Yesterday I took a wander in the woods. Lovely walk.
Was thinking about Ingress and the reason it matters to so many, apart from the XM research of course. Something that irks me is the term "ego field." Was pondering fielding and "ego fields."
Apart from the daily grind of takedown, link, deploy, hack, the fun in this game is cooperating, building together. Working as a team. Many in the game haven't ever played a team sport. They haven't played football or even been part of an ice dancing troupe like me. They've been behind the controller of a first person shooter. Or sometimes they've never gamed at all.
This game gives them connection. It gives them people to relate to. Friendship. And building something together, in person, forms those bonds. It also gives them challenges to overcome. It forces people to relate and grow in a world where so many hide behind walls of answering machines, voice mail and Fakebook posts.
There's a truth about a person that's revealed when they play a game. It strips the facades.
That doesn't happen at an anomaly.
Sure, anomalies are fun? but the planning leads to stress leads to drama so many times. And the easy camaraderie and laughter you find in person can be lost in hangouts, where much of the lead-up time is spent. Often on the actual day the event devolves into button mashing for many. Sorry Niantic. It's fun. But it's more about a lot of disparate teams working together. And it's more high pressure.
Fielding makes people travel to places they wouldn't normally go. It gives people common purpose to do something greater than themselves, not selfishly, but for the team. It bonds people. Maybe the actual field is the dream of one person. But at the end of the day, that dream is shared by all. Fielding takes the heart of what is best in Ingress and distills it.
Maybe I'm naive. But I think in a field everyone wins. Even the opposition, when they take down or defend.
But the importance of a field, like the importance of Ingress, at the end of the day isn't found on the scoreboard. It's in the bonds formed between people. The friendships. I worry we are losing that. I worry that there are jaded people, people who care more about the score, about "winning" than about those bonds.
