As an android phone user I’m often disappointed when some great app I hear about turns out only to be available for iOS phones, but recently I’ve discovered an amazing app that should make gamers on their iPhones jealous as all-get-out. It’s called Ingress.
Ingress is an augmented reality massively multiplayer online video game played on your android phone. I know, WTF does that mean, right? Ingress transform the world around you into a battleground by turning public art landmarks into “portals” that must be attacked and defended. However, in order to attack a portal, you have to be standing next to it. Currently it’s only in Beta and you have to wait weeks to get an invite, but the app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times!
I’ll do another follow-up post with more specifics about the game, but for this first look I want to look at it from more of a sociological perspective.
To most casual gamers, there’s a certain stigma to playing MMOGs. (For you non-gamers that’s massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft.) It’s easy to picture someone who sits in their darkened room planning raids with their online friends and project that they’re too shy to talk to people in real life so they need to make a life online.
Ingress turns that stigma on its head; it requires people to leave their homes and interact with each other. Seattle is often known for it’s “freeze” but Ingress lets people of similar interests meet each other, work together toward a common goal, and build friendships. Strangers see each other with the app and start talking to each other. Team members arrange outings to go destroy the enemy and grab a beer.
The Nora 
So does Ingress appeal to the casual gamer or the MMOG players? Or Both? It sounds like something someone would spend a Saturday doing, which is quite a commitment for us casual gamers. Perhaps the additional details you mention will clear some of this up…I’m waiting for it!
I’ll definitely be doing a follow up post for Ingress, but it can definitely be played casually. I think the most common use-case for playing Ingress is during people’s daily commute. A lot of the portals are along major roads or by bus stops and you can quickly open the app and play along your ride.
I’m an avid gamer – casual and core, but the augmented reality setting is tough for me to wrap my head around. I’m curious to know more about how it is played.
I get very frustrated when I hear of a really great RPG, but then I find out that it is only for Xbox and not PS3!
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