Augmented reality games such as Ingress allow the user to look at the environment around them differently. In this game, users are “hacking” portals in order to overtake areas around them and compete against the opposing team. Whether a user is on The Enlightened or The Resistance side, the entire environment around them looks as if it is a color-coded map with floating portals waiting to be reached.
At first, the aesthetics of Ingress made the game seem quite complicated. The bright lights and portals covering a dark map along with notifications of other members hacking your own portals popping up on the side of the screen made a normal street seem like an endless board game. As a user, I continued to walk down my street and around the corner with my head down. As I would approach portals I would receive information about some portals. These locations were realistic hotspots in my neighborhood. The margarita bar on the corner, the shoes store a few blocks down, and DePaul University buildings all become virtual portals. As I continued to play the game, the screen became normal looking. It was as if I was looking at Google Maps.
According to Shira Chess in “Augmented regionalism: Ingress as geomediated gaming narrative” the way users of augmented reality games that involve geolocations perceive the environment around them shifts. Chess states “The AR of the mobile device allows the player to see the world differently, both by being involved in in-game exploits that relate to regional points of interest, and also by forcing players to notice those regional points of interest,” (3). Popular locations held more portals, making the user aware that fellow users were also in that area. Ingress not only became a game covering a map, but also a Yelp or Foursquare.
When Skyping in class with Chess, many students pointed out the importance of these portals and what they reflected in reality. DePaul was covered in portals, but a student who played the game in Kansas noticed there were only one or two portals around her that held little to no meaning. Populated neighborhoods such as Wrigleyville were covered with portals and missions as well. When thinking about neighborhoods with historical context such as Wrigleyville the last thing to come to mind would be that it could be considered a game world. However, with Ingress these populated locations are part of an augmented narrative that carries different meanings. Ingress users are constantly influenced to trace landmarks in nearby locations. According to Chess “Ingress specifically addresses this situation of architectural regionalism by its focus on geolocation, and the use of landmarks in order to illustrate the importance of the local within game play, over the global,” (5). Forcing players to walk to these locations first hand does the importance played on local areas in this game. The player must physically locate these portals, making the missions both virtual and realistic.
The lines that separate space within the game world and reality are blurred through Ingress. Locality is heavily relied on within this game by making portals populated locations and landmarks. Ingress gets the player moving and gives them the opportunity to “hack” or learn about popular locations that they may not have known about before. Augmented reality has its perks as long as the user looks up from the screen to see where the game has led them.
At first, the aesthetics of Ingress made the game seem quite complicated. The bright lights and portals covering a dark map along with notifications of other members hacking your own portals popping up on the side of the screen made a normal street seem like an endless board game. As a user, I continued to walk down my street and around the corner with my head down. As I would approach portals I would receive information about some portals. These locations were realistic hotspots in my neighborhood. The margarita bar on the corner, the shoes store a few blocks down, and DePaul University buildings all become virtual portals. As I continued to play the game, the screen became normal looking. It was as if I was looking at Google Maps.
According to Shira Chess in “Augmented regionalism: Ingress as geomediated gaming narrative” the way users of augmented reality games that involve geolocations perceive the environment around them shifts. Chess states “The AR of the mobile device allows the player to see the world differently, both by being involved in in-game exploits that relate to regional points of interest, and also by forcing players to notice those regional points of interest,” (3). Popular locations held more portals, making the user aware that fellow users were also in that area. Ingress not only became a game covering a map, but also a Yelp or Foursquare.
When Skyping in class with Chess, many students pointed out the importance of these portals and what they reflected in reality. DePaul was covered in portals, but a student who played the game in Kansas noticed there were only one or two portals around her that held little to no meaning. Populated neighborhoods such as Wrigleyville were covered with portals and missions as well. When thinking about neighborhoods with historical context such as Wrigleyville the last thing to come to mind would be that it could be considered a game world. However, with Ingress these populated locations are part of an augmented narrative that carries different meanings. Ingress users are constantly influenced to trace landmarks in nearby locations. According to Chess “Ingress specifically addresses this situation of architectural regionalism by its focus on geolocation, and the use of landmarks in order to illustrate the importance of the local within game play, over the global,” (5). Forcing players to walk to these locations first hand does the importance played on local areas in this game. The player must physically locate these portals, making the missions both virtual and realistic.
The lines that separate space within the game world and reality are blurred through Ingress. Locality is heavily relied on within this game by making portals populated locations and landmarks. Ingress gets the player moving and gives them the opportunity to “hack” or learn about popular locations that they may not have known about before. Augmented reality has its perks as long as the user looks up from the screen to see where the game has led them.