You are viewing an old revision of this post, from 16 November, 2012 @ 10:39. See below for differences between this version and the current revision.
Traditionally, MMORPGs (like World of Warcraft) have had nothing to do with the travel & tourism industry, or for that matter ‘real life’! Usually based on a digital fantasy world, the closest they ever came to having a practical real life purpose was in the brief moment when some major businesses & brands set up virtual shop in the digital landscape of Second Life.
But all that could be about to change because this is something different – Google’s Ingress is an MMORPG played out in the real world.
The location-based game, already available on Google Play (though only in a ‘by invitation’ beta version), is played using your phone (Android only for now) and matches in-game elements with real world locations. In that respect it has quite a pedigree. It has been developed by a team led by John Hanke, the guy behind Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Maps and StreetView.
The game plot is that a weird form of mind-controlling energy, which can be tracked using the app, has been discovered in locations all over the world – mostly, listen up tourism marketing guys, in and around well-known public places, creative institutions, landmarks and artworks.
Players join one of two warring sides, the Enlightened and the Resistance, and collaborate with their team mates to gather clues & game objects, unlock new features, and claim territories, in order to either embrace the mysterious energy, or resist it… and thus save mankind.
Ingress is not the first location-based game. It’s birth was foretold, as a deep and portentous video game voiceover might say, with the launch of previous mobile app games like Shadow Cities and Please Stay Calm. But its signficance lies in one word – GOOGLE.
Gamification has become a buzzword recently, but this is ‘gamification on steroids’ and, through Google’s involvement, on a potentially huge scale.
What does it mean for tourism organisations and destination marketers?
It means you must look around your head office for a young ‘gamer’ and tell them to start playing Ingress as soon as they can (that’s a cool work project!). They they will then be able to tell you how to engage and interact with visiting Ingress players, how to promote your destination as ‘Ingress-friendly’ to both the Enlightened and the Resistance. You want to be ready because they will come, and since this is Google and Android – now the largest mobile platform in the world by sales (64%) – they will come in large numbers.
Also, if they don’t come straight-away because your destination is not yet covered by the game, you should be researching to find how you can make that happen quicker. Maybe fam trips for programmers and mappers at Niantic Lab, the game developer? It might be a good idea to be one of the first tourism organisations to get in touch with them, than join the queue later.
Will you be investigating what Ingress might mean for your destination?
If you are a traveller, will you be tempted to play it?
Image: Bigstock/Lilyana Vynogradova
Post Revisions:
- 16 November, 2012 @ 10:42 [Current Revision] by Alastair McKenzie
- 16 November, 2012 @ 10:39 by Alastair McKenzie
- 16 November, 2012 @ 10:37 by Alastair McKenzie
- 16 November, 2012 @ 10:37 by Alastair McKenzie
Changes:
| 16 November, 2012 @ 10:39 | Current Revision | ||
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| Content | |||
| [kicker]They should be. Google have launched the beta version of a new virtual reality Massive Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) and its players will be coming to a destination near you.[/kicker] | [kicker]They should be. Google have launched the beta version of a new virtual reality Massive Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) and its players will be coming to a destination near you.[/kicker] | ||
| [dropcap]T[/dropcap]raditionally, MMORPGs (like <em>World of Warcraft</em>) have had nothing to do with the travel & tourism industry, or for that matter 'real life'! Usually based on a digital fantasy world, the closest they ever came to having a practical real life purpose was in the brief moment when some major businesses & brands set up virtual shop in the digital landscape of <em>Second Life</em>. | [dropcap]T[/dropcap]raditionally, MMORPGs (like <em>World of Warcraft</em>) have had nothing to do with the travel & tourism industry, or for that matter 'real life'! Usually based on a digital fantasy world, the closest they ever came to having a practical real life purpose was in the brief moment when some major businesses & brands set up virtual shop in the digital landscape of <em>Second Life</em>. | ||
| But all that could be about to change because this is something different - Google's <a href="https:/ /play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.nianticproject.ingress" >Ingress</a> is an MMORPG played out in the real world. | But all that could be about to change because this is something different - Google's <a href="https:/ /play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.nianticproject.ingress" >Ingress</a> is an MMORPG played out in the real world. | ||
| - | The location-based game, already available on Google Play (though only in a 'by invitation' beta version), is played using your phone (Android only for now) and matches in-game elements with real world locations. In that respect it has quite a pedigree. It has been developed by a team led by John Hanke, the guy behind | + | The location-based game, already available on Google Play (though only in a 'by invitation' beta version), is played using your phone (Android only for now) and matches in-game elements with real world locations. In that respect it has quite a pedigree. It has been developed by a team led by John Hanke, the guy behind Google Earth, Google Maps and StreetView. |
| The game plot is that a weird form of mind-controlling energy, which can be tracked using the app, has been discovered in locations all over the world - mostly, <strong>listen up tourism marketing guys</strong>, in and around well-known public places, creative institutions, landmarks and artworks. | The game plot is that a weird form of mind-controlling energy, which can be tracked using the app, has been discovered in locations all over the world - mostly, <strong>listen up tourism marketing guys</strong>, in and around well-known public places, creative institutions, landmarks and artworks. | ||
| Players join one of two warring sides, the Enlightened and the Resistance, and collaborate with their team mates to gather clues & game objects, unlock new features, and claim territories, in order to either embrace the mysterious energy, or resist it... and thus save mankind. | Players join one of two warring sides, the Enlightened and the Resistance, and collaborate with their team mates to gather clues & game objects, unlock new features, and claim territories, in order to either embrace the mysterious energy, or resist it... and thus save mankind. | ||
| [youtube]http: //youtu.be/92rYjlxqypM[/youtube] | [youtube]http: //youtu.be/92rYjlxqypM[/youtube] | ||
| Ingress is not the first location-based game. It's birth was foretold, as a deep and portentous video game voiceover might say, with the launch of previous mobile app games like <a href="http:// www.shadowcities.com/">Shadow Cities</a> and <a href="http:// pleasestaycalm.com/">Please Stay Calm</a>. But its signficance lies in one word - GOOGLE. | Ingress is not the first location-based game. It's birth was foretold, as a deep and portentous video game voiceover might say, with the launch of previous mobile app games like <a href="http:// www.shadowcities.com/">Shadow Cities</a> and <a href="http:// pleasestaycalm.com/">Please Stay Calm</a>. But its signficance lies in one word - GOOGLE. | ||
| <a href="http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Gamification" >Gamification</a> has become a buzzword recently, but this is 'gamification on steroids' and, through Google's involvement, on a potentially huge scale. | <a href="http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Gamification" >Gamification</a> has become a buzzword recently, but this is 'gamification on steroids' and, through Google's involvement, on a potentially huge scale. | ||
| <h2>What does it mean for tourism organisations and destination marketers?</h2> | <h2>What does it mean for tourism organisations and destination marketers?</h2> | ||
| It means you must look around your head office for a young 'gamer' and tell them to start playing <em>Ingress</em> as soon as they can (that's a cool work project!). They they will then be able to tell you how to engage and interact with visiting Ingress players, how to promote your destination as 'Ingress-friendly' to both the Enlightened <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> the Resistance. You want to be ready because they <em>will</em> come, and since this is Google and Android - now the largest mobile platform in the world by sales (<a href="http:// www.gartner.com/ it/page.jsp?id= 2120015">64%</a>) - they will come in large numbers. | It means you must look around your head office for a young 'gamer' and tell them to start playing <em>Ingress</em> as soon as they can (that's a cool work project!). They they will then be able to tell you how to engage and interact with visiting Ingress players, how to promote your destination as 'Ingress-friendly' to both the Enlightened <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> the Resistance. You want to be ready because they <em>will</em> come, and since this is Google and Android - now the largest mobile platform in the world by sales (<a href="http:// www.gartner.com/ it/page.jsp?id= 2120015">64%</a>) - they will come in large numbers. | ||
| Also, if they don't come straight-away because your destination is not yet covered by the game, you should be researching to find how you can make that happen quicker. Maybe fam trips for programmers and mappers at Niantic Lab, the game developer? It might be a good idea to be one of the first tourism organisations to get in touch with them, than join the queue later. | Also, if they don't come straight-away because your destination is not yet covered by the game, you should be researching to find how you can make that happen quicker. Maybe fam trips for programmers and mappers at Niantic Lab, the game developer? It might be a good idea to be one of the first tourism organisations to get in touch with them, than join the queue later. | ||
| <strong>Will you be investigating what <em>Ingress</em> might mean for your destination?</strong> | <strong>Will you be investigating what <em>Ingress</em> might mean for your destination?</strong> | ||
| <strong>If you are a traveller, will you be tempted to play it?</strong> | <strong>If you are a traveller, will you be tempted to play it?</strong> | ||
| Image: Bigstock/<a href="http:// www.bigstockphoto.com/profile/ Lilyana%20%20Vynogradova/">Lilyana Vynogradova</a> | Image: Bigstock/<a href="http:// www.bigstockphoto.com/profile/ Lilyana%20%20Vynogradova/">Lilyana Vynogradova</a> | ||
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It’s a big leap from getting people to play a game set in Elbonia to getting people to visit Elbonia.
People who play location-based games are like armchair travelers: I’m reminded of a line that Travel Ad Network used to have in its guidelines for production companies:
“Our viewers aren’t interested in travel. They’re interested in watching TV.”
Totally agree. If it was the previous geo-located games I mentioned, I wouldn’t have bothered to write the post. The difference is…. Google.
It might not take off, but it would be worth asking a junior (or senior) staffer to try the game and see what opportunities there are… wouldn’t it?
Afterthought: Oh, and the other big difference is… you can’t play this game from an armchair. You can only play on your mobile/tablet out in the real world.
Interesting. #ingress is the second highest trending hashtag on G+ and on Twitter, if you do a search for it (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ingress) you’ll find tweets like: “This is crazy, already I see people collaborating to control parts of the city” and “Is it available in Canada?”
So there seems to be quite a lot of interest already with people clamouring to get invitations to the beta release.
Addendum…
Oh, I like this one on G+: “I just had to explain #ingress to a cop. Apparently being parked at a civil war landmark at night is suspicious. The look on his face was priceless. #enlightened”
And so it starts: “Looking for #resistance members in the greater Cape Town area #ingress . Need to get ourself organized!!“
Looks like it takes Foursquare to another level. I can see a lot of the points collectors, badge collectors, and mayorship collectors moving onto this platform.
There are a lot of comments pointing out that this is another platform to data mine. Guess Google Latitude was another Orkut, so they have sunk a new shaft in order to access the rich geo-location data seams.
Yeah, it certainly out game-funs (I just invented that!) Foursquare.
And yes, there are data-mining issues, but only old farts like you & I care about that. Generation Z don’t see the problem.
Which is good because I’m still trying to surreptitiously persuade my generation Z son onto G+ and then Latitude so I can track his whereabouts!
I’m actually on Latitude. I found I’d left my phone at a shoe repair shop by looking it up. I thought it would be good for making geotracked routes of my hikes, but it turns out it’s not so good for that.
I’ve found some interesting info for those tourism organisations who want to get some of their local landmarks into the game. It may be easier than I thought. In this G+ thread (https://plus.google.com/114800310452543164210/posts/ALvQFXrmaDJ) Tony Millar says:
“once you install the app you will have a new option under SHARE when you go to share your pictures. NIA Super Ops. Make sure you have your GPS on when you take the picture. Then share it using the NIA Super Ops option. This will send the picture to Google and you can provide information on the location and why it should be a portal.”
… and it appears Niantic Labs (aka Google) having been giving some thought to monetization: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/187638/google-launches-vr-game-ingress-integrates-brands.html#axzz2DPIlA5c7
The interesting line is…
“Google will integrate a brand’s products or physical location into the game.”
Lol! Now Hitler is getting excited http://youtu.be/z_H1MZDDJoM
You know it’s gone mainstream when the Hitler videos start appearing.
There’s an Ingress Community on G+. https://plus.google.com/communities/103803967875500436831 Already 14,231 members & growing