Hexathalon fell flat
TMoneyistheOne
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I attended the Hexathalon in Tijuana. Fortunately, this event was close to where I live, so I was able to easily attend this event. Here are my thoughts on the 90 min event and some of the obstacles that I had.
1. I played the event, much like a Ingress First Saturday. I was just looking for AP, and ended up getting elite, accidentally. This was a problem for me, since the badge was not as attractive as the standard badge. I should have researched this ahead of time.
Solution: I would prefer a tiered badge for this event. Something like "wings" to indicate an elite award could be added to the badge.
2. I had trouble keeping track of the score board. I didn't check until near the end of the event and had only 10 min to finish my glyph points. I know of at least one agent who didn't get the badge, because their criteria was not met and they couldn't find the score board during the event.
Solution: It would be nice if this would be tracked in our current stats or have a more intuitive link in the App or events tab.
3. For IFS, we get double AP. It seems logical that we could receive double AP for an event that we (might) need to travel further for.
Solution: Award double AP
4. It would have been convenient to have Mission Day on the same day as the Hexathalon, since the Hexathalon is only 90 minutes. There was plenty of time to do Missions for Mission Day on the day of the Hexathalon. I probably would have done them during the Hexathalon, since the Hexathalon wasn't very challenging.
Solution: Have Mission Day on the same day as the Hexathalon
5. I did purchase the character codes separately, so I could hack for media. However, I didn't purchase the last one, until after the Hexathalon badge pushed, so I don't like the lineup in my scanner. I didn't know the Hexathalon badge would be pushed that quickly.
Solution: warn people! Next time, I will complete my full purchase, before the end of the event.
5. It was nice to see friends, but because of no formal organizing committee, I didn't get a chance to talk with everyone that I wanted to talk to, because some people didn't attend the after-party events.
Solution: Niantic could organize better with locals, such as distributing a local Telegram chat with the event details.
6. Finally, I don't see any reason to hold a Hexathalon. It really is IFS with glorified stats. To be successful, I believe an event that is in-between a IFS and Anomalies need to be better defined and in a different category. For instance, maybe it could be a scavenger hunt, similar to clear field, so we could create mini-teams. Clear Field was an awesome event. I would have done more of them, if it had been a tiered event badge. Not only were they fun and dynamic, but they provided great media exposure for GORUCK and Niantic, because it was part of the score. Hexathalon could have some simple decoding from media hacks, posting pictures by the portal or create a link/field/starburst from a highlighted portal. A scavenger hunt could bring people to work together towards a common goal, which I feel makes Ingress unique, because of the team aspect of play.
Solution: Style the event after a scavenger hunt.
As it stands, the only reason I might attend the next Hexathalon, is to do the Mission Day, see some friends, and get a gold badge. Aim low, my friends!
Comments
better solution to 5 - it was an event, treat it as such and place it first :-)
wait you cant count I guess I mean 5a ?
2 your lucky you found the indivdual scores, I didnt find it till after the event, used agent stats instead to track stats
5b seems to be an issue with your community
Looks like you cause most of the problem just by your own miss interpretation about it.
1. It's not an ifs. It has different goals and you played it wrong. But you idea of wings instead of a separated medal rank is really good.
2. All basic objectives of the Hexatlons are easy achieveable. You almost missed one because you were playing it wrong. But yes, the tracking system is lame.
3. It's not an ifs.
4. Even thou I agree, I understand that this might cause more harm than good. People might miss one or the other or don't enjoy it correctly due the hurry. It's more about good organization, like having the Hexatlons at the afternoon, like from 16h to 18h, so people will have a whole day to travel and the night to party and meet ups, so they can do the MD next morning and leave faster.
First 5. Entirely your mistake. It's not an ifs, the medal came right away the goals are accomplished.
Second 5. They just changed they politics to not use free labors for agents anymore, so that's probably not gonna happen anytime soon.
7. It's not an ifs. You missed the point.
Some of your comments reinforce my sense that the Hexathalons were not going to be able to support communities as Anomalies have. Having Hexathalons as extra events is a nice thing to do, but they aren't going to substitute for a regular Anomaly schedule....
RE Second no 5.... Many loudest agents gave Niantic a hard time about POCs being free labor. So they changed it and now all the work is done by Niantic. Dont expect this to change.
Additionally, anyone could have stepped up and setup a community channel for chats and communication, either faction or Xfac based. You dont need Niantic for that.
Sorry that my edit to change the numbering didn't go through, to cause such a mixup!
My post is meant to give constructive information about what I experienced at the Hexathalon, so that improvements can be made to the event. @NianticBrian had asked my opinion, and I posted it here. I hope he sees that I participated and what my experience was. I think, there are minor adjustments that could be made, like selling resos separately from the badges.
While I gave some minor suggestions, I feel most strongly that the Hexathalon is not defined as being different enough from an IFS. I understand, that it would be ideal for the event to be automated, rather than the work that is required to organize an anomaly. I think it might be possible to automate a scavenger hunt, to make the event more interesting than it's current format. That's the take away that I intended.