For a while now, I’ve been playing Ingress.

Now let’s get one thing straight. I’m not really into gaming.  Sure, they pique my curiosity initially but I tend to lose interest if they don’t capture my fascination or where I’m not learning anything new.  I also get bored easily.  However, I was curious about Ingress because unlike other games, this one uses your geolocation to create the game around you.  As an avid walker, this appeals to me as I can get out of the house and play it  when I’m walking around in my neighbourhood.  It’s also a game I can play with others whom I don’t necessarily have to meet in person (although it’s intriguing to think that fellow players could be the local 16 year old who attends the school down the road, the postman who delivers my parcels or a bored housewife who could be my neighbour!).

It beats the types of games my husband likes to play in a darkened room for hours and days on end pretending to be a man who looks like a bat trying to capture insane criminals who escaped an asylum wreaking havoc in a foreboding dark gothic city.

But I digress.

In fact, Ingress happens to be a digression from this type of game!

It’s a game that blends geocaching, Foursquare, local community exploration and fresh air. Perfect!

So what’s this game about?

Once you download the app, you go through the initial brief.  The female agent explains that Planet Earth has a large number of portals.  It so happens that these portals are usually landmarks of some sort and they are all around the world. They are EVERYWHERE.  I mean everywhere.  (I don’t look at local churches, post offices or landmarks the way I used to anymore thanks to this game). Control of these portals is the aim of the game.  Some are green (stand for the Enlightenment) and others are blue (the Resistance).  Others are grey, or neutral and unclaimed.  Your role as a player is to capture these portals and claim them for either side.  In order to get some game items, you need to go to the portal and then ‘hack’ them by selecting the options.

The best way to learn the game is to simply download the app and play it.  I recommend you doing the Training before you start that explains how it all works and then you’re well onto your way.

I usually walk about 6-8 kilometres every morning and when I have my headphones on and the game activated, as you approach certain areas, the game advises that you’re in range of a portal.  I recall the first time I played I figured a “portal rich” area would be the local vocational educational college (I assumed that students would have created portals every square inch of that area and I was right).  In so doing, I explored the grounds of the campus I hadn’t ever been before and discovered a new park in the area. So the benefit of this game is that it helps you discover your own community.

However, the first time I received a notification that my local post office was “under attack”, I stopped short and drew my breath in sharply. I instantly assumed some terrorist action in our suburb but it turned out the other faction in the game had captured our portal.

I breathed a sigh of relief and then embarrassingly noted that I could be one of these people now who can’t tell between real and alternate reality.

Are you a game player? Have you played Ingress?  What are your thoughts?

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