One of the simplest lessons learned in my first month with an augmented reality game is the importance of sun protection on the back of your neck: long hair, sun screen, or cloth. This is because of the common pose of an Ingress player. Outdoor, smartphone-based games are most popular on nice days. Rain makes … Continue reading Turn and Burn
Guild Wars 2 and Ingress both have PvP systems of territorial control with individual and team points, where what earns individual advancement is aligned with but not identical to what helps the team win, leading to a disconnect in incentives similar to agency costs under the principal-agent problem. GW2 players have WvW levels, and they … Continue reading Individual and Group Rewards
On this holiday, I was pondering the Empire’s relationship with aliens, robots, and cyborgs. Emperor Palpatine considered non-humans, err, less than human and ran an Empire dominated by humans. He did, however, have armies of droids (especially if you admit that the prequel series was made), and the best known symbol of the Empire was … Continue reading Choosing Sides
I am led to believe that Ingress has a significant player retention problem around level 5-6. I do not know if there is data to support that, but it is the perception I have heard from several sources, and it appeals to my confirmation bias. I see three significant player retention issues, all of which … Continue reading Realization, Retention
This post has a good explanation of long-term design issues in Ingress, similar to the ones that sunk Shadowbane. In board game circles it’s referred to as the “runaway leader†effect – winning makes it easier and easier to keep winning. It has a few advantages – it is a more intrinsically realistic dynamic. There … Continue reading Runaway