Ingress - completely unique and frustrating at the same time.

I first heard about Ingress about 6 months ago.  I downloaded it purely based on the fact that it was a game developed by Google.  This alone was motivation enough to make me try it out.  I’ve always been a fan of Google products but never heard much about their game making ability.  Of corse the game takes advantage of one of the core elements of Google.  Big data.

The advantage that Google has that other game developers don’t is access to an amazing amount of data and technology.  By harnessing the power of the modern smart phone Google has created a very interesting MMO.  An MMO that plays out in real life locations.  Players must actually move around to specific locations to actually do anything in the game.  You pick a side (either blue or green) and continue to fight for your side. 

This is where the game loses me completely.  I hate item collection games.  With a passion.  Having to grind to get to the next level is something of a pain to do for me.  It is okay for games where the grind is actually fun. Like Diablo. But the problem I have with ingress is that it is just not fun for me.  I can appreciate some of the cool concepts that the game does that no other game can do.  I think the missions tab has some cool ideas and I have actually made notes to visit some locations that I saw listed there if not just for my own curiosity.

But I honestly cannot bring myself to play this game beyond level 2.  I tried but it just bores me to death.  I think the thing that bugs me the most is the feeling of futility i get.  I don’t actually feel like I am making a difference, but then again maybe that’s because I'm only a level 2.  But this to me is a major game flaw.  I will bring up the example of EVE online.  EVE has a reputation for having an insanely steep learning curve but at least you can do something with a low level character.  You can actually do quite a lot in EVE with very little skill points but the problem is new players usually have no clue what those things are.   EVE has other problem but that is for another blog.  With Ingress I feel that the little progress that I make is not as gratifying as I would wish it to be.

In the end the nerd in me really likes what was put into ingress but the gamer in me wishes the game was a little bit more fun to play.  Perhaps the funnest thing about this game is the bizarre behavior the game forces you to do.