Geocaching + MMOG + Cryptography + Augmented Reality

a/k/a - The thing that has been occupying my time lately...

Ingress

Ingress is a near-realtime augmented reality massively multi-player online video game created by Niantic Labs (Google) and released for Android devices. The game has a complex backstory that Google is revealing piece by piece.

Players of the game belong to one of two factions, “Enlightened” (represented in green) and “Resistance” (blue). Players attempt to enclose regions of territory on Google Maps of Earth with virtual links between virtual portals; these maps are displayed on the players' smartphones, laptops and tablets (which function as mobile game consoles), with territory gained designated as "control fields". The ultimate goal of the game is for one’s faction to control the largest number of “Mind Units”, the estimated number of humans within the regions of territory controlled by the faction. The game has attracted an enthusiastic following in cities worldwide.
 (from Ingress Wiki)

The game is in beta right now, but you can request an invite from the website...There is no official iOS app yet, giving the existing players quite a smug feeling about their Android smartphones...

The game is a high-tech augmented reality geocaching experience. It revolves around XM-emitting portals - originally Post Offices and libraries, now including permanent structures like statues, monuments and plaques, but not limited to these things... One of the portals I visit all the time is the WaterTower in Jax Beach.

One of the most interesting aspects is that the game involves 2 novel concepts:
First, you HAVE to get off your ass to play... You can immerse yourself in the Intel portion, but in the end to really participate you have to get away from the console and head out into the cold cruel world and actual go to the Portals to progress in the game.
Also- you have to work as a team in real life, especially when you get to be higher level.
When you are low level you can completely activate a Portal solo, but when you are higher level you can destroy enemy hardware, but only partially activate a Portal- you need other players to finish the activation... Lots of strategy and tactics come into play.

Obviously there are large opportunities to participate in Ingress communities,
Google + and  hangouts, and there are real-time status line updates as play is underway.

A this moment the Resistance has control of the Beaches, as indicated by the blue portals and fields... But that can change like the weather. A team of the Enlightened can come in and convert all our Portals and leave the places covered in green like pond scum in a matter of minutes...
Those green portals at the bottom are in the Mayo Clinic area...
They can be tough to get to, but they will be turned over on Tuesday...

I was kind of amazed at how widespread the game is being played...

Check out London, where you can't swing a rat on a string without hitting a portal.

Even over in Kazan Russia (where I'm heading next month) there is a large player contingent...

 And this is a small sample of the Portal density in Shanghai...

 It's quite an interesting game...
It will be interesting to see what happens when it goes out of beta-
Lord knows, since I'm enjoying playing it, Google will probably cancel it...
That's what happens- if I like a show (Firefly, anyone?) or use a particular program (**cough**GoogleReader**cough**) it goes away...

On the Niantic Project website they release clues daily- and let me tell you, they are top-notch puzzles...
Example:

Codephrase:
4tnrspp5daep3tr2
Solve:

re-group in 4′s
4tnr
spp5
daep
3tr2
Read first row down
4sd3
go to second row, step 1 then read down
pat–then go back to top for last t
Go to third row, step down again
er–jump to top  np
…
In the end you get the passcode:
4sd3patternp2r5p

Are you f'ing kidding me?
Let em tell you- that was nothing...

Here's another that is completely insane...

http://www.nianticproject.com/?id=02wod14
View source the page and you will notice the following in a <span> tag at the end:
22111114421152212212111241132213221312221
412123311111212111221111421222123222213143
The style=” font-size:0px; letter-spacing:1px; is a hint on what needs to be done.
The numbers are the number of repetitions of 0 or 1 that are in a string when a run-length encoding is involved. Lets start with the first 2 as 00, which means the next 2 will become 11 and, the following 1 will become 0 and the 1 after that 1. Thus we get:
2(00) 2(11) 1(0) 1(1) 1(0) 1(1) 1(0) 4(1111) 4(0000) 2(11) 1(0) 1(1) 5(00000) 2(11) 2(00) 1(1) 2(00) 2(11) 1(0) 2(11) 1(0) 1(1) 1(0) 2(11) 4(0000) 1(1) 1(0) 3(111) 2(00) 2(11) 1(0) 3(111) 2(00) 2(11) 1(0) 3(111) 1(0) 2(11) 2(00) 2(11) 1(0) 4(1111) 1(0) 2(11) 1(0) 2(11) 3(000) 3(111) 1(0) 1(1) 1(0) 1(1) 1(0) 2(11) 1(0) 2(11) 1(0) 1(1) 1(0) 2(11) 2(00) 1(1) 1(0) 1(1) 1(0) 4(1111) 2(00) 1(1) 2(00) 2(11) 2(00) 1(1) 2(00) 3(111) 2(00) 2(11) 2(00) 2(11) 1(0) 3(111) 1(0) 4(1111) 3(000)
This gives us:
00 11 0 1 0 1 0 1111 0000 11 0 1 00000 11 00 1 00 11 0 11 0 1 0 11 0000 1 0 111 00 11 0 111 00 11 0 111 0 11 00 11 0 1111 0 11 0 11 000 111 0 1 0 1 0 11 0 11 0 1 0 11 00 1 0 1 0 1111 00 1 00 11 00 1 00 111 00 11 00 11 0 111 0 1111 000
Arrange in groups of 8. We get:
00110101 01111000 01101000 00110010 01101101 01100001 01110011 01110011 01110110 01101111 01101100 01110101 01101101 01100101 01111001 00110010 01110011 00110111 01111000
Converting binary to Hex this gives us:
5xh2massvolumey2s7x
This won’t work as the passcode yet, we need to find a keyword. Mass and volume form matter: 5xh2mattery2s7x

The guys who solve these have waaaaay too much time on their hands.


But if you enjoy this kind of thing and you have the time and inclination- join in the game...  It is a very interesting twist on today's "computer" games.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE