CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

So, there was this discussion in one of the hang-outs about why people did or didn’t do a mission, and it got me thinking as to the reasons why I chose the missions I did over other missions starting in the main area. And these were the reasons I came up with: They’re part of a series What can I say? I like mission series. I love the mosaics they form, and I like exploring things according to a theme. They link logically Not all series link logically. Some just seem to trip all over the city in a random pattern trying to include as many portals as possible. Some parts of a series might make you double back to get to the start of the next mission. These are all frustrating. I love a series that links together in an almost seamless path that leads you along a route in a logical manner, without doubling back. Those are the missions I’ll do over any other. They are walkable in a reasonable amount of time I’m usually constrained to public transport or my own, tw...

I started playing just over 12 months ago, three days before Niantic’s birthday celebrations for the third year of the game ended. I reached level 4 by the end of November, 2015, and level 13 by the same time this year. I enjoy the game, and I’m fitter for it, but there are a few things I wish I’d known when I started: The Sojourner’s Medal The sojourner’s badge is awarded for hacking portals during consecutive 24-hour periods. Like all the other badges, it has five levels, the highest being black, or onyx. If I’d known about the sojourner’s badge when I started, I would have made it onyx by today. As it is, I didn’t cotton on to this fact, until I’d spent my first 15 days hacking and the badge lit up on the Agent’s screen… that took me almost two months, and I still have 49 days to go. The Importance of Medals in General In Ingris, you can level up by earning points known as AP, right up until Level 8. After Level 8, you need a certain number of badges as well as ...

Badges? I hear you ask. You keep banging on about badges. What’s so important about them? Well, up until Level 8, you advance on the AP (or experience) you earn, and that’s all you need to move from one level to another, BUT once you hit Level 9, you’re going to have to have badges to show that you’ve earned the right to advance to the next level. Think of it as having proof that you know what you’re doing. Wait! What? Where do I find out about this? Well, you can look at your scanner. When you hit Level 8, you will notice a line just above your medals. It will have something like: LVL 9 Req: (picture of a blank silver badge) 0/4 (picture of a blank gold badge) 0/1. Take a look at the screen shot below; I used it to show a Spec Ops badge last week, but you can see the requirements listed just below the agent insignia, and above the badges. From the looks of it, Agent LittleBlackDuck has all the badges needed to get to Level 12, but needs almost 400,000 AP. ...

On e of the main reasons I started playing Ingress was because I needed to work up some extra incentive for exercising—yuh know, because better health just wasn’t enough… Anyway, the missions in Ingress have given me a reason to travel distances I wouldn’t usually have travelled, and to visit places I wouldn’t have visited. They’ve helped me orient to new locations, and learn new bus routes, and they’ve given me a reason to get out besides having to do so because it’s good for me. What are missions, you ask? Well, missions are a series of portals grouped together that you have to visit and take a specific action at. Every portal is linked to a real-world location, and every action is taken through the scanner. Once the scanner logs that the action has been taken, it’s ticked off the list. When all the tasks have been completed, you’re awarded a mission medal to mark the fact you’ve completed that mission. Is there an agent badge linked to missions? Yes, the Spec Ops ...