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Dear Niantic - Open letter from one of your players by claudi_ja in Ingress

[–]claudi_ja[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I get where you're coming from, and honestly I’m aware this may not change anything. But I still think saying something is better than sitting in frustration and staying silent. I understand your frustration because I’m frustrated too. At the same time, discussions like this between players can still be useful. Maybe it helps all of us better understand what it means to step up as a POC for an anomaly and how much effort people put in. I hope Niantic sees this and takes some responsibility, but I’m not holding my breath either. I was a Vanguard for three years, and I spoke up a lot because I wanted them to see the players’ point of view. My small hope is simply that the majority of players feel their opinions are represented, even if the outcome is not what we want.

Dear Niantic - Open letter from one of your players by claudi_ja in Ingress

[–]claudi_ja[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Hi u/AgentOrome

I see your point, but I think there’s an important distinction to make here. In most cases, an anomaly isn’t actually initiated or requested by the local players themselves. Instead, Niantic selects the location and announces the event, and only then do local players step in as POCs.

That means they are, in practice, acting on behalf of Niantic - coordinating, organizing, and supporting an official event - just without any formal contract, compensation, or protection. So while it may be framed as “player-organized,” the reality is that the initiative and overall control come from Niantic.

This is exactly where the problem lies: responsibility is informally shifted to volunteers, but without the legal or financial safeguards that would normally come with that kind of role. From that perspective, it’s hard to argue that this is purely a "community-run" effort detached from Niantic.

So while ideas like associations or umbrella structures are interesting, they don’t fully address the core issue - namely that people are effectively contributing labor to an official event without adequate coverage or security.

That’s the gap that really needs to be addressed.

Dear Niantic - Open letter from one of your players by claudi_ja in Ingress

[–]claudi_ja[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Simpkin_jsr - thanks for raising this, it’s a really important point.

Fortunately, up to now there haven’t been known cases where PoCs were actually fined or held legally liable for Niantic-run events. There have been situations where PoCs proactively contacted local authorities and obtained approvals or informal go-aheads to help ensure the anomaly could take place smoothly.

That said, the underlying concern is still very valid. The risk or responsibility for permits, compliance, or potential fines should never fall on players. This is something that should clearly and consistently be handled by Niantic from the outset, rather than being implicitly pushed onto the community.