Gifting System in place of Digital code packs

Let me start this topic by saying i understand why Niantic stopped doing the digital code packs and codes on cards. Ebay is filled with perfect examples on it. I am not arguing that wasn't a problem and still is.

The problem is, is by making purchases account bound and pushing badges and gear immediately, it has made it impossible for those like myself to run free give-a-way events that use to gift these codes to other agents.

Yes, there are people out there that run give-a-way events. When i was an embedded reporter i brought attention to events by putting codes in pictures i was posting. Ive used codes as ways to bring peoples attention to give-a-way events i ran on gplus, for the glyph journal birthdays and mine yearly. I've given away character and gear codes on official live streams, ifs events, dead drops, and gifted them to other groups for their own give-a-way events. I bought multiple packs every single anomaly not to sell my codes but to give them away and i have so many agents that got their first code from the events ive run and i am not the only agent thats done this. There are also many other agents that have used the codes as IFS rewards, anomaly after party give-a-ways, dead drops, birthday presents, etc. And none of us can do that anymore.

I know people are going to argue on this post about using other things but let me give you some reasons why coded card, gear load outs, and character cards have been perfect for give-a-way events.

  1. Official gear from Niantic pulls more people into a give-a-way event. Like it or not, but official gear catches a lot more attention and in some of my first events the biggest reason people said they didnt participate in them was because all of the stuff i was giving out was fan made items. Not to say there isnt some amazing swag out there that i absolutely love, but sadly i can't force all agents to love them and unofficial swag isnt appreciated or desired by everyone.
  2. Yes, we could use other swag like patches, stickers, etc but have you dealt with the cost of running an event where you have to send swag to agents? My first major, online, give-a-way event for ingress on gplus cost me over $200 in shipping just stickers and patches for only a handful of people.... Being able to purchase multiple gear load outs, digital packs, character codes/cards were much cheaper to deal with thus allowed us to run more give-a-way events.
  3. There is no other small merchandise being sold in the Niantic swag store for us to be able to give-a-way and unless you had a mule, you can't always get official event gear. The digital packs were perfect for us off site.
  4. Coded cards, load outs, digital packs allowed us to give rewards instantly instead of having to wait weeks to months to see if our participants got their rewards on time. Thus more people became involved in these player run events.
  5. Being able to purchase these allowed us to run not just local or country events, but global events because the rewards could be given to anyone, anywhere. I've given codes to people who have never had an anomaly near them and could never afford to go to one and to see the happiness and excitement when they redeemed the code is beyond amazing.


So i am asking for Niantic to please consider a gifting system. Allow those of us who weren't abusing this system to be able to purchase multiple packs again to run our give-a-way events. If digital packs can't be given in email again why not consider a gift system with a limited number of times some one can purchase the codes? Even if im allowed to buy and hold one extra code on my account that i could give-a-way, id take it, though i would prefer at least to be able to buy two extras. I know im asking a lot, i know that it requires a new system and you are trying to fight off the people that were selling codes but there are agents out here that would gladly buy multiple packs if given the option that arnt going to sell the codes.

@NianticBrian @NianticCasey

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Comments

  • If we could gift CMU we could then gift enough for others to buy their own badge. Gifting is definitely something I have felt is lacking from Ingress and prevents those who will pay being able to pay on behalf of those who can't or don't. Right now it's stifled by the fact we have no way to gift in store purchases or in game credit.

  • Great initiave @Ishira and community spirit.

    I believe that it is possible technically in two ways.

    1. Add in store ability to bye a one time use passcode. To complete the transaction you could complete in a mandatory field the ign name of the agent you wish to donate the gear through a passcode. So he/she will receive an one redeem limited passcode .

    2. Add in store ability to buy each time you wish your custom bundle through your own inventory and through a unique passcode to be able to "send" your giveaway to another agent.Again a second form field for the receiver 's ign would be mandatory.

    Fully traceable from Niantic , procedure and many checkpoints for anti cheating counter measures can be implemented.agent level limitations both ways, ingame activity level background checks , item limitations, items identification etc.

    Passcode also could be translated to official apparel , or patches or swag generally speaking.

    The cost of physical swag to choose buy and post is quite expensive and i know it from personal experience when you want to send it as a gift.

    But the digital version is quite a different story.

    (Should i post this also in another category ? )

    @NianticBrian @NianticCasey


  • CMU only allows you to buy what's in the store right there though. It doesn't allow people to save presents for a birthday or celebration.

  • crystalwizardcrystalwizard ✭✭✭
    edited January 2020

    A simple fix for stockpiling would be this - Add a new category to the store - Gifts. Each gift is listed as a passcode the person has to redeem, and flagged with the agent name that it was given to (that way no one else can redeem it). Each gift also shows the date it was given and he agent that gave it to them.

    Then, IF the agent has a full inventory when they try to redeem a gift, they get a message that they are out of space (like we do with all sorts of things now) then the gift can't be redeemed. It just stays in their Gift list till they free up inventory space.

    And then add the functionality to just long press on the gift passcode in order to redeem it instead of having to type it into the passcode field.

  • ToxoplasmollyToxoplasmolly ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2020

    For this gifting system to work, the agent who originally acquires a digital pack/code from Niantic needs to be able to:

    1. Hold onto the pack/code for a potentially indefinite amount of time.
    2. Transfer the pack/code to another agent at a time of their choosing.

    As long as supply is limited, that there above is enough to establish a black market or a collectors market or whatever you want to call it. That’s how supply and demand works, and I think we should all make our peace with that. Allowing agents a small number of packs/codes that can each be transferred exactly once (and perhaps subject other restrictions) feels like a reasonable middle ground between the wild west of old and the current situation.

    There is a storied history to agents holding onto a few extra packs/codes to share with fellow agents. Let’s keep that alive.

  • There is no need for the original buyer to keep the code.He buys and transfer in one step. The original buyer should not be able to redeem the "one use" passcode even the receiver send back the passcode to the buyer. I suppose it us easy if the passcode is generated through some algorithm that will bind the passcode to the receivers ign. I cannot say if it is easy or not but i would like to see the idea of @Ishira in store.

  • HydracyanHydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    They could run those legacy medals pack for a whole month, one buy per player only and allow to give it away if the buyer wants to. This way will always be a "passcode" there for emergencies, and the agent on field will even get a medal as prize for his actions on the operation.

  • ToxoplasmollyToxoplasmolly ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2020

    The original buyer needs to hold on to something, at least temporarily. Call it a “gift certificate” or “virtual load out card sans passcode” or whatever. The point is: The original buyer should be able to buy, say, the Akira medal today, while it’s available in the store, and then gift it to another agent two months from now, when it’s no longer available.

  • Why to keep it ? I suppose it will be easier then for some agents to abuse the system. A smal percentage but abuse is always a scenario to consider ways how to avoid 😀

  • HydracyanHydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    I would add a expiration date to use it and a comm message when it is gave away.

  • jontebulajontebula ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2020

    I hope we can get free CMU when we have adventure sync in Pokémon GO if we go more we get more free CMU. Mutch better than gift in Prime. In Ingress we only like help agents on your team not other theme. Gift for Prime are not good and dont work. Only works for Pokémon GO and Harry Potter.

  • Please read from the start and try to understand what @Ishira suggested. She is suggesting something completelly different from what you are trying to say

  • jontebulajontebula ✭✭✭✭✭

    I understand @Ishira mean same as Pokémon GO. I hope we never get gift system in Prime. I hope we only can get free CMU for walk with Adventure sync on when Prime have it.

  • HydracyanHydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2020

    No, you are completely clueless about the discussion here. It's not the same thing as pokemon go's 🎁.

  • XK150XK150 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020

    I'm voting against anything that re-empowers the grey-marketeers, which this would.

  • IshiraIshira ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020

    To be clear, I am not suggesting a system like pokegos. I'm suggesting a limited ability to purchase extra codes for characters and possibly gear load outs that you can gift to other agents that could be used for the purpose of rewards for agent run events like ifs or whatever occasion. I'm suggesting limiting it to maybe one or two extra codes so that we arnt allowing the "black market" and ebay to be flooded with codes as it has been in the past due to the collection and hoarding of codes. I do not want that to happen again and if its purchased through the in app store then maybe it will be easier to track where certain codes come from? We have seen with the mastercode and archetype codes that Niantic may be able to track who redeems certain codes and maybe this could be implemented with this? I do not know as I dont know the inner workings of how those codes work and if they could be used in a much larger capacity.

    I do not work for Niantic or any gaming company nor do I have knowledge in coding a game thus i imagine this sort of thing would be difficult to implement in the scanner and would definitely cost money and man power. Its again a lot to ask for and there are probably simpler ways to handle it.

  • IshiraIshira ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've brought this topic up because I have run over a dozen events where I've given away character and load out cards. I have never once sold a code, only ever given them out. I know many groups and people that run player run events to try and drum up positive interactions within our community. Believe it or not, our communities are filled with giving people and by trying to control those who were and are still selling codes, player events that gave away these codes (did not sell them) took a hit and became limited to what ever codes we have left. If people want to get more codes to run these events they have to trade and possibly buy them from others.

    People have mentioned to me to just ask for free codes but with ingress needing to have more income come in, I would rather pay for these codes and help our communities.

  • IshiraIshira ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020

    Thank you for moving the topic to the correct spot, I wasnt actually sure where to post(<-this word was censored?) this. It is definitely nice to see that you understand where **** from with this. As I stated, I understand why the system changed the way it did and if this cant happen I again understand why. I have been in the swag portion of the game long enough to see the issues with people reselling the cards and codes, it just took a hit on the people combatting that greed with the player run events where they give away their extra codes.

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