September's AMA

September's AMA

Originally shared by Andrew Krug

It is time for the September Ingress AMA! I will reach out to the experts on staff if I can't answer something myself. This means it may take a while before I publish the answers. Post your questions now in the comments!

Edit 1: Disabling comments
Edit 2: Adding the Q&A

Q1: Josh Stock - There have been no OCF, GoRuck, OPR Live, or Intel Ops badges pushed for either day of Cassandra Prime to this point. Can you confirm that this is because all the man-hours of the engineering team (who enters/pushes the badges) is going toward the launch of Ingress Prime? Is there an ETA for when these badges will be pushed for those who attended those (paid) events?
A1: It looks like the badges were pushed last week. I’ve been discussing with the team how we can avoid such a delay going forward. Ingress Prime development was definitely one factor.

Q2: Graeme Bragg - In the Portal criteria, under “A cool piece of art or unique architecture”, “Buildings designed by renowned architects” is listed as a specific criteria. Please could you confirm whether this applies just to ‘interesting’ buildings or to any building designed by a famous/renowned architect?
A2: Any building designed by a famous/renowned architect. NIA OPS says that if it is not obvious that a famous architect was involved, be sure to add a clear description to help the reviewers.

Q3: Josh Stock - There’s lots of (informed) speculation about iOS 12, the lack of support for RoboVM and what that will mean for Ingress (ie many iOS beta testers say that the app breaks). We also have heard that there will be no further updates to the Ingress 1.x app since all the effort is being put into Prime. Will Ingress 1.x work on iOS 12? Can Niantic make a public statement about the impact of iOS 12 on Ingress gameplay?
A3: I believe this has been resolved since the question was asked.

Q4: Warren Dowling (gingercrouton) - Hi Andrew has the drop rate for VR hacking mods been reduced, I haven't seen any in months?
A4: Our product and engineering team says that no changes have been made to the drop rate of any mods.

Q5: Graeme Bragg - In the December 11th AMA, NIAOps confirmed that we should treat scout camps and installations as schools because of the target age range. This raises some questions regarding youth clubs and centres - should we be treating them as schools as well and rating 1* overall? If this is the case, is there any chance that the criteria can be updated please as there are a lot of scout huts, youth centres, etc. making their way through OPR.
A5: According to NIA OPS, “If it is only for K12 age children, it should be rated with a one star. If it is for adults and kids it can be rated based on the other criteria.” They also add, “We are updating the guide based on these questions and discussions we see in the OPR G+ Community. Post in the G+ Community if you have not already.” https://plus.google.com/communities/109209511922265238865

Q6: Jan Kulle - Are you planning or would you consider any additional incentives for people making a lot of contributions in OPR? The Recon badge is insufficient - I've done thousands of reviews for the sake of others but get little to no responses on my own submissions in kind.
A6: I am not aware of anything being planned. But if you have any ideas, please let me know what they are and I will pass them along to the team.

Q7: Graeme Bragg - Some confusion has arisen in our local OPR chat about how we should be rating subs that are not safely accessible - please can you confirm whether we should rate the sub as per other criteria then 1* safe access, or whether we should be giving 1* to “should this be a portal”?
A7: The guidance from NIA OPS that I received is to review the candidate as per the rest of the criteria and use the location questions to address the safety issue.

Q8: Flavio Gerez (Hegel075) - Do you think that the existence of this "families" could stop the growth of the Ingress community since frustration for not being accepted could become a feeling hard to trespass and continue playing. At the end of the day an agent plays Ingress for fun but if this fun cannot be achieved because he is not appreciated by the community's "white elephants" then he stops playing. Thanks!
A8: People naturally gravitate to others and form groups. It is human nature. I don’t think there is a way to eliminate this from happening nor should we, Niantic, attempt to. Ingress would not be the game it is without organized player communities. However, to be clear, no one can stop you from playing the game but yourself. You don’t need permission from anyone to make a field, capture a Portal, and do an in-game mission. On the flip side, there is no requirement that another player has to coordinate their efforts with you either. Working together with other people though can make certain achievements easier and enable different shared experiences.

However, every group of people has their own social structure. Issues arise when a person who is part of a group feels like they are not providing value, being heard, and have their participation in group activities limited by others. If others in your group have given referent or formal power to one or many individuals, there is little you can do about it. Interpersonal conflicts are going to happen. They happen just about everywhere two people can interact with each other. If you have chosen a path were your Ingress game play and enjoyment is dependent on the involvement of others, my only general advice without knowing the specifics of your issue, is to try to work things out.

If you have attempted to resolve your issues without a satisfactory outcome, you do have other options to consider. You can create your own group, recruit friends that will help you, and adjust your own game play. Ultimately, what you get out of Ingres is in your control. Sure, there might be situations that make some achievements more difficult than others. But that doesn’t mean they are impossible. Just because the opposite Faction dominates an area doesn’t mean you can’t play. Keep an open mind and don’t limit yourself by focusing on only a few aspects of gameplay. Best of luck to you.

Q9: Graeme Bragg - New portal photo approval seems to have stopped entirely from community reports - are you able to shed any light on this and/or give an idea of when new photos might start being approved again please?
A9: Photos are being reviewed but they may not be reviewed in the same order as they are received. We are testing a few things including prioritizing reviews for Portals with lower number of photos.

Q10: Adriána Perkele (TheCapsuleCollector) - Hi, i would like to know why we cannot see previos Mission day + events, previously special events, and previous FS on http://ingress.com/events (we can see previous anomalies, previously NL events and previous mission days)
A10: There isn’t an answer for this. It’s a valid point. I’ll talk it over with the events team and see if we can add this.

Q11: Anastacia D Washer - What are Niantic's Plans to improve banner mission reviewer's output? Long time in the queue and Inconsistencies of Approvals and Rejections
A11: According to NIA OPS, Each Mission is reviewed based on its individual merits. Approval of one of the Missions in the series may not guarantee the approval of the rest.

To avoid rejections ensure:
- There is a clear title/description for each Mission
- The Mission image is relevant to the title/description/waypoints
- The Mission image doesn't violate any other criteria (your own image, no watermarks)

If the Mission is rejected, review the Mission Criteria and make the necessary changes before you resubmit: https://support.ingress.com/hc/en-us/articles/206625348-Mission-criteria

Q12: Stan L - Will camp Navarro happen in 2019?
A12: According to our VP of Events Bill Kilday’s recent Reddit AMA, “We are looking for this right dates for future campouts.” https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9cv6d2/happy_20th_birthday_google_september_4_1998_i_was/e5dyeli


Q13: Tobias Hengst - Hey there Andrew! I remember that you said in an previous AMA that after Prime launched the team will update the backend. Will there be any downtime or will everything happen "on the fly"?
A13: We’ll know more about what the cutover looks like and how it will impact things as we get closer.

Q14: DarthMewtwo - How does one become a Trusted Reporter?
A14: You are asked to become one.

Q15: Mick Preston - We were at a cross - faction event this last weekend. A question was brought up - "If Bob Dylan played Ingress, would he be a Resistance Agent, or an Enlightened Agent?" Any idea?
A15: If Bob Dylan signed up in 2012 he would have been Resistance. However, around the time of Darsana he would have changed factions to Enlightened due to ADA’s actions. His Agent name would have been CorrinaCorrina.

Q16: Metamorphis - Are there any plans to make the old Ingress Comics 1-3 available on Google Play as ebooks?
A16: As of right now, no, there is not.

Q17: John Stimmel - There was an OPR themed AMA, any chance there could be a gamemasters AMA? Tons of interesting ideas here https://plus.google.com/+DrewDondero/posts/9kw9LVZhNJ4 and that's just for anomalies
A17: Not a bad idea.

Q18: DarthMewtwo - Why does Niantic keep playing coy with "we'll reveal anomaly names soon" when you already announced them as Cassandra/Recursion/Darsana/Abbadon Prime months ago?
A18: Not sure what you mean. These names were recently re-confirmed.

Q19: DarthMewtwo - Has Niantic decided whether rooting will be allowed in Prime?
A19: Ingress Prime will have many of the same protections that our other games do. This means that devices that are rooted will not be supported.

Q20: Joris Huijs - Hey Andrew, I heard that the participants in the Linz OCF got a patch, will that patch be available for Warsaw OCF participants?
A20: No they will not be. The patch was not something that was mentioned as being included with registration or for participating.

Q21: Tobias Hengst - I had some great candidates in OPR that had a terrible description along the lines of "You better approve this OPR monkeys, it's not a duplicate" and so on. Because I couldn't find a clear rule, are we supposed to one star those portals?
A21: NIA OPS recommends that you rate these with a one star..

Q22: Rob - Hi, in the store we can buy Frackers to gain double output from hacking. Is it possible we could buy something to give us double AP for a limited time? An Ingress equivalent to a Pokemon go lucky egg.
A22: I spoke to our product and engineering team. They said, “We have considered this along with many other IAP ideas. New items will have to wait for a Prime only world though.” So once the servers are upgraded after the client upgrade is released then we will start to see new items.

Q23: Viona Senke - If we could convince you to visit South Africa, what would be top of the list for you to see/do?
A23: Cape of Good Hope, Table Mountain, Boulders Beach… oh my gosh there are so many things.

Q24: Erik Zuiker - Can you explain to me what's the difference between Niantic & NIA?
A24: People tend to use these interchangeably. There is Niantic, the National Intelligence Agency, and the Niantic Project that all get referred to as NIA. Niantic is… well Niantic Inc. The corporation that spun out of Google. The National Intelligence Agency is… well… officially it no longer exists. It is believed that the NIA has been working consistently in the field of fringe and black-lab research, and has been responsible for a number of secret think-tanks exploring murky subjects. The most recent (and notorious) was, of course, the Niantic Project. The Niantic Project was… well it was a think-tank created by the NIA to explore the threats and opportunities present in a recently discovered form of transdimensional energy known as Exotic Matter. Clear as mud?

Q25: Nate (StallionMang) - Portal Edits: agents have been approving/rejecting portal since May. But to my knowledge, no Agents have had any of their submitted edits go live. Do you have any info as to when edits may start moving into the game?
A25: I talked to the OPR team. They are able to confirm that many edits have gone live. Like Portal submissions, edits require votes to reach a decision. Once a decision has been reached, you will get an email about it.

Q26: Mustafa Said - Any idea what's going on with +H. Richard Loeb ? He's been super silent lately. And Investigate went down for quite a while with no real reason, why?
A26: You know, I haven’t been touch with him in sometime. Now you have me concerned.

Q27: Steven Cunningham - Are Athletic Fields (Baseball, volleyball, tennis, etc.) without signs/names to be rated the same as those with signs/names? And is taking a picture of the athletic field itself instead of uninteresting signage be a valid portal photo?
A27: NIA OPS states that signs are preferred, even if they are somewhat uninteresting and generic photos of Athletic Fields can be given a one star.

Q28: Dennixx - I heard multiple stories about agents removing missions of a banner while an agent of the opposing faction is doing that banner, resulting in an incomplete image in the scanner (and a waste of spent gas or public transport to get there). The approval of (modifications to) missions seem to take quite a while, the removal of a mission is near instant. I would like to suggest that removing/unpublishing a mission should also take some time (a day for example), to prevent this childish behaviour.
A28: I’ve heard this too. I’ll talk it over with the team. Currently, removal is instant because there are a number of valid reasons why an Author would need to withdraw a Mission. I empathize with those who have had this happen to them. In the meantime, if you know of a situation like this I would just avoid those missions.

Q29: Eric “Sonofahiker” Hafele - Will https://bio.ingress.com/ ever make a come back? Or is it forever dead.
A29: Nothing is “forever dead” in the Ingress universe. It might recurse and make a comeback. Honestly, we took it offline because we wanted to try to update the templates we were offering. I’m not sure how soon though it will come back and if we were able to update the design offerings as there are higher priorities we are focusing on at the moment.

Q30: Jeffrey van Beers - Hey, it's my birthday. Can I get a 'happy birthday' from you?
A30: Check Google+ for a private message from me :)

Q31: Flurin N - Did you learn any new german expressions in Philadelphia?
A31: Wo sich Fuchs und Hase gute Nacht sagen.

Q32: Hans Siemons - I have maintained a mission of my area for many many years. Updated it every time with changes in the portal network in the area. Last update, trying to remove portals I had to wait three months+ for a standard rejection mail saying that my mission was not a quality one and therefore a reject. Can you understand that feels like a big middle finger, and lets me think somebody did a "oh they are waiting so long, let's reject them all, don't look and be finished with it". Mission submit denials feel so random anyway. It's less and less attractive to add to the game by creating and maintaining missions. Result is now the mission is already 3+ months inplayable because it has inaccessable portals (for which the removal also was denied a couple of times).
A32: Let me know how I can help. I can be best reached via Telegram @RedSoloCup. Please note that it can take me up to 48 hours to get to your message. But, let’s chat.

Q33: Drew Dondero - After a successful day anomaly scorekeeping broadcasts, would Ingress consider partnering with The Portal Hunter Club for future live score and analysis broadcasting? I have several options available that, with your assistance, will make it something all agents globally can enjoy.
A33: How do my people get in touch with your people? Do you have an allergy to

Q34: Tobias Hengst - How did you first hear of Ingress? Did a friend recruit you or did you just find it in the app store? Also, why did you choose ENL?
A34: I heard about it via a few websites like Engadget, Android Police, etc back in November of 2012. I immediately started asking my friends if they had heard of it and I had one friend who had somehow gotten multiple invite codes. I wasn’t successful with my various social posts to get an invite for myself. My friend, Corry Robb, ended up giving me one of his spare codes to join. He was Resistance and I almost joined that faction as a result. But then I looked at the Intel map. There was blue everywhere! I’m always one who is up for a challenge so I decided to join the Enlightened since they were the obvious underdog in my area.

Q35: Jan Kulle - Some streetview photos in OPR are very outdated, going back all the way to 2009-2011. Are there any plans for getting newer ones?
A35: Street view photos come from Google.

Q36: Tobias Hengst - If you could change one thing within Ingress or the surrounding community, what would it be?
A36: Damn… this is a good question. I think I’d want a better way for Agents to find each other or their communities. We had a community directory and that was a step in the right direction. But it fell short. I don’t know what the ideal technical solution looks like. It is probably multi-faceted. But just a better way to safely collaborate to enabled the awesome shared experiences that Ingress can provide.

Q37: Nate (StallionMang) - What do you think about Agents having the ability to delete or hide unwanted mission badges from their profile?
A37: I think an Agent should be able to control how much of their profile they want displayed. I’m a sucker for module interfaces. Not just delete or hide but also rearrange.

Q38: Joe R. - It's often been said that portals should be judged more leniently in a lower density area. Should this apply to a large portal sparse park or hiking trail located in the middle of an otherwise average density area?
A38: It’s really tough to make a determination based on the information provided. Average density to one person might be different for another. It’s also hard to provide anything without knowing how large the park is too. Is it just a baseball field? It is many acres? I’m sorry we couldn’t help clarify this. We just need more specifics.

Q39: Marlene Gray - Is there any issue according to NIA in organizing xf banners to celebrate events (like for instance birthdays) and having fun and beer together?
A39: Remember that promotional images, Agent names, and passcodes that require contacting the author are not allowed. All Missions should follow the Mission criteria found here, https://support.ingress.com/hc/articles/206625348-Mission-criteria.

Q40: Tobias Hengst - Do you have a bucket list, and if so, what are some points on it?
A40: Oh man, great question. My list changes so much from week to week, month to month, and year to year. As far as traveling goes, I’ve been blessed. Not just because of my work at Niantic but almost all of my previous jobs had me doing a lot of traveling. Little known fact, in my early 20s I was a roadie for an award winning platinum recording artist. I’d still like to go to Iceland, Egypt, South Africa, and a few places in Latin America. I really want to learn a foreign language. My problem is I can’t commit to one. I start with one, then travel, then want to learn a new one, then travel, then… well you get the idea. I’ve already been skydiving, swam with sharks, swam with dolphins, performed weddings, have tattoos, saw a space shuttle launch, went deep sea fishing, started multiple companies with successful exits… hrmm… I got to hold a Koala this year as well. Bathing an Elephant would be fun! I’ve written articles and had them published but I have a concept for a book I’d like to write. I’ve never seen the Great Wall of China in person. Thinking about this question, I’ve been lucky. A lot of things that most people probably have on their lists are things I’ve done. So my current goals are a little more personal than a short lived experience like “ride in a helicopter”. My biggest bucket list item is to see my kids grow up and try to be the best father I can be. That will be the most fulfilling achievement of all.

Q41: Mathilde Poussin (Brunissende) - Speaking of badges, who thought it was a good idea to have the same character in both the anomaly and Van pack in the same city? (Hank Jonhson in Philly, maybe don't do that for other cities)
A41: This is something that was flagged internally and talked about. Certainly not an ideal situation.

Q42: Aline P. - Hi andrew ! Could you ask Niantics please to add minimum level for portal edition ? Dummy relocation requests and dummy edits are a nightmare during opr review... it seems pokemon players have found a solution to get pokestop without suggesting : recycling ♻️.
A42: NIA OPS says that they are aware of the issue and it has already been addressed.

Q43: Fred Espenscheid - Can Niantic send a trusted employee on a working vacation to the Disney Parks to scrub old and outdated portals?
A43: As much as I want to volunteer for this job, I don’t think we can do this. I recognize that these type of places can change from time to time. Perhaps we can take that into account when edits are submitted. I’ll talk to NIA OPS about this.

Q44: Robban J (Keffoo) - I made you this artwork for the badge for Recursion Prime. I think it matches the Cassandra badge pretty well? You can purchase my design for $5 or five frackers. Interested?
A44: Three dollars and fifty cents. /sarcasm

Q45: Evan Hoffman - When the anime comes out next month, what languages will it be available in? Specifically on Netflix
A45: It will originally be launching on Fuji TV in Japanese. It will later be released on Netflix supporting seven dubbed languages and 26 languages with subtitles.

Q46: Brian Smith - A number of people have experienced a situation where new portal submissions seem to get “stuck in the scanner” without uploading. Are there any ideas about whats happening and any action a player can take to “unstick” them?
A46: Can you reach out to me so we can get more information?

Q47: diane wilson (thecatspaws) - Is there any thought to changing anomaly rules so that it isn't (mostly) a numbers game? I think we could use something different. Thanks!
A47: We iterate on things constantly. This is a particular hard problem to solve because, currently, attendance at Anomalies is not limited. This means there likely will be an imbalance in teams. When the participants are asymmetrical for the type of team versus team competition that currently is the Anomaly format, it’s hard to come up with a set of rules that mitigates things. If you have any suggestions, please let me know and I’ll pass them along.

Q48: Tobias Hengst - I personally don't play Ingress as much as I did before and I am now way more active in the community. Do you think it is possible that a "normal" agent can help out at anomalies or other events, at the check-in for example?
A48: We typically ask for Agents to help out near registration to help place new players on teams. I would contact the faction POCs and let them know you want to help with this. There is also the Embedded Reporter program that uses volunteers to help showcase what an Anomaly is by taking pictures of the action and posting on social media.

Q49: Extered N. - What's the current progress on the official third-party tools rules/guidelines? Any updates on those?
A49: No update at this time I’m afraid.

Q50: M Mezereum - how can we get a banner offline from someone who made a banner just to trash people's HP (with specific instruction) while that person himself is already banned?
A50: I ran this past NIA OPS and they said to report it via the Help Center.

Q51: whyshy6798: - Any thought on adding daily, weekly, quarterly challenges. Plus a 3rd team.
A51: This has been talked about. Like some of the other ideas mentioned in this AMA, there won’t likely be any significant new features or items created until the second phase of the Prime upgrade (the servers) is complete.

Q52: Berker Pandır (derberker) - Considering that new players don't really know what it means to choose a side and it takes quite a lot to change factions, wouldn't it be more fair to let new players stay faction free for a limited time or till a specific level? Faction-bias is not a good thing and it is hard to avoid it when you choose a side. Giving them time to learn the basic history of the game and know both factions in their local neighbourhood can be more fair maybe.
A52: I spoke to the Product team and you bring up valid points. These points are shared by the team and has influenced the design of Prime. The onboarding for Agents new to Prime will be different than the current version of Ingress.

Q53: Patti Beadles - The current missions list is nearly unusable in many areas due to the explosion of banner missions-- you often have to scroll through several screens of missions in order to find the one that you are looking for. Are there any plans to address this in the future, perhaps by condensing banner missions into a single entry that could be expanded to see the components?
A53: I haven’t been able to confirm what the roadmap for this specific feature is. However, I can say we’ve definitely had internal conversations about it.

Q54: Dorian Kernytsky - With more of google plus features being removed (events is stated to be removed), is there any considerations to move the “social aspect” of plus to something like a mastodon?
Q54: I don’t know that Mastodon is anywhere near the same type of platform that Google+ is. It also doesn’t have the same adoption rate either. Gosh, I don’t even remember what my Mastodon credentials are anymore to even log in. If the plug ever got pulled on Google+ we still have Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram to get the message out. My bigger concern would be what happens to all the player communities. There isn’t really a free alternative to G+ Communities that is centralized.

Q55: Francesco Pisani - How long does the AMA remain open for new questions?
A55: It really depends on how many questions get submitted and what I’m doing at the time I open them for comment.

Q56: James Green (jkg5150) - Is there any indication yet of the timeline for release of the anomaly rules? Aware that POCs generally get a sneak preview before general release, but, any clues how many days/weeks out we should expect either to be?
A56: Anomaly rules are typically released anywhere from two weeks to a week before the event.

Q57: Robert G. - Hi Andrew, what is your position on portals added by fake camera, but using your own photos taken earlier?
A57: The current mechanic is intended to enable Portal submissions from the Scanner at a time when you are present at the location. We want you to submit what you know and can verify when you submit them. There are edge cases. There always are. But I can’t advise you to use a third party tool to circumvent the in game mechanic.

Q58: Avery Cannon (DESSYX) - What are the chances that we'll see satellite sites announced prior to the anomalies in May 2019? 3 sites over 3 weekends for a series is incredibly limiting and many will not be able to attend without additional satellite locations.
A58: Zero. Those events will be the culminating finale of the Osiris Sequence. There will not be satellites in May.

Q59: Tobias Hengst - Do you think we can have another statistic post when Prime launches, along the lines of "In Ingress 1.0, every agent combined walked XX kilometers" and so on?
A59: We’ve talked about doing one for the six year anniversary. It would be cool to see the updated stats.

Q60: jean-françois PRIEUR (JiefSourd) - hi Andrew, what is your favourite beer ?
A60: Allagash White from Portland, Maine, USA. They have a pretty great Instagram feed too: https://www.instagram.com/allagashbrewing/

Q62: Tobias Hengst - Can I get into the Prime beta if I write you a poem?
A62: Depends. Can you rhyme the word orange with another singular word?

Q63: Aaron Almeida - Is OPS aware of an issue wherein pre-2015 submissions marked as dupes through OPR did not get rejection/dupe mails?
A63: NIA OPS believes this issues was fixed. They are going to double check on it though. Thanks for flagging it.

Q64: Laurent “X6996” - Can it be that portal edits are processed without any feedback mail to the originator of the edit? Or are edits still stuck somewhere in OPR? Steak or sausages on the grill?
A64: NIA OPS suggests that if you have not received an email about the edit yet, that the edit probably hasn’t received enough votes to reach a decision. Sausages… I don’t really like boiled sausages, so I grill them. Steaks can be cooked any number of ways and still come out delicious.

Q65: Tobias Hengst - Don't you get tired sometimes of all the repeating questions or the agents that just don't do any research at all during the AMAs?
A65: I’m actually going to be much more stringent in the coming months. I’ve let a bunch of questions slide through so more people can be exposed to them. I do link to resources so people can search a potential question first before asking them.

Q66: Nikita Korolev NikaKor - Firstly, I wonder why the videos posted on YouTube on the official account of Ingress can not offer their subtitles with a translation?
A66: We are actually exploring doing this for new videos. More to come on this topic…

Q67: Nikita Korolev NikaKor - The second question is about the Real-time story. Why does it exist only in Japanese, and all the media for its collection are only in Japan, when the whole world awaits as a Ingress: The Animation?
A67: Time will tell… be patient.

Q68: Tobias Hengst - Can you share what happened with the Vancouver Supporter kits?
A68: They were all refunded. I don’t have any additional information beyond that.

Q69: Thomas De Maerschalck - Please clear usernames from inactive users for more then a year, or at least for players who didn't even reach level 2 .. So many names are taken by inactive users
A69: Good point. I’ll bring this up internally with NIA OPS to discuss it.

Q70: 樹栗田（VISTORON）- Who is the Asian who appears in PRIME's Teaser?
A70: I can’t reveal that information. I don’t have a high enough clearance.

Q71: Fred Espenscheid - Have you ever taken a suggestion or idea from an AMA to developers and had them actually reply "hey that's a pretty good idea"?
A71: Actually, yes. The developers help me with the responses for this AMA every month. Admittedly, not much for the current version of Ingress because we are focused on Prime and have been a bit. We all want the same things. They just have the unenviable position of having to prioritize things. There are a number of things that come to mind from the OPR limit increase (amount and duration changes), to the kind of in-game events we hold, and even in this AMA someone read question 85 and commented internally, “that’s a good idea.” Happens more than you think. I think a lot of the feedback will start to show once the servers are upgraded and we can devote resources to adding new features.

Q72: Sebastien H. (Khatre) - We learn rules for good portal with opr at lvl12 but we can submit portal at lvl10. Why not make it logical with opr available at lvl10 and (at least) bronze/silver opr medal to be able to submit portal ?
A72: This is being discussed internally.

Q73: Kosh TheRipper (KoshTheRipper) - Any bearding tips you'd like to share?
A73: https://www.birchbox.com/guide/article/how-to-grow-a-great-beard

Q74: Kayleigh McWhyte - What were your favorite experiences at Cassandra Prime Primary Anomaly in Philadelphia - and what do you think we as players can improve on to make things run smoother at future anomalies?
A74: I love playing in Anomalies. I don’t get much of a chance to play these days because most of my day is spent behind a computer until the wee hours of the night. Ingress is a global game and that means there are people reaching out at all hours. In Philadelphia I was able to introduce a new employee to Ingress Anomalies. We got hooked up with an Enlightened team and they got to experience things first hand. Seeing and hearing their reaction was cool. They “got it”. They just hit level 8 this week and were so excited. I think it’s important for our employees to experience things like that so they understand what makes our products great, what drives players, and how our players use our products. Not to mention to see the crazy level of effort that goes in to organizing an Anomaly. I also got to meet a whole bunch of people like Bad Eend whom I had only interacted with before via chats. Also, seeing Uni Uni everywhere brings a smile to my face. I think he challenges Marius H Tronstad for the most traveled Agent.

I’m not sure what players can do to improve things. I thought things ran pretty smoothly. Maybe, have longer after parties! HAHA I arrived too late to the Enlightened after party and it had ended. We decided to go to the Resistance party first because it was further out from our hotel. We did make it to the Enlightened after-after party. I enjoy the after parties because I really love being able to interact with my fellow Agents. No matter the outcome, people generally are in great spirits at the after parties. It just feels like one big family reunion. Resistance Agents look past the fact that I am Enlightened when my scanner is open and just welcome me as a person. Plus, I’ve known many of them for years. The Enlightened look past the fact I’m the GCM for Ingress and we just swap new and old war stories and have yet another shared experience. They are just great bonding opportunities.

Q75: Jesse Harris - When submissions came back, it was teased that the number of available submissions would change based on individual performance of accepted vs rejected submissions. Is there any timeline for that to launch? Those of us getting things approved would love more slots.
A75: There isn’t a timeframe that I can discuss. But I have been told that this feature or something very similar like a credit system is still on the roadmap and one of the higher priorities.

Q76: Sam Bowen - In OPR, how should reviewers rate painted electrical boxes on the street if they are visually interesting?
A76: NIA OPS says that, “If it falls under the category of Art, 5 stars on “Should this be a Portal” question.”

Q77: Peter Mee (Barthax) - Hi Andrew, Do you have any further information/update on improving the precision of reasons for portal submission rejections?
A77: Looks like changes have started to roll out in between when the AMA was opened and when the answers were posted. More improvements and changes will be coming with regard to this.

Q78: Ptah “Makto” Baphomet - Afternoon Andrew, For posterity sake what would the possibility of pushing Ingress Prime to the original beta testers that have played without retiring?. Surely there are not many left out there and they have experience testing Ingress beta products. 6 yrs invested in a company shows alot of loyalty and an opportunity to help the next stage of development would be appreciated greatly
A78: There is a huge hunger for Prime. Especially given that the current version of Ingress hasn’t had a meaningful update in a long while. But I’ll be honest, I don’t know where we can draw the line. Loyalty could be one metric. But there are newer players who have done as much or more than some of the older veterans. Would it be fair to exclude them? We can’t include everyone due to limits of each platform (Android and iOS). There is a maximum number of participants allowed. On iOS for example it is 10,000 testers. I don’t think think the current beta release phase will be altered at this point.

Q79: Brian “Tobasco” Jones - Can I get access to Ingress Prime please? It's not for me... asking for a friend.....
A79: Your friend already has access to Prime. But they are under an NDA so they can’t tell you.


Q80: JoJo Stratton - Hello, do you have any insight to why ingress.report and investigate ingress have not been updated (and investigate was even down for an extended period of time).
A80: I really have no idea why things were down. I haven’t been in touch with PAC for some time in fact.


Q81: monsieur tulipe - As Lizzy is gone, who can I contact to organize an event in France?
A81: In the short term, you can contact Dominik Schönleben our EMEA Community Manager. https://plus.google.com/+Ingress/posts/KHh2RFAheBN

Q82: Guro Sondena - Hi Andrew, can you please explain the function of the glyph hack speed bonus? It appears that sometimes you can get more items on a slower hack than a fast one but I am not sure.. Thanks in advance!
A82: The complex glyph only increases the Glyph display speed. However, the more you use it, the more likely you are to recognize Glyphs faster. This should result in recreating the Glyphs faster which does impact the output bonus. Anecdotally, the people that I know who Glyph hack using the complex Glyph setting only are CRAAAZY fast and accurate. Whereas I am slow and inaccurate. They get the bonuses. I do not.

Q83: Kyle T Miller (kyletmiller) - With the Vanguard program entering its second year, is it performing in the capacity -- and with the efficiency -- you and your team anticipated? In your eyes, what are some things that have gone well w/r/t the program and some things you'd like to see changed?
A83: I think the Vanguard program has been a big success. There were some growing pains early on as we solidified what to focus on. It was the first year and first time we have done something like this. But we have ironed out those issues. The Vanguards have been a great sounding board for us. We have picked their brains about everything from Anomaly rules to Guardian medal and all things in between. I think reevaluating the social media aspect of the program is warranted. Initially the thought was to have a group that served as brand ambassadors and a sounding board for advice. We’ve skewed to the latter heavily. I think a more traditional influencer program could be setup to leverage former. I also want to bring in more people to have a larger sample size for input. In addition, they’ve been able to flag a number of issues and concerns directly to us that might have normally been lost in the noise that is social media. I still think there is a misconception about the role. They are not junior NIA OPS or pseudo-community managers. While some of them might be in a place of influence within their faction, that is not a requirement for being a Vanguard.

Q84: Adriána Perkele (TheCapsuleCollector) - Would it be possible to add numbers to missions on mission creator website? Or at least after logged in website could say 99/150 (now i have to count one by one while scrolling down to know how many i submitted, and because it doesnt have alphabet or time order it is a total mess)
A84: Hrmm… good feedback. I’ll pass this along. That could be very helpful!

Q85: Barry Marshall - How about a “Portal Photo Of The Month” in the monthly news letter showing good work in Submissions? Or even some sort of contest?
A85: We think this is a great idea and will discuss internally to see if we can execute on it!

Q86: Brit N Boots - Hypothetically speaking, if sentient AI robots existed, would they be allowed to play Ingress or would that be considered cheating since they are not alive?
A86: Would they be able to agree to and bind themselves to a legal terms of service?

Q87: Alex Dosaula - ...agent cannot change register email account… what do you thing about the option to validate these changes through Vanguard agents? Sure they are a strong part in the community, Nia is confident with them and they have contact with players and communities to investigate the reason of the change and validate it.
A87: I would not want to use the Vanguards for things like this. Not to mention the privacy issues that would likely be involved could make it a nightmare to actually implement. The point of the Vanguards is to provide Niantic with feedback on a variety of issues and insight as players from around the world. It isn’t to act as an administrative go between for players and Niantic on account issues.

Q88: Gary Tolley - Grogyan - With the Ko Lan Prime challenge, is there going to be a live feed on how the teams are progressing for the artefact?
A88: There will be video recorded. I don’t know if it will be live streamed or not though. I’ll need more time to confirm what is going to take place.

Rules:
#1: Don't ask about personal situations. I don't have access to the ticketing system.
#2: Read the previous AMA's. A repeat question is likely to go unanswered and we both will be frustrated.
#3: Abide by Wheaton’s Law. Trolling and abuse of this AMA will likely get your comment(s) deleted and you blocked.

Josh Stock's curated archive of all the past AMA's:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W0FUKoW2oV9g80ZWWQfBJqohAT3PloYeG1K3Rnblizw

GCM AMA G+ Collection of Posts:
https://plus.google.com/collection/4K74JE