Don't Take it Personally

The longer I play Ingress, the more I realize that some players appear to be just a tad too emotionally invested in the game, doing anything to try to control certain portals, usually near home or work.  I have to admit, I was like that as well for a little while but once I started watching who was attacking the portals I was maintaining and understanding the reason(s) behind the attacks, I did not take it personally any more.

Oh I still get frustrated when an area I help maintain gets taken out but I don't let it get to me too much.  I don't have players that I target (even though I have the feeling I have a few who have me in their sights) just to annoy them, although I have once or twice targeted portals that I knew would get under the skin of the maintainer. Of course I was just letting them know I am not a pushover.  I try to limit that sort of behavior because I really am not the vengeful type.

Now one thing that occasionally I am horribly guilty of is the mindless, random destruction of Enlightened portals.  This usually happens when a player out in Ingress Land tries (and succeeds) to push my buttons.  Once I was on my way home from work I pulled up to a series of portals that had been sort of a "mini farm" for me and a few locals and found it completely destroyed and brought back online by the Toads.  I had no idea who did it (I did not follow the comms much at the time) but it angered me greatly (A bad day at work did not help matters much, either).  All that time, all those resonators, mods, and links...gone.  I drove to the closest toad portals and damn near completely emptied my gear collection on a few insignificant portals that had no strategic value whatsoever.  It took several days (and a few gifts from some fellow smurfs...Alex, Dorian, Chris, et al) to get back to where I was before the mindless destruction of the portals.

We all (me included) need to keep the game in perspective.  While it is okay to be passionate about it, it should not be your "raison d'être".

As we get more involved with our Ingress playing, we are bound to piss off somebody, maybe even a group of somebodies.  For me it is a local family  (Father, Mother, son) who lives very close to one of my Ingress playing friends.  While I could be mistaken, I get the feeling that I am their adversary.  I jokingly told a few of my local smurfs that I should take it as a compliment since it takes his whole family to undo just what I set up.  But the truth of the the matter is...it is a bit creepy.

Do you know someone like that in the opposing faction?  When you go hit a portal of a certain someone, do they rush right over (I quite literally mean AT THAT VERY MOMENT) to take it back?

Seriously.

Have you ever received unsolicited taunts on the comms - "It must really suck to be you since you lost so many portals last night"?

Really?  How old are you again?

How about having a toad pull up behind you in their vehicle (at night) and just sit there, watching, then sending you a comms message once you leave the area?

Creepy.

Now, after reading this you may think I am taking this too seriously...maybe you are right...I guess I could be.  It is just a game.  I was warned when I started this that just like anything else, some people take  things too far. I really hope I don't end up like this.  I mean, I have a life and other interests not to mention a job in IT. I may spend a lot of free time walking, hacking, and farming, but at least I am getting exercise :)