Nestled on the southern coast of Australia, between the Gulf of St.Vincent and lush rolling hills, Adelaide sets the stage for the start of the 2024 anomaly season. RGNN caught up with MikeJaga, one of three Adelaide POC’s.
Early Ingress Journey: A Coffee Encounter Leads to Exploration
MikeJaga’s journey with Ingress began during a challenging period, just after a recent passing in his family. A chance encounter with an Enlightened agent over coffee sparked his interest.
At the time I really needed something new, so a few days later downloaded the game and it wouldn’t open. I suspect it was the day of Shonin in Adelaide in 2016.
A few weeks later I was on a bus to work and tried with better success, chose Resistance, and promptly tried to attack my Enlightened friend’s work area with my “mighty” level 2 bursters as I walked by.
Over the upcoming week, Mike explored the game, and became hooked on in-game missions. To date he has completed over 3000 missions and x6 onyx on the SpecOps badge.
From Player to Community Organizer
I’d read about Persepolis in Perth (Western Australia) and would have loved to go, but having just spent 3 weeks there during our family passing, I was unable to spare the time from work.
Two friends, one of whom would become one of the fastest to reach L16 from scratch in South Australia, and I explored the game.
Several weeks later they were finally met by a community member and invited to join AIR/ResistSA, where they discovered they’d been trying to find them.
From then I slowly took part in community chats, began helping new players join the community and become verified, leading to be invited to the community moderator role.
MikeJaga’s first anomaly experience was Aegis Nova in Sydney, and he became hooked.
By good luck a holiday to the USA and Canada coincided with Magnus Reawakens in Portland Oregon.
Later I was able to organize a month long holiday to New Zealand, starting with the winning Darsana Prime in Auckland.
Not counting the pandemic anomalies, Discoverie and MZPFK, Adelaide will be his 9th anomaly on site.
Driving Forces: Motivation and Community Building
MikeJaga’s investment in time and effort stems from a desire to create a memorable anomaly experience for the local community.
Over the years, a lot of our community members have said they’d love to do an anomaly, but only if it comes here.
Now its coming back here, I feel motivated to make it the best experience I can for them.I’ve built up a good relationship with the local ENL, making it easier to support the Cross-factional efforts.
Mike makes sure to acknowledge his fellow anomaly organizers as well.
Without naming everyone for OPSEC reasons, I’d like to shout out to my fellow POC’s whychoosebob and RTLQuietUS, and oppolot for his motivation.
And a very special shout out to local agents Viperwingss and gb96 who have arranged our social events.
Crucial Aspects of a POC: Skill Sets and Collaboration
When asked about ensuring anomaly success, MikeJaga emphasizes finding individuals with the right skill sets and a willingness to learn.
The global RES community has been great in that respect, with tools and anomaly knowledge.
For those interested in assuming a similar role within the Resistance, MikeJaga advises reaching out early to others locally and globally. Getting the community motivated from the start is key to success.
Anomaly Impact: Bringing Agents Together
Anomalies, in MikeJaga’s view, play a crucial role in uniting local and interstate agents for a common cause.
It’s bringing local and interstate agents together, and introducing them to a vastly different experience to normal game play.
Plus, always a great experience to catch up with others from both factions, who you only get to meet once or twice a year at other events.
Q: What are you most eager to experience during the anomaly weekend?
Hopefully meet and talk as many agents from both factions as I can throughout the event. And hopefully, a repeat of our winning experience in Shonin and Darsana Prime Auckland!
Shaping Gameplay: Challenges and New Features
Given the authority to establish anomaly rules, MikeJaga envisions the return of challenges and the incorporation of new features.
I would love to see the return of the additional challenges (eg media collection, unique portal visits) that make the result less dependent on numbers. Plus they provide the opportunity to explore a lot of the game box, not just where your team is assigned.
Also, there have been so many new features brought into the game (eg Machina, Dronenet), would be interesting to see how Niantic could bring those to the anomaly game play.
Finally, although now may be too early and would need serious consideration of social norms around video/photo on mobile devices, it would be exciting to see what AR can bring to the experience.
If given the choice for an anomaly anywhere in the world, MikeJaga dreams of the South Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Either Christchurch or Dunedin. Forgetting about Ingress, it is one of the most beautiful areas in the world.
He also expresses a desire to travel to Europe and Asia for future anomalies.
MikeJaga is enthusiastic about taking on the POC role again, emphasizing that the value of every on-site signup at Adelaide Anomaly Website, makes the effort worthwhile.
Although you may wish to ask me again in a month when the event is over!
As MikeJaga shares his journey through the world of Ingress and the excitement of anomaly events, you might find yourself inspired to become a part of this thrilling experience. If you’re eager to create lasting memories and dive into the anomaly scene, the upcoming events in Adelaide and Santiago on February 17th or March 16th in Macau and Porto await you.
