Things I would pay for in Ingress

@NianticBrian Asked for some ideas for monetization. On the Portal Hunter Club, I said how we have been giving Niantic ideas basically since Ingress started. I can tell Brian really cares about the game and the community. I can't remember a time where Niantic came to the community and said help us make something you really want. So here's my list for all of you to pick apart and dissect. I don't know much about the amount of time it would take or how these ideas would be worked out in the backend. I'm not a game economist, so I'll let the smarter people figure out if it should be a one time, or a subscription. I just want to provide a listing of things I think if I was Brian, what I would want the team working on.

  1. Advanced stats/competitions like The Grid
  2. Medal/mission rearranging
  3. Unique character badges, or other type of badge for supporting, as another person had suggested.
  4. Pay for Ito-En Transmuters. Those are time savers like frackers. They should be a paid item, in my mind.
  5. Ability to pay for old badges from past eras (maybe they have a different color scheme to indicate they were purchased after the events.
  6. Avatars like Pokemon Go? Maybe with a cool cyberpunk look instead of a cartoony look of pogo. Special edition items for anomalies and such
  7. If you're going to do buffs, make it cool, but not pay to win. For example, you level them up separately from AP. You could purchase accelerators. I know those are in a lot of mobile games, and too much of that cheapens the experience.

Comments

  • Redfox1701Redfox1701 ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019

    The Division 2 has an interesting system where they have special weapons, but when you open the game, they have 0 ammo. As you play, you slowly get it, so you can use it. What if Ingress were to develop a system like that, where the longer you play, you eventually get buffs or special weapons. Maybe it resets if you haven't played the game in 4 hours or something like hacking. There are lots of systems in other games that Niantic could pick apart and patch together to make Ingress cool.

  • I think a loot crate, randomized item pack, might be a good way to generate revenue. The hard part would be to keep it from being p2w. Have a set number of common items starting at lvl 6 with a small chance to include higher level xmp, resos or an even smaller chance to include VR items.

  • I like the loot idea after completing a mission or banner. If there was a way to link missions together, You could collect gear at the end of it as a reward

  • Pay for expedited portal reviews like OPR, or maybe for extra submissions.

    Pay for passcode packages or restock portals and specialty beacons for local events

    Pay for physical swag at anomalies again.

    Pay for a high ticket convention type event (ingress-con) with NIA presence and NIA rather than local Orga (Though I would volunteer to help if you ever hold it near enough to me for that to be feasible)

    Pay for expedited mission approval for special occasions.

    Pay for something that would give me a temp AP earning boost for an hour or so on days I am ****. Pay for a temporary boost in output of keys only or for a keys only hack capability for microfielding projects.

    Pay for quantum caps that duplicate VR items again, but maybe subscription or limited lifespan like incubators.

    Pay for subscription API access for developing better map access, etc for large field planning

    Pay for moar key lockers

    Pay for media lockers

    Pay for increased inventory capacity

    Pay for low level resos for **** ap

    Pay extra for something "VIP" at anomalies or similar events

    Pay for special ingress-related trips like Navarro, Mission Day at Sea, something related to donating to or working for a cause

    Pay a monthly fee for a portal at a local business that we frequent

    Pay for a custom badge for a community created event

    Pay for different world map skins

    If the community were as large and active as it was a few years ago, I would have paid a monthly subscription for it, but such a thing would probably **** off the user base now. However, maybe a nominal sub could work if the user base grows again from other efforts? Maybe start small like a $25 or less a year? Maybe tie it to something like get a special supporter badge or avatar or something for the subscription period?

    Most other games that have monetization basically let you buy gear to save time and that seems really unpopular in the Ingress community.

  • I want an AP booster. Wouldn't make medals any easier and it doesn't have to be double, even. It's just a thing people chasing AP for leveling and recursing could go for.

    A 13.31% boost for an hour would be thematic and pretty reasonable. Maybe it wouldn't sell well like that though. Just a thought

    A 13.31% boost could be reasonable enough to be an all time boost for subscribers, I suppose. Even more thematic

  • I heard a couple of great suggestions recently:

    Every time someone recurses, they have the chance to buy some extra storage

    Or

    Every time someone recurses they get the right to buy 1 special quantum capsule which replicates VR items. Non-tradeable item.

    This links rewards to achievement not just money and rewards recursion which keeps agents playing.

  • I would also pay for a capsule that truly kills a key so it can be a trophy.

  • No loot boxes, please. And no p2w weapons and such. Limited availability, event-specific caches of supplies like the Anomaly load-outs and such are fine, IMHO, since they mostly go to facilitate one-off activities that burn resources that are otherwise hard for many players to acquire (and they don't seem to break anything). I made suggestions about stuff that I think would be good to offer in another thread, so will refrain from repeating here - but I think these are good discussions to have!

  • roarexroarex ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019

    Would be nice to have support for once.

  • Would the idea of eggs and incubators (or portmanteaus and keys) work in Ingress?

  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭


    XM Tank:

    ·this item collects xm when the xm bar is already full

    ·on use, it refills your xm bar

    ·it is a unique (you can only get 1) paid item

    ·its capacity scales with your agent access level (it should be the same as your xm bar capacity)


    Battery Portal Mod:

    ·this portal mod reduces portal decay by 33%

    ·it doesn't stack with similar mods (same way ITO Transmuters don't stack)

    ·while active, portal doubles XM production rate (máximum XM still applies)

    ·while active, portal experiences an incremented Power Cube hack rate


    Dark XM Leaker:

    ·this item discharges target portal by 90% of its resonators energy

    ·if other portals were linked, they lose 45% of their current resonators energy

    ·the leaker discharges 20% of energy of portals linked on its 2nd jump, excluding those already affected by 1st jump

    ·since it is a virus, it falls into the "weapons category" and is affected by virus inmunity

    ·due to its power and similarities to frackers, Leakers should be purchaseable in packs


    Bot Assistant:

    ·this item is shown as a special capsule were only XMP or US can be inserted

    ·with a maximum of 50 weapons, bot can be activated and consumed, being placed as if a capsule was dropped and shown to everyone as dropped capsules, but not retrievable again

    ·after a short time delay, the Bot automatically starts firing up its xmp load until all are fired, then it consumes and disapears

    ·firing order should be stablished before activation

    ·due to XM unstability, it is not possible to activate more than 1 Bot Assistant within a 5m radius until it is consumed

    ·this would be a paid item, sold by unit


    Mod Crafter:

    ·this item allows you to mix 2 different (non sponsored) portal mods into one

    ·it has an "activity" cooldown, so it requires gameplay to be used again (ap gain, trekking and such)

    ·it is a unique paid item

    ·due to VR restrictions and game balance, it would not be possible to mix VR items, only common and rare items

    Example: Shield Turrets, where a Rare Shield has been mixed with a Turret. This new item would not be crafteable again and its status would change from "Rare" to "Crafted"


    -Key Album:

    ·this item is an unlimited capsule that allows you to keep (single) portal keys from places you visit

    ·keys stored cannot be pulled off, just deleted

    ·keys can be entered in to see portal status, pictures and such

    ·item would be unique and paid


    This ideas are more than 2 years old.

  • grendelwulfgrendelwulf ✭✭✭✭✭

    I could see that being abused though. Agents creating toll missions that slip through the reviewing process

  • vidiconvidicon ✭✭✭✭✭

    That's a fair concern, but I think that would quickly get noticed in mission communities and people would downvote the mission and/or leave scathing comments at IngressMosaic.com. Troll missions, or even just poorly constructed missions, tend to get noticed. But just the other day I had to run up against a fence a half dozen times to drift onto a portal to complete a mission due to a temporarily closed exhibit at the zoo. The author of the mission was extremely careful to plot a logical path through the zoo, but they couldn't have known that one exhibit would be closed for a few weeks when I decided to do it.

  • I think Niantic would make a killing off of a special capsule that can only be filled once but items inside doesn't count towards inventory space. So it begins with 100 spots. Put 50 items inside and take those items out now it can only hold 50 items. Filll it up with 100 items you can never put anything in it ever again.

    Niantic gets a revenue source. Players get the extra inventory space when they need it.

  • hasn't this thread existed many times before? I'd pay to have someone look at & aggregate them. Hey @Redfox1701 take my CMU.

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