I think probably a bad idea. Some relatively small percentage of people will make the commitment, and then discover later on that they have a good privacy-related reason to hide their stats. Niantic probably doesn't want to be in the position of telling people they can't protect their own privacy, even to the limited amount that playing Ingress allows.
Have to disagree here. For example, one reason could be so the enemy team dosn't see your pioneer badge going up when you go out of town, leaving your typical area undefended. Another example is hiding a spike in glyph hack points when farming keys to an anchor in a remote location. There are strategic reasons for keeping stats hidden. Why give out free Intel?
If I see someone in my cell that I don't normally, I can sometimes make a guess at where they're from based off of what missions they have done. Or see that they go to a lot of different places. Lots of other stats not as important, though.
Do you honestly think people pay that close attention to other people's stats for those reasons? It's just fun to compare and watch your friends and rivals improve.
Yes, they absolutely do. I agree that it's fun to compare, and I occasionally unhide mine from time to time. However, my point is that hiding your stats does not equate to cheating.
Not saying it is that same as cheating. I'm just saying, if nothing is hidden, nobody is wondering what you have to hide. There's no illusion of possible impropriety. I understood it when Guardian was a thing, but now it just doesn't make sense. Why would you not want to show off how awesome your stats are?
Instead of throwing around assumptions like "hidden stats are related to cheating," how about you motivate agents to join Agent Stats?
But seriously: as soon as the statistics part of the agebt profile was introduced to the game, there was an option to hide ones stats. From tge very beginning Niantic thought it necessary to provide agents with this privacy option. They had good reasons for that.
If you suspect someone of cheating, you don't need to look into their stats. Create a ticket and report the account in question to Ingress Support. They have full access to the Agents Stats page and more to determine if another agent is cheating. And they are the only ones who should have access to these kind of personal data of their player base.
Also, most of the time I have witnessed agents accusing other agents of cheating or breaking the ToS it came from a place of uninformation, ignorance or misunderstanding. Ingress allows for a huge variety of playing styles and agents can switch between them as they evolve. Experienced Agents might enjoy different aspects of the game on different days. Don't let shortsightedness about these differences and the completely different personal backgrounds that also influence our ingame behavior blind you to the world of familiarity and friendship that are Ingress communities.
Because my stats are no body's business; i'm not about to give out free hard data to people who herd it. I know specific people who literally keep databases of other agent's stats. I will open them for a limited time for people to take down the data if there is a legit need for that data. But I don't link any social media either. It just encourages stalking; IDK where you are from, but from where I am from, the opposing team is fairly famous for stalking-like behaviors, calling people's employers attempting to get them fired, calling the cops on them for legit play, etc. No data is free.
Never hid my stats in the six years of playing Ingress, never cared to. Was able to get multiple GP's while GP hunting (that's by using intel and using nearby portal in app) and no one was able to keep me down. Hiding stats were just for the GP badge (*which is dead now*). There is no reason to have it anymore. NIA should also bring back captured date to portals on Intel.
Like your unique portal hacks, to see if you're off visiting a new area? Or glyph points to see if you're quietly farming somewhere? Those don't show up on comm.
If the whole TBG thing taught any of us anything is there is a very pervasive obsession with data in the Ingress community. And an obsession to keep track of all opposing agents and everything about them. I won't unhide my stats to allow for easier access to my ingress play data. If people want it, ask for it and give me the opportunity to reject that request, or cheat and potentially face a ban when you obtain it illegitimately.
9 times out of 10 if you want to see someone's stats, just head over to agent-stats and look them up.
Want to see how awesome my stats are? Then look at all of my Onyx badges & realize it doesn't matter how many fields I have if the badge is already Onyx, right?
Comments
I think probably a bad idea. Some relatively small percentage of people will make the commitment, and then discover later on that they have a good privacy-related reason to hide their stats. Niantic probably doesn't want to be in the position of telling people they can't protect their own privacy, even to the limited amount that playing Ingress allows.
There's no privacy related reason to hide your stats except to cover up cheating.
My eyes just rolled so hard I was able to attach magnets to them and generate enough electricity to power a microwave.
Have to disagree here. For example, one reason could be so the enemy team dosn't see your pioneer badge going up when you go out of town, leaving your typical area undefended. Another example is hiding a spike in glyph hack points when farming keys to an anchor in a remote location. There are strategic reasons for keeping stats hidden. Why give out free Intel?
If I see someone in my cell that I don't normally, I can sometimes make a guess at where they're from based off of what missions they have done. Or see that they go to a lot of different places. Lots of other stats not as important, though.
Do you honestly think people pay that close attention to other people's stats for those reasons? It's just fun to compare and watch your friends and rivals improve.
They absolutely do. Same people who built bot networks to log all game comms, portal captures, and VR mod alerts.
Some of us actually care about our privacy.
It has value.
I wouldn't give it away for a badge.
Or 10 badges.
You're playing the wrong game then
This badge would make hiding stats even more appealing for some of us :D
The privacy implications of just your current comm actions are hugely more severe then your mostly historical agent stats.
Yes, they absolutely do. I agree that it's fun to compare, and I occasionally unhide mine from time to time. However, my point is that hiding your stats does not equate to cheating.
Not saying it is that same as cheating. I'm just saying, if nothing is hidden, nobody is wondering what you have to hide. There's no illusion of possible impropriety. I understood it when Guardian was a thing, but now it just doesn't make sense. Why would you not want to show off how awesome your stats are?
Instead of throwing around assumptions like "hidden stats are related to cheating," how about you motivate agents to join Agent Stats?
But seriously: as soon as the statistics part of the agebt profile was introduced to the game, there was an option to hide ones stats. From tge very beginning Niantic thought it necessary to provide agents with this privacy option. They had good reasons for that.
If you suspect someone of cheating, you don't need to look into their stats. Create a ticket and report the account in question to Ingress Support. They have full access to the Agents Stats page and more to determine if another agent is cheating. And they are the only ones who should have access to these kind of personal data of their player base.
Also, most of the time I have witnessed agents accusing other agents of cheating or breaking the ToS it came from a place of uninformation, ignorance or misunderstanding. Ingress allows for a huge variety of playing styles and agents can switch between them as they evolve. Experienced Agents might enjoy different aspects of the game on different days. Don't let shortsightedness about these differences and the completely different personal backgrounds that also influence our ingame behavior blind you to the world of familiarity and friendship that are Ingress communities.
@Kevinsky86 @grendelwulf
I agree with both of you. And it saddens me :(
do the opposite... give a badge to all those people that keep it private for more than 365 days in a row.
Because my stats are no body's business; i'm not about to give out free hard data to people who herd it. I know specific people who literally keep databases of other agent's stats. I will open them for a limited time for people to take down the data if there is a legit need for that data. But I don't link any social media either. It just encourages stalking; IDK where you are from, but from where I am from, the opposing team is fairly famous for stalking-like behaviors, calling people's employers attempting to get them fired, calling the cops on them for legit play, etc. No data is free.
Never hid my stats in the six years of playing Ingress, never cared to. Was able to get multiple GP's while GP hunting (that's by using intel and using nearby portal in app) and no one was able to keep me down. Hiding stats were just for the GP badge (*which is dead now*). There is no reason to have it anymore. NIA should also bring back captured date to portals on Intel.
Those behaviors suck but they don't need your stats for that when they can just follow your activity in open comm.
Those behaviors suck but they don't need your stats for that when they can just follow your activity in open comm.
Like your unique portal hacks, to see if you're off visiting a new area? Or glyph points to see if you're quietly farming somewhere? Those don't show up on comm.
If the whole TBG thing taught any of us anything is there is a very pervasive obsession with data in the Ingress community. And an obsession to keep track of all opposing agents and everything about them. I won't unhide my stats to allow for easier access to my ingress play data. If people want it, ask for it and give me the opportunity to reject that request, or cheat and potentially face a ban when you obtain it illegitimately.
I didn't say get rid of it. I'm just saying give agents a medal for getting rid of it thrmselves
And you have a thread full of people telling you why gamifying the one privacy option we have in the game is a terrible idea.
Sounds like someone is a little paranoid.
9 times out of 10 if you want to see someone's stats, just head over to agent-stats and look them up.
Want to see how awesome my stats are? Then look at all of my Onyx badges & realize it doesn't matter how many fields I have if the badge is already Onyx, right?
It's the opposite of paranoid.