whereas the "Russian people" are distinct from the "Russian government". There's no 'other Russia' that wants distinction from the Russian Federation, to drive this change in wording.
Also if you want to annoy people from the US, call them Yanks :-P Seppo is probably worse but they don't understand why.
This is possible because the UltraViolator, as a native speaker, has a sense of changing social language standards. There are two words in the our language - rossiyskyi (as made in Russia, coming from Russia, about belonging to the territory) and russian, about nationality and people. These changes are really there, and it's hard not to notice them. Some linguists say that in this way a national consciousness spontaneously arises among the people, whatever that may mean. And because of this, there is a certain gap - in other languages there is simply just one word, and for us the word Russians sounds smt offensive in this context.
I did not realize that nuance in the language. I'll aim to use Russian Federation in the future then. Or a friend's favourite "Shirtless Dictator on a Horse".
No-one outside Russia hates Russian people.
That's incorrect. According to different sources and polls, as many as 58 to 86 percent of Russians approve the invasion of Ukraine. And I hate those.
We're fortunate enough to talk here to those who don't, but they're a minority. Though there already was a topic about Niantic "supporting fascism" by someone from the majority.
putin's approval rating has also risen during invasion. So please stop this "it's not about the people, it's about the government", because it indeed is about people.
Obviously: *The attacking of civilians and destruction of cities is wrong*.
The USA has many double standards. It's politics is very hypocritical. A sinner who points out the sins of others yet would do well to stop sinning themselves.
Much of it cultural export is mediocre.
Ingress is not mediocre.
Ingress is also addictive. Like a drug.
Doesn't feel comfortable that Niantic turned off the game on thousands of players with little warning.
Loosing access to ingress is painful for some.
And that is not insignificant.
Despite many people experiencing greater and 'truer' pain.... can still understand the loss that loosing access to ingress is.
According to different sources and polls, as many as 58 to 86 percent of Russians approve the invasion of Ukraine
Do you continue to trust opinion polls?
---
The most important parameter of any survey is the response rate - an indicator of how many respondents agreed to answer sociologists' questions. Standard situation: about 30% respond. In a normal situation, in a democratic country, refusals are mainly due to the unwillingness to waste time and distrust in the public sphere in general. However, in an authoritarian country where opposition opinion is under pressure, refusals may be politically motivated. It costs nothing to refuse a survey, and if you feel uncomfortable demonstrating your disloyalty, then you do so.
So, on February 20, 30 people out of 100 agreed to answer. 18 said they supported Putin, 12 said they did not. Sociologists reported: 60% of Russians support Putin.
Now the war begins: independent media are closed, fakes about the army (in fact, non-support for the war) are cost 15 years in prison, the TV broadcasts pictures of the widespread military Zombie hysteria “our peacekeeping boys under enemy fire.” This is what is called a climate of opinion.
Imagine that of the 12 who did not support Putin but took part in the first poll, 6 now (as a result of the changing climate of opinion) have refused to answer. Now we have 24 people, of whom 18 still support Putin, and do not support 6. And in percentage terms, it turns out that now 75% support Putin, and do not support 25%. But what has changed, in fact, is not support, but the price of non-support.
https://t.me/KiRogov/131
Путин – хуйло.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.
Sorry, these are the only two Russian phrases I know😂
the only question is why are you using them here? one big friendly family, yeah.
Вот как раз в Ингресс такой процент и был большой.
В Ингресс много закрытых, тех самых секурных чатов, а сама игра подразумевала общение между людьми. Место, где можно было не бояться высказывать свое мнение.
Могу сказать про себя, вот сейчас мне лично гораздо легче просто закрыться от происходящего, спрятаться и все.
Если я чувствовала какую-то поддержку от иностранного сообщества, то сейчас только злость, ненависть и желание поиздеваться вижу. Чувствую ненависть, и эта ненависть была раньше, только теперь повод ее показать во всей ее силе появился.
Уж простити, но мое решение - уехать вглубь России в режим все выключено, спать в палатке, передвигаться на лодке, ловить рыбу. Единственное что жду. Нет телефона, нет новостей, нет ничего из внешнего мира.
С такими решениями как от Ниантика я чувствую, что реши я сказать нашему президенту, что он ошибся в своем решении, меня никто не поддержит. Все страны говорят, что бы шла и говорила, но если мы так сделаем и потом поставят на колени нас, руку помощи нам не подаст никто. Ниантик показал это.
Чувствую ненависть, и эта ненависть была раньше, только теперь повод ее показать во всей ее силе появился.
Хм. Раньше - примерно с 2014? Если раньше были сомневающиеся, а агрессия - скрытной, неофициальной, а в случае с Крымом старательно прикрывающейся референдумами и пр., то теперь все маски сброшены. И часть сомневающихся тоже поняла, что происходит, и что происходило до 24-го.
Жаль конечно, что в числе заложников ситуации оказались люди, которые не поддерживают своё правительство. И хоть вы и всё равно, с помощью налогов, финансируете его таковую деятельность, может, благодаря посеянным вами зёрнам сомнения какой-нибудь солдатик отказался десантироваться на Одессу, за что я вам всё равно благодарен.
И ещё жаль, что вы свято верите, что ничего нельзя изменить. Этого я наверное никогда не пойму. И в этом наша разница.
If you can suggest some source which represents the opinions in that country better, please do, I'll be thankful. At this point I saw enough interviews of people on the streets saying they do approve the aggression.
Moscow is classed as Europe continent wise until you get to Ekaterinburg where Asia starts. Just to be picky ;)
Niantic should moderate the comm in the same sense as Twitter & Co are obliged to. Such hate messages have no room in a game.
Anyway, I can tell you for my own: I don't hate Russians. In contrary, my heart constricts every time I think of Russia (and Belarus) and the situation there. I feel sorry, that you guys have to live and potentially suffer under your government.
I hope Niantic will step up and fix the situation in the comm and find a solution, which doesn't hurt our Russian agents further. This is a game, did any other game close their services for Russian and Belarus players?
Many services have stopped in Russia, but it can be fixed with VPN. GPS blocking is exclusive to Niantic