Ingress : Multiple Accounts - An Honest Perspective

Ingress is a great GPS based treasure hunt meets capture the flag game. It's addictive and ripe for people to take advantage of the game for gaining an advantage. People do so by faking their GPS location, having several accounts or by using other people's accounts for them.Today I'm going to discuss having Multiple Accounts specifically and what my thoughts and comments are in regards to our role as players and peers.

I've played ingress for almost 1 year now, traveling and meeting people from both teams both on the field of battle and off. Ingress players are dedicated, they spend their own time and money to advance their accounts and sometimes they just want to advance quicker or have a competitive edge Vs. others. I plan to review all of the logical reasons why someone may want to have a 2nd account.

2,000 Item Limit: The Mule
Niantic who runs the Ingress game, limits each player to 2,000 items. That's massive right? (1) Well right now every place you visit gives you a key. These places, (Portals) will let you establish links to other portals and allow your team to dominate the field of play known as the intel map. I'm going to presume you know a bit about links, fields and the basics of ingress gameplay, if not please download ingress and run the tutorial from your phone after you install the game and get your invite. People can easily have 250-500 keys in their inventory which take up a portion of that 2,000 item limit. (2) Then, you have players who feel they need to have enough equipment to fully setup a portal for their team. So, they harvest level 4 resonators. (3) People just don't have any competition, so they are able to harvest supplies over and over and over and need a place to store their supplies.

No Other Ingress Player Lives Near Them
It's sad but true, sometimes there is no one around to play with you. Either you are just the only one or you are truly  the only one and have no enemies either. It may make it difficult (1)  to make higher level portals or (2) level up because you don't gain enough experience points. I can understand the desire to want other teammates and level up, its a problem that exists in small towns and areas that are hard to reach. The only way to combat this is to travel to find a larger area. However this is not something that everyone is willing to do so, the desire for cheating multiples in situations like this.

Bored out of their minds - who gives a F about anyone else playing - its just a game!
This is the "Joker" approach, someone who realizes this is a game and simply doesn't care about anyone or anything about the game other than the pure dynamics. Will it let you make multiple accounts? YES? "Okay, lets do it....if its in the game and I can do it, it must be allowed right?" You can do anything you want as long as your account doesn't get suspended or someone finds you and takes action.

Conclusion:
As a community leader, I've seen a lot of players up close and personal. I've been a victim of cheating and I've come to understand players motives. I've reported players for cheating and know the frustration that comes with being a victim. I apologize to all who are effected by cheaters, the only defense against cheaters is isolation and resolve to be the best player you can be. I think witch hunts are a stupid waste of time, the problem is not the cheaters but how it effects the players who are victims of the cheaters.

(1) If someone cheats against you it's because your doing something they don't like and I applaud all who stand up to cheats. Your not playing their game, please don't quit ingress or give up.  Report the cheater, be as detailed in your report as humanly possible. Explain WHY you feel someone is cheating and get others to report as well. DO NOT become a super spy, be polite and civil, look for evidence and communicate with people who you think are cheating.I have had amazing success in getting a player banned by providing time stamped log files and requesting teammates to also report using the proof provided from the logs of cheating on 2 occasions.

(2) To the cheaters, repent, find another game or simply cease and desist. Your actions reduce fair competition and expose the magic that is ingress. I use the words magic because as well all know, there is no such thing. Cheating in ingress is like revealing the flaws and cheapening the game. Knowing that someone did not follow the same path as a non-cheater kills the spirit of players who enjoy playing by the rules. Stop cheating before it goes too far, if your cheating please find another game to play.


FULL DISCLOSURE:

My wife and I play ingress, last winter she was pregnant and at times unable to reach certain portals. I had taken her device to assist her in leveling up. She is an active player and at the time I felt this was acceptable play. I was photographed, insulted and reported for cheating. I admitted what I did to Niantic with a resolve not to ever use another account ever again. I have cheated and know what its like to be prosecuted and hated by a community. If you are reading this and have cheated, I want you to know that you don't have to continue cheating. No good will come out of unfair gameplay and it will only cast a shadow over everything you've done. This game is more complex than just taking over portals, play fair - make friends and drink a beer because life is too short to be worried about when all your hard work will be destroyed by cheating.

Thank you for reading,

-rmazzara

Welcome to my Blog on Ingress

Ingress is a GPS based game in BETA testings - where you choose to join a team, either blue or green and take over places of interest for your team. This game is made by a company called Niantic and is highly addictive due to is explorer nature and social aspects in my opinion. I've been playing Ingress since November and have had many exchanges with other people and experiences and memories which I will cherish for years to come.

So, who am I? My name is Richard Mazzara and I am Agent rmazzara, I live in Queens and I am an aggressive ingress player. I've done many crazy things that most normal people would never do at times when people would normally not be out and about unless they were drunk or working the night shift!

What do I do and why should you bother reading this blog? I am a very active community leader in the NYC/LONG ISLAND area, I travel from the tip of Manhattan to the reaches of Riverhead to socialize and play Ingress. I have players (agents) who I call friends, foes and other in my sphere of communications. I hear stories of players cheating, traveling around collecting keys, taking down farms and building farms all over the area.

Lets see how thing blog evolves and grows over the next year as it will show my spin on the game of Ingress!

(You may join the game by emailing rmazzara@gmail.com for an invite)