Just a quick note, and then I won’t bother anyone anymore with posts about Ingress. Grandma (that would be me) made Level 8 today, with zero fanfare. I miss the ding! that old online games sounded when you advanced to the next level. You’d think a computerized game with a voice that talks to you and says things like “Welcome back, I was getting worried about you,” “Link possible,” and “Excellent work,” could say something congratulatory when you level up.
Anyway, 8 is the top level in the game as it stands today, though rumor has it more levels will be added at some point. The journey took me three months, compared to, say, 4 to 6 weeks for really gung-ho players.
And for those wondering why some of my Ingress-related posts keep showing up on my bestseller list … seems some Wikipedia editor got wind of them and added references to them in Wikipedia’s Ingress article. One (currently #11) is a reference to both young and old playing and the other (#30) is about encounters with the police while playing. Don’t know if that makes me famous or infamous; I’ll let you know when Jimmy Kimmel flies me to LA for an interview.
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ALSO ON PIED TYPE:
DING DING DING DING DING Congratulations you are now at level 8! (How was that? Better?)
LOL! Thanks!
Bother us! Bother us! For some reason I was just wondering this week how it was going. Evidently just awesome.
The universe taking note.
Thank you, universe. 🙂
Hey did you see this article in the NY Times “Old brains act younger with help of video games” THought you might be interested
Try this link. It was about Sept 5th I think –
Hey, thanks. I hadn’t seen this particular article, but I’ve seen others in the past that said playing video games seems to improve reaction time and cognitive function in older people. It seems logical to me that any activity requiring concentration, strategic thinking and planning, and quick reactions, is going to slow the decline of mental function. Doesn’t matter to me though. I play the games because they are entertaining and fun — same reason any age player plays. If it keeps my brain from turning to an artichoke, that’s just gravy … or lemon butter, or something.
But that’s computer- or console-based games. Ingress’s benefit has been getting me up and moving and out of the house (it’s down side being that it has greatly increased my gasoline bill).
Thought you’d like it – now you have more excuses to play more! As soon as the dog calms down, maybe I will have time to try some game – I did it was back when they were just getting started and the graphics were just getting going. This one sounds like fun
Ingress is more comparable to geocaching than to any video game; it’s played on Android phones. It’s a whole new type of game — AR, or Augmented Reality. If you want to give it a try, let me know. I’ll send you an invitation.
Do you still play?
Very rarely. Was hard at it for maybe 18 months or so and then began to fade. Was a long time before I could drive through my area without thinking about the portals I was passing. I still pick up xm radiating from a portal behind my house and occasionally use it to recharge other portals. But since I’m not hacking routinely, I don’t have the gear to attack and capture.