Agents

Originally shared by Ingress

Agents,
We are excited to introduce the newest member of the Niantic Community Team, Dominik Schönleben! Dominik (on the left) will be taking on the role of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Community Manager. You'll be able to meet him in person if you are attending the #CassandraPrime Ingress Anomaly in Warsaw on July 28th.

We invite you to submit questions for him to get to know him better. Please post your questions in the comments of this post. After a while, we will disable comments, gather all of your questions, and answer as many as we can by updating this original post with the Q&A later today.

Q1: Jessica Gigante - Which is your favourite Italian food?
A1: Carbonara but it has to be made without cream like they did in the old days in Italy.

Q2: Dries Goddefroy - Do you have a secret recipe?
A2: Yes. My Father is a master pastry chef - like his Father. We have a family recipe for the most delicious Italian nut cake in the world that has been passed down for generations. The only thing I can tell you is that is made with marzipan.

Q3: Georg Schneider (jizza) - enlightened or resistance?
A3: When I am playing Ingress I am Enlightened. When I am acting as the EMEA Community Manager I am objective and take no sides.

Q4: Aaron Almeida - Who's got a better beard?
A4: All beards are majestic and beautiful in their own ways.

Q5: Josh Stock - Prior to Niantic, what's your background?
A5: Prior to Niantic I was a writer for WIRED Germany for four years reporting on games, geeks, and gadgets. The three important Gs. This is how I discovered my love for augmented reality gaming. I’ve also written for other media outlets such as Huffington-Post, Vice, and Focus Online. When not exploring the world playing Niantic games, I am usually playing on my Nintendo Switch. I especially enjoy indie games. I speak German, English, and can read a little bit of French. When I want to disconnect from the Portal network I enjoy playing board games. My absolute favorite is Arkham Horror the card game.

Q6: Vasco Fernandes - I see a beard pattern for Niantic community managers.... 😂 Welcome Dominik!
A6: Our APAC Community Manager +Fumi needs to start growing one if that is the case.

Q7: Simon Urquhart (welshkid) - Does this mean we will see a ramp up of EMEA events and of course anomalbobnomalies?
A7: Our events team does all of the hard work with selecting, planning, and executing our live events based on a variety of requirements. As the community manager I am happy to pass along feedback to them if there are cities you think we should visit. Please reach out to me with your ideas.

Q8: Aaron Almeida - What's your agent name and level?
A8: nerdmeetsyou and I am currently level six.

Q9: Michael Koopman - Which beer?
A9: I prefer Augustiner Helles.

Q10: Aaron Almeida - Is Great Britain still a part of Europe?
A10: They are still part of the European continent and links from there can connect to Portals throughout the EU. The Portal network does not recognize political boundaries or decisions like Brexit.

Q11: Mustafa Said - How'd you find out about Ingress?
A11: My girlfriend showed me the game after I told her how much I enjoyed Pokémon GO.

Q12: Aaron Almeida - Were you at the World Cup in Russia?
A12: No.

Q13: Olaf Niemeyer (ThreeCheeseTall) - Speyside or Islay?
A13: Highland Park.

Q14: Patrycja K. - Hello, will you give us a recipe for Andrew's lasagne?
See you in Warsaw;)
A14: No. I had to sign an NDA when I joined Niantic.

Q15: Brian Peterson - By this photo, it is clear that +Dominik Schönleben and +Andrew Krug are about to do the weigh-in before the Niantic Bearding Championship. How do the competitors feel about their chances? I know Andrew is a fierce bearder. Dominik, are you a tactical bearder who usually wins on points or will you be going for an early-round, power-bearding knockout?
A15: There should be no beard on beard violence. All beards are winners.

Q16: Ishira “Glyph Hunter” Tsubasa - Hello +Dominik Schönleben !!! Welcome to the family! Can I get a glyph sequence from you to commemorate your new position?
A16: RECHARGE - HUMAN - HARMONY

Q17: Joseph Kam - Have any idea to expand our community into more African countries?
A17: There will be a Mission Day soon in South Africa. You can register here: http://events.ingress.com/MissionDay/CapeTown. I look forward to discussing with the community about any ideas that you have.

Q18: Jeff Imes - Congrats on the new position, and now for a typical Community Manager question. "If you have 4 pencils and 7 apples, how many pancakes will fit on the roof?"
A18: 42

Q19: Brent Hollett (Perringaiden) - Given that +Andrew Krug was hired as the Global Community Manager For Ingress and +Dominik Schönleben, you're being hired as the Niantic EMEA Community Manager, what are your duties regarding Ingress, Pokemon and Wizards United, or do you have any specific game you'll be covering?
A19: I will be supporting all of our Global Community Managers on the products they are involved with.

Q20: cedric rakotomalala - Will you bring your biocard at Warsaw?
A20: They are still being created. I am quite sad that I will not be able to trade them with you in Warsaw. But if you see me I would still love to collect yours. I am already preparing a binder.

Q21: Aaron Almeida - What are you better at, fishing, phishing or catfishing?
A21: I am working on my Magikarp medal at the moment. Feel free to approach me with trade offers for XL Magikarp.

Q22: Nikita Korolev NikaKor - Welcome to real world, Dominic! Tell me, what exactly are you going to answer for? For conduct of anomalies, for formation of communities, spread of game in region? Will you hold your own AMA, will you have your own channel in Telegram and do you have to love lasagna to become a community manager? Thank you in advance!
A22: I will be the advocate for players in the EMEA region. I am not involved with planning events but I will take all of the feedback players have and provide it to the team. Players can share their ideas, concerns, and questions with me directly. I will also be involved with identifying EMEA POCs for various Ingress events. I do have a Telegram account and can be reached at nerdmeetsyou.

Q23: Hans Siemons - Have you eaten a kapsalon yet?
A23: No. But Andrew says I have to travel to Belgium to try it. But I’ll need a good recommendation on where to go to have the best experience. Any advice?

Q24: Marco - KeeperMn - La Capra - who is stronger, a bear or a shark?
A24: It depends on what weapon they are using.

Q25: Carsten Groß (Mulberry2nd) - Were you fully aware of what you were doing by signing the contract and NDA with Nia?
A25: I can neither confirm nor deny that any contract like this was signed.

Q26: Christine Jeffery - Welcome! Coffee or Tea?
A26: Depends on my mood. I like them both. But I only drink green tea.

Q27: Jan Svoboda (Nearh) - Welcome, +Dominik Schönleben! It's great to finally have someone taking care of EMEA community ☺ I'm interested in how did you find this job opportunity, why did you apply? 🤔 and good luck, you'll need it 😂
A27: Have you heard about the Internet? There is a website http://www.nianticlabs.com/jobs where they list all sorts of fantastic opportunities. I applied because I am passionate about augmented reality gaming and think that Niantic is an awesome company.

Q28: Metamorphis - Welcome +Dominik Schönleben ,what is your favourite ingress character?
A28: Let’s wait and see how the Ingress Prime universe unfolds.

Q29: Alexandre Hô - Why did you accept the position? What are your expectations regarding us, the community?
A29: I accepted the position because I love adventures on foot and interacting with other passionate people who love augmented reality gaming. I expect the community to be very passionate, provide lots of feedback, work with me to make Ingress better, and have awesome shared experiences.

Q30: Aaron Almeida - Pizza on pineapple or pineapple on pizza?
A30: No fruits. I am fructose intolerant.

Q31: Christian Linzatti (Burli) - Do you like Missions and Banner?
A31: I enjoy exploring new cities. But sometimes the missions can be too long. So I prefer shorter missions and will probably not complete the banners that require 150 missions.

Q32: 数一（IloveMATH）- Here is welcome from China! Have you taste Chinese food? How do you think of it?
A32: I have only had Chinese food in restaurants in Germany. I don’t think it was authentic. So the answer is: no.

Q33: Alexis RODET - Hi Dominik, I'm happy to have a new interlocutor from Niantic who is closer to me in Europe. Where are you from ? Will you do some weekly or monthly AMA ?
A33: I live in Germany. If players would like me to do a regular AMA I would be happy to consider it.

Q34: Aaron Almeida - Are you a flat earther?
A34: I only see data.

Q35: Anne B (Dtargarye) - Welcome :) Why you as the EMEA community manager and not someone else ?
A35: You will have to ask my manager.


Q36: Joris Huijs - Welcome Dominik, will you be doing a tour through Europe, like Andrew did last year?
A36: I would love to. I am in the process of figuring that out. Maybe after Ingress Prime is released.

Q37:Steven Curley (PsiCoTix) - In your new role - is there an specific issues within the player communities you’d like to focus on initially and attempt to have a positive effect on ?
A37: I would like to find a way to bring new players into the community. As you know it can be a bit challenging for a new player to learn the game and find others to play with.