These events are organized and maintained by the player base with no other payback to them but the game itself. Why would Niantic start charging for something they put very little effort into?
@Claudija , thank you for taking your time to pay this. I wholeheartedly agree and hope this hits Niantic's feed and gets then to reverse course for the time being.
The worst part of this is Niantic making money off the backs of volunteers. If you want to monetize the anomalies to this degree that's ok. You can do that. But asking for help from POCs while Niantic makes a financial profit is wrong. Maybe all the work for the next series should all be on Niantic. Since they are profiting then they should run it like a business with employees and overhead. We created all the POI so you could make money in your other ventures. We even approve or deny those that are to be used in those ventures. And we make nothing. We've done this for years now simply for the love of the game. And now we are being asked to not only set up these anomalies but also pay for them. For many people that is the end of the line. You may want to rethink this.
Very well said @Claudija I don't mind paying $15 to attend an anomaly, but that needs to be stated when the event is announced to I can plan for it. I also think there should be a free participation option for those that can't afford it which would allow their actions to be counted and the badge to be pushed (onsite attendees), but maybe not give the bonus AP, or offer other incentives for the paid ticket. As for remote attendance, I like the idea that you can participate for free (rechargers, operators, etc) and choose to not get the badge and I think that allowing these participants to "purchase" the badge is a great solution to encourage on-site participation, but still make remote possible for those that can't make it onsite and still want to help and get the badge. For example Umbra I won't be able to attend onsite, living in the middle of the country, both Brooklyn and Sacramento are 24 hours drive or $700-$1000 round trip flights (x2 if I want to bring my wife who also plays actively) which I simply cant afford, I can however help out my faction by recharging or operating, and am willing to pay the $15 in order to get the badge that way
If it was announced earlier, I wouldn't mind paying for a badge (if I was able to buy one - without a payment option that doesn't involve a credit card that won't work). However, there should be an option to participate and count towards the scores without paying. Everyone is a valuable player, no matter where they come from or what they earn.
Also the possible law conflicts due to making it a paid-only event really should have been checked properly. I really don't want to see events getting interrupted by authorities or something because this went wrong.
I'm a bit afraid though, that NIA will stop hosting anomalies in Germany or other European countries as soon as they realize, that the beaurocratic stuff (and the huge ammount of various duties as an official organizer based on other legal rules than in past times) really turns out to be "no fun" and a lot more work (and money to spent for medics, security, employees at NIA to handle that stuff etc.) than before.
:-)
And local orga like POCs and volounteers who do most of the work for anomalies, MDs etc. will likely be .. well .. less motivated to actually do all the work in their spare time. Unpaid. In need to pay to participate their own event.
I'm okay with payment in general for attending in general as NIA is a company and needs funds, but the way it was "introduced" here is a shame and I won't attend any Umbra anomaly. "Vote with your wallet" is the only option players have. Sadly, I'd like to add.
And when looking at the recent changes
end of Redacted (okay, neccessary, but still sad, a big deal for lots of old agents .. and at least a redacted skin for Prime would be nice)
still buggy and battery draining Prime App (with horrible GUI and unneccessary graphic animations killing the fun, although better in recent updates than before)
significant raised pricing in the store
XF, XF, XF everywhere, even during shards instead of Faction vs Faction
now payments for advertised "free events" like anomalies
I'm quite sure, that this will NOT lead to get more people into prime and to make it "a new and great experience".
Maybe you're not interested in Ingress any longer as you earn way more money with Pokemon and Potter ...
Maybe you don't really need this sandbox to develop and test things you sell in other apps later ...
Maybe you pull the plug sooner or later like you did with your other baby Fieldtrip ...
... but in case you want Ingress to be a living world and some fun for the players and grow the numbers instead of shrinking them, you really, really should consider to listen to the players and find a better way to communicate huge changes like this.
I wish you, NIA, best of luck and thank you for Ingress. It's been a really great way to waste time, meet people, explore places and I enjoyed it. But now I'm sadly looking at you killing it softly.
Comments
+1
Totally agree
+1
@Claudija Complete and perfect analysis!!
Well said, thank you for being an excellent vanguard and representative of the ingress community
Well nothing new. Put the profit goals ahead of well designed process. And you gonna fail.
This is true to any subject area.
Thank you for summarizing the issue,
I support the comments in this post.
These events are organized and maintained by the player base with no other payback to them but the game itself. Why would Niantic start charging for something they put very little effort into?
Sad, but definitely not attending this one.
Thank you💙💚
@Claudija Great post. Thanks for putting in the time to create it. I hope Niantic pulls this back and thinks up better ways to monetize Ingress.
Thank you @Claudija for speaking for us. PAY ATTENTION niantic
@Claudija , thank you for taking your time to pay this. I wholeheartedly agree and hope this hits Niantic's feed and gets then to reverse course for the time being.
Couldn't have been said better
Amen Claudia
I definitely could not have said it any better
Thank you @Claudija for this post and I agree with it.
Thank you!
Well put.
Totally agree
The worst part of this is Niantic making money off the backs of volunteers. If you want to monetize the anomalies to this degree that's ok. You can do that. But asking for help from POCs while Niantic makes a financial profit is wrong. Maybe all the work for the next series should all be on Niantic. Since they are profiting then they should run it like a business with employees and overhead. We created all the POI so you could make money in your other ventures. We even approve or deny those that are to be used in those ventures. And we make nothing. We've done this for years now simply for the love of the game. And now we are being asked to not only set up these anomalies but also pay for them. For many people that is the end of the line. You may want to rethink this.
Congratulations.
We have the same problem Here in Brazil.
The avarage salary is U$240,00.
Everyone won't expected this fees.
Thank you Claudija, for writing down what I believe most of us are thinking right now.
Why not SupporterTicket +Free @Niantic?? I will buy one!! But not this way!!!
Can't agree more. Thank you! Well done.
Very well said @Claudija I don't mind paying $15 to attend an anomaly, but that needs to be stated when the event is announced to I can plan for it. I also think there should be a free participation option for those that can't afford it which would allow their actions to be counted and the badge to be pushed (onsite attendees), but maybe not give the bonus AP, or offer other incentives for the paid ticket. As for remote attendance, I like the idea that you can participate for free (rechargers, operators, etc) and choose to not get the badge and I think that allowing these participants to "purchase" the badge is a great solution to encourage on-site participation, but still make remote possible for those that can't make it onsite and still want to help and get the badge. For example Umbra I won't be able to attend onsite, living in the middle of the country, both Brooklyn and Sacramento are 24 hours drive or $700-$1000 round trip flights (x2 if I want to bring my wife who also plays actively) which I simply cant afford, I can however help out my faction by recharging or operating, and am willing to pay the $15 in order to get the badge that way
+1
If it was announced earlier, I wouldn't mind paying for a badge (if I was able to buy one - without a payment option that doesn't involve a credit card that won't work). However, there should be an option to participate and count towards the scores without paying. Everyone is a valuable player, no matter where they come from or what they earn.
Also the possible law conflicts due to making it a paid-only event really should have been checked properly. I really don't want to see events getting interrupted by authorities or something because this went wrong.
+1. Nicely written and I fully agree.
в топку такой ингресс
Full ACK +1
We never asked a commercial company to give up their profit.
But you cannot fool customers.
Excellent post, Claudija!
Congratulations Niantic, for pushing away the whole community from new events.
Cuyix says "I really don't want to see events getting interrupted by authorities"
I'm not so sure. Perhaps another GoFest style international news story about a Niantic event going horribly wrong might be a much needed wake-up call?
Thanks for this great post @Claudija
I'm a bit afraid though, that NIA will stop hosting anomalies in Germany or other European countries as soon as they realize, that the beaurocratic stuff (and the huge ammount of various duties as an official organizer based on other legal rules than in past times) really turns out to be "no fun" and a lot more work (and money to spent for medics, security, employees at NIA to handle that stuff etc.) than before.
:-)
And local orga like POCs and volounteers who do most of the work for anomalies, MDs etc. will likely be .. well .. less motivated to actually do all the work in their spare time. Unpaid. In need to pay to participate their own event.
I'm okay with payment in general for attending in general as NIA is a company and needs funds, but the way it was "introduced" here is a shame and I won't attend any Umbra anomaly. "Vote with your wallet" is the only option players have. Sadly, I'd like to add.
And when looking at the recent changes
I'm quite sure, that this will NOT lead to get more people into prime and to make it "a new and great experience".
Maybe you're not interested in Ingress any longer as you earn way more money with Pokemon and Potter ...
Maybe you don't really need this sandbox to develop and test things you sell in other apps later ...
Maybe you pull the plug sooner or later like you did with your other baby Fieldtrip ...
... but in case you want Ingress to be a living world and some fun for the players and grow the numbers instead of shrinking them, you really, really should consider to listen to the players and find a better way to communicate huge changes like this.
I wish you, NIA, best of luck and thank you for Ingress. It's been a really great way to waste time, meet people, explore places and I enjoyed it. But now I'm sadly looking at you killing it softly.