One of the guys in my town that's played Ingress longer than I have (one of the first L16s in the Midwest) gave me a synopsis of what went wrong in Chicago. Everything. Wherever Niantic had the opportunity to do something incorrectly, they did. The Park they played in hosts events much larger than Pokemon Go Fest (Taste of Chicago, Lollapalooza, etc.), so there is certainly infrastructure there capable of accommodating large crowds.
===== The expected event included a 2km walk path, different areas of the path visibly marked with different elements (what spawns there), 3 'contest periods', frequent free raids for everyone. During the contest periods people would plan to all rush to whatever area of the park was what their goal was to accomplish it. Then at the end when everyone was successful they would release that the first legendary would be spawning here -- right now. So here's what actually happened. In reality, the bag checking process to get in was so horrible that at least half the people missed 2 out of the 3 contest periods. I arrived at 10am (it opened at 10am) I got in at 1pm. Once inside data connection was clearly an issue. They apparently did hire some company to provide wifi but it fell apart. There were cows put up everywhere but they just weren't enough. Secondly there was something going on with the game itself.. I had spotty data.. but I did have data. Ingress, telegram, websites, even youtube worked.. but pogo did not. I overheard that way more accounts were in the park than they expected. Did you know China can't even play the game? (everyone in China spoofs as the only way they can play it). So my guess is we had 20,000 people and 200,000 accounts attempting to play in Grant Park. No one could log in, people couldnt do the free raids. Spawns were shockingly sparse in general so occasionally something cool would spawn so EVERYONE would go to it. You didnt even have to be watching for it -- you could see the herd crossing the park... and now that we've got everyone in one spot.. of course none of them have data. That's what happened when everyone goes to one spot, lol. The humidity and heat just made it that much more miserable. There were these 'hip' youtubers acting as cheerleaders for the event completely ignoring that there were problems which was comical. People literately chanting 'we can't play' while they cheerily acted like the day was perfect. The grand finale was what really got me though.. I just don't understand it. Everyone was expecting a finale of some sort. Everyone waited at the main stage from 6 to 6:30 because... this all has to end with *something* right? Suppose they said "We're sorry for all the problems today, but it seems like a lot of people came out and had fun. Because of your efforts - Legendaries will be spawning all over the world in the next 24-48 hours... but they're coming to Chicago -- NOW. Be on the lookout, they're going to be everywhere at 7pm! " The entire crowd would have cheered and would have rushed out to get them. But they didn't say that.... They said 24-48 hours all over, the park closes at 7pm, everyone must be out. The end. The entire audience gave an audible 'what the hell?' .. then went home.. Then 1 hour later all of Chicago was legendaries with 100% catch rate. BUT MOST PEOPLE ALREADY WENT HOME. Lol. It's just hilarious how bad they are at communication. That one just shocks me because they could have ended the event with excitement but just said the wrong damn thing and ended it with disappointment. ===== ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions Midwest Internet Exchange The Brothers WISP ----- Original Message ----- From: "Forrest Christian (List Account)" <[email protected]> To: "af" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 4, 2017 2:33:31 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Don't piss off a gamer I play Ingress, an earlier game that Niantic put out. We have numerous events in Ingress, and we consider the spotty cell coverage and questionable server performance to just be part of the game. Higher level players often end up with a satellite modem to be able to play in areas without cell coverage. Seems like Niantic has attracted a different, more entitled, crowd for Pokemon go. On Thu, Aug 3, 2017 at 5:51 PM, Chuck McCown < [email protected] > wrote: Found on the interwebs... "The organizers of a Pokémon Go fest in Chicago went from being booed at last week’s event to being sued by one angry attendee. The offended party, Jordan Norton, has filed a class-action suit against event organizer Niantic after being unable to partake in the online game, claiming they are liable for false advertising Pokemon Go Fest, according to Complex Pop Culture. Niantic and the carriers supplying coverage for the event have pointed fingers at each other for its failure. Niantic CEO John Hanke said: “On the pure network access issue, we provided detailed estimates on attendance and required data throughput per user to our event partner (Sprint), who worked with the major carriers to allow them to plan for adequate coverage,” he said. “Some carriers deployed Cellular on Wheels (COWs) to extend their capacity. In other cases, the providers deemed them unnecessary based on other infrastructure already in place at the site. Users reported different levels of success with these providers.” The lawsuit said the company described a festival “bursting with activity” but was instead fraught with app errors and long lines. Although Niantic offered apologies and refunds, that was not enough to quash the gamer uprising. “In reality, those in attendance at the Fest were unable to play the Game due to Defendant’s failure to account for the number of people that attended the Fest,” reads the suit. “Due to Defendant’s failure to account and prepare for the number of attendees at the Fest, angry attendees found themselves waiting in line to enter the Fest hours after commencement of the event.” “Had Plaintiff and the Class members known that they would spend most of the event waiting in lines, be unable to obtain cellular or internet service, and encounter technical problems with Defendant’s game,” reads the suit, “they would not have purchased tickets to the Fest, and would not have spent money on travel and other accommodations.” -- Forrest Christian CEO , PacketFlux Technologies, Inc. Tel: 406-449-3345 | Address: 3577 Countryside Road, Helena, MT 59602 [email protected] | http://www.packetflux.com
