Really disappointing to see Niantic start charging, with no warning, for events that they have stopped even showing up to, and for which they provide no support to the volunteers that make the events happen. Full support for this message.
It is wholeheartedly great to see all of this brought into focus by Claudija. Reading through the comments its equally great to see other vanguards backing her up, creating a unified stance for the entire player base.
There are so many things wrong with the approach taken by Niantic, many of them highlighted by Claudija. We all have our personal reasons for considering one of them especially heinous, and for me that is the complete lack of acknowledgement of the work faction orga teams put in. I will happily pay to attend an anomaly, I already do, but I will be paying those who are actually working to make it a great event. If Niantic wants to charge money to attend their event, they'd better organize it too.
I am curious what new ways Niantic will come up with of monetizing, but I sure hope communication will play a key part, I however don't have much faith in this by now...
Even RR agents are required to pay.. for what exactly?
Ok onsite agents participate to local event and may benefit for exclusive stuff reserved for them.. (I do not agree but it's your event so you can arrange it as your wish)
But.. remote agents?
Remote agents (eg. Operators, rechargers) offer their help, for free, spending their time and are required to pay in order to have their efforts recognized. Is this logical in any point of view?
Other people, for example who already booked their flights or gave their word they would have helped are resigning to this fee but I'm sure that will be the first and last one.
We already spent lot of money in many ways to make happen beautiful fields and arts you proudly share on your socials.
The consequence? Most agents do not want to be part of remote assistance anymore. Not just this anomaly or this recharge room but ingress as a game.
Is this what you want?
Gaining some bucks and lost most of your behaved players following your madness since almost 6 years?
I am not shocked to see that they did this, but I am shocked to see how they did this. Timing is everything and we are already struggling to keep players together after September 30th - yet you chose NOW, during your most difficult time, to make this change. It's not just bad judgement, it just shows that you do NOT have your finger on the pulse of the remaining player base. I'm not going anywhere, I'll continue to play and probably still buy the character medal packs like usual - but I'm quickly finding more and more reasons to stop. If my community dies off then I'm gone too.
This is the same as with the european mission days that just canceled external and no info.. my town submitted all details for MD etc.. and then u dropped the bomb many months later, no external European MD .. this is the same thing, just a month before next anoamlies u annoucne this fee to attend and get medal.. this will only make anomalies that less people will attend sadly...
Thanks @Claudija for voicing out for all Ingress players. Nia must think about not all agents are capable to pay. It's getting ridiculous when Nia asking for a payment from players aka agents. They must think about the sacrifice being made by most agents to make Niantic's event aka anomaly happened. Some of agents leave behind their family just to play their hobby. Travel thousands of kilometers just to join the fun with their friends. Now Niantic asking for a payment of the medal? Come on!!!!
"don’t you think there are other, maybe even better, ways to introduce paid elements into the game than this?"
absolutly agreed.
for guys from Niantic: buddies, for years some agents waiting for an so-called "API Access" which could make local competitive events, based on in-game mechanics.
Let it will be paid - it's fine for cloud era. But let it be. It could be fresh taste of the game in order keep experienced agents motivated to continue. Not only triangles, guys.
2. Triggering passcodes to banners: I want to promote my banner, and I pay for some staff which could be gained by completing missions.
3. Another approach is making L8 and/or VR staff available for money. Yes, I know - some agents told that it could ruin farming and impact social aspects. Let's think about people who using Ingress primary to get fun, not to die hard within kilometers of walk.
This is not about ruining, this is about balance. You can spend time for obtaining inventory. Or you can pay to save time.
This payment it could be nothing for people in the US or Europe, but the impact that this will have in Latin America is so big. Countries like Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico will have a direct impact because of the currency exchange for example:
A minimum salary in Colombia is around 125 USD every 15 days... So we're talking about the 12% of the salary ! This is ****.
If you guys want to get more money, there are a lot of ways to get it. We can pay for extra inventory space, you guys can raise the trackers, the character medals etc.
I would be willing to even straight up pay $15 for the Ingress app, but I am NOT willing to pay $15 for each anomaly that I go to. I have paid hundreds of dollars to Niantic over the years in tickets. You CAN make money if you do it smart. This is not the way to monetize an anomaly!
Just sell more swag. Myriad swag came out AFTER the anomaly for some reason. Sell swag during the anomaly, mark it up 50%, and boom, profit! And nobody will be upset.
This is so true, and so well-versed. Thank you for this. Let's see what happens now that there is a clear statement with solid reasons against this outcome.
This is an excellent post, It is shocking albeit not surprising that Niantic has managed to commit so many blunders in one action.
I am very disappointed that I don't get anything for participating in an event that I booked vacation time off and flights for (across an entire continent) to be able to attend several months ago. The badge has always been a participation badge, and to now have it held hostage behind a paywall is absurd and seriously makes me reconsider attending any future events.
I think pay for a service would be fair. If Niantic would organise the event, contact the town and authorities, reserve for registration and after party places. And be present on site for registration, results, animations. As it was years ago.
On now on, it's not the case anymore. I was already shocked we can't obtain physical swag anymore, even if we had to pay for it. Now we have to pay just to have the right to participate as an official player and see our stats counted. Please...
Thank you Claudija for your words, things needed to be said this way to be, I hope, heard.
So many valid points, thank you @Claudija for addressing this.
This very well may be the final straw that puts so many of your player base into retirement. And may be one of the biggest shortsighted moves the company has made over the years.
The ingress playerbase has been continuously underappreciated and disregarded as a whole for a long time. And since we are no longer needed NIA has shown with this how they really feel about us.
You have your Pokemon Cash cow, go bleed them out for all they are worth.
Very well put @Claudija I haven’t bought my airplane ticket yet so will see how @niantic responds back. I make great $$$ but this is now about principle.
I totally understand your view niantic and I hope you can understand ours.
Comments
I agree with you, there are better ideas, I hope niantic hear/read us.
Really disappointing to see Niantic start charging, with no warning, for events that they have stopped even showing up to, and for which they provide no support to the volunteers that make the events happen. Full support for this message.
It is wholeheartedly great to see all of this brought into focus by Claudija. Reading through the comments its equally great to see other vanguards backing her up, creating a unified stance for the entire player base.
There are so many things wrong with the approach taken by Niantic, many of them highlighted by Claudija. We all have our personal reasons for considering one of them especially heinous, and for me that is the complete lack of acknowledgement of the work faction orga teams put in. I will happily pay to attend an anomaly, I already do, but I will be paying those who are actually working to make it a great event. If Niantic wants to charge money to attend their event, they'd better organize it too.
I am curious what new ways Niantic will come up with of monetizing, but I sure hope communication will play a key part, I however don't have much faith in this by now...
Totally agree with OP.
Even RR agents are required to pay.. for what exactly?
Ok onsite agents participate to local event and may benefit for exclusive stuff reserved for them.. (I do not agree but it's your event so you can arrange it as your wish)
But.. remote agents?
Remote agents (eg. Operators, rechargers) offer their help, for free, spending their time and are required to pay in order to have their efforts recognized. Is this logical in any point of view?
Other people, for example who already booked their flights or gave their word they would have helped are resigning to this fee but I'm sure that will be the first and last one.
We already spent lot of money in many ways to make happen beautiful fields and arts you proudly share on your socials.
The consequence? Most agents do not want to be part of remote assistance anymore. Not just this anomaly or this recharge room but ingress as a game.
Is this what you want?
Gaining some bucks and lost most of your behaved players following your madness since almost 6 years?
You're in time to recognize your mistake.
Bear in mind this is not pokemon go community.
Regards
Well said !
Thanks @Claudija to say loudly what we all think
+1 to original post!
I am not shocked to see that they did this, but I am shocked to see how they did this. Timing is everything and we are already struggling to keep players together after September 30th - yet you chose NOW, during your most difficult time, to make this change. It's not just bad judgement, it just shows that you do NOT have your finger on the pulse of the remaining player base. I'm not going anywhere, I'll continue to play and probably still buy the character medal packs like usual - but I'm quickly finding more and more reasons to stop. If my community dies off then I'm gone too.
+1
For remote participating should we pay $15 for getting x2 AP (actually 20 AP per single portal charge instead of 10 AP)?
Do you really think it would make any sense?
This is the same as with the european mission days that just canceled external and no info.. my town submitted all details for MD etc.. and then u dropped the bomb many months later, no external European MD .. this is the same thing, just a month before next anoamlies u annoucne this fee to attend and get medal.. this will only make anomalies that less people will attend sadly...
Thanks for this open letter!
+1
Nice and unbiased writeup.
Thanks for this! 100% Supported.
Thanks @Claudija for voicing out for all Ingress players. Nia must think about not all agents are capable to pay. It's getting ridiculous when Nia asking for a payment from players aka agents. They must think about the sacrifice being made by most agents to make Niantic's event aka anomaly happened. Some of agents leave behind their family just to play their hobby. Travel thousands of kilometers just to join the fun with their friends. Now Niantic asking for a payment of the medal? Come on!!!!
One more thing. In-game payment should go through Google/Apple so their refund policy should apply.
I don't like giving my money without any guarantee.
Actually I already had issues with your paid stuff and those were not resolved
I could not have said this better myself. You touched all the bases there, and no more words need be said. Thank you.
+1
"don’t you think there are other, maybe even better, ways to introduce paid elements into the game than this?"
absolutly agreed.
for guys from Niantic: buddies, for years some agents waiting for an so-called "API Access" which could make local competitive events, based on in-game mechanics.
Let it will be paid - it's fine for cloud era. But let it be. It could be fresh taste of the game in order keep experienced agents motivated to continue. Not only triangles, guys.
2. Triggering passcodes to banners: I want to promote my banner, and I pay for some staff which could be gained by completing missions.
3. Another approach is making L8 and/or VR staff available for money. Yes, I know - some agents told that it could ruin farming and impact social aspects. Let's think about people who using Ingress primary to get fun, not to die hard within kilometers of walk.
This is not about ruining, this is about balance. You can spend time for obtaining inventory. Or you can pay to save time.
Thanks you @Claudija for this open letter that represents quite nicely our feelings about this new paying procedure to participate in the Anomalies.
This payment it could be nothing for people in the US or Europe, but the impact that this will have in Latin America is so big. Countries like Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico will have a direct impact because of the currency exchange for example:
A minimum salary in Colombia is around 125 USD every 15 days... So we're talking about the 12% of the salary ! This is ****.
If you guys want to get more money, there are a lot of ways to get it. We can pay for extra inventory space, you guys can raise the trackers, the character medals etc.
Niantic is killing this game.
+1
I would be willing to even straight up pay $15 for the Ingress app, but I am NOT willing to pay $15 for each anomaly that I go to. I have paid hundreds of dollars to Niantic over the years in tickets. You CAN make money if you do it smart. This is not the way to monetize an anomaly!
Just sell more swag. Myriad swag came out AFTER the anomaly for some reason. Sell swag during the anomaly, mark it up 50%, and boom, profit! And nobody will be upset.
But THIS makes me upset.
For everything they do, the way Niantic have treated their voluntary playerbase is absolutely disgusting in my eyes.
Shame on you Niantic!
+1
Good letter
This is so true, and so well-versed. Thank you for this. Let's see what happens now that there is a clear statement with solid reasons against this outcome.
This is an excellent post, It is shocking albeit not surprising that Niantic has managed to commit so many blunders in one action.
I am very disappointed that I don't get anything for participating in an event that I booked vacation time off and flights for (across an entire continent) to be able to attend several months ago. The badge has always been a participation badge, and to now have it held hostage behind a paywall is absurd and seriously makes me reconsider attending any future events.
Agreed 100%.
I think pay for a service would be fair. If Niantic would organise the event, contact the town and authorities, reserve for registration and after party places. And be present on site for registration, results, animations. As it was years ago.
On now on, it's not the case anymore. I was already shocked we can't obtain physical swag anymore, even if we had to pay for it. Now we have to pay just to have the right to participate as an official player and see our stats counted. Please...
Thank you Claudija for your words, things needed to be said this way to be, I hope, heard.
PREACH!
So many valid points, thank you @Claudija for addressing this.
This very well may be the final straw that puts so many of your player base into retirement. And may be one of the biggest shortsighted moves the company has made over the years.
The ingress playerbase has been continuously underappreciated and disregarded as a whole for a long time. And since we are no longer needed NIA has shown with this how they really feel about us.
You have your Pokemon Cash cow, go bleed them out for all they are worth.
Very well put @Claudija I haven’t bought my airplane ticket yet so will see how @niantic responds back. I make great $$$ but this is now about principle.
I totally understand your view niantic and I hope you can understand ours.
Best Regards,
a loyal but skeptical agent