It’s not often that we leave a good mark on Niantic’s community management with regard to Pokémon Go. Support, yes, that takes place, for example when players report problems via Twitter or in-game function. But real community management is less of a priority at Pokémon Go and Niantic – it’s not for nothing that just a few weeks ago there was a lip service from the developers to a more active exchange with key figures in the game community and to more transparency.
However, fans still feel little of either. But good. To see how the management of an AR game community can work, the people from Niantic wouldn’t even have to look far outside the box – but simply to their colleagues from Ingress.
In honor of Kubilay
One of our loyal fans explained the following situation to us via Facebook after he thought that we always report only negative things about game developers. So here’s what happened with the Ingress community: About two weeks ago, the German player community of Ingress received a not very nice news. The well-known and popular player Kubilay aka Kubi was killed in an accident.
Ingress, by way of explanation, is the first AR game from Niantic, on which Pokémon Go, for example, is based. The game pits two factions against each other, the Enlightened and the Resistance. Both try to claim extraterrestrial energies and knowledge, and the agents of the factions tend to keep to themselves.
But when news of Kubi’s fate made the rounds, Resistance players were saddened as well, even though Kubi was among the Enlightened. It quickly became clear that Ingress fans wanted to hold a funeral service in the game.
Together thanks to Niantic support
Because the celebration was to take place during the week, at a time when not everyone was readily available, players asked Community Manager Thia for some assistance. The result was a beacon implemented by Niantic, a signal beacon so to speak, that every Ingress player could pick up once for free to place in the game: the Via-Lux beacon, as you can read in Kubi’s Telegram group.
International players took notice and immediately suspected a secret event. After it was then clarified that the Beacon had been made available in honor of a deceased, popular Ingress agent, Ingress fans worldwide joined in and in turn participated in the funeral service. Not only the German Ingress community, but also the global one will now keep Kubi in glowing memory.
Thanks to our fan, for reasons we do not mention his name now. But thank you for telling us this story! And our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Kubilay.
And what do the Pokémon Go folks learn from this?
Ingress is much more community-driven than Pokémon Go, with two factions constantly plotting and scheming against each other. In Pokémon Go, the three factions are more of a decoration than a major influence on the gameplay. Accordingly, Pokémon Go players often see themselves as lone warriors.
That they kind of are can also be seen in Niantic’s support for something like community: Direct communication channels with Niantic are Twitter and (now and then) Reddit, there is no official forum. Pokémon Go fans feel left alone for the most part, and they can’t be blamed for that.
We hope the folks at Niantic take a look too, how they not only constantly tinker new features into the game but what drives a large part of the gaming community. We already know from other areas of gaming that it makes sense and is important to cultivate the player community and give them the feeling that they are being taken seriously.
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