Reducing Abuse through Modifying Wayfarer Access
AlexMTG-PGO
Posts: 301 ✭✭✭
It's been nearly 4 months of effort with the Netherlands abuse thread alone. Despite the disciplinary ladder implementation, new abuse is constantly being discovered. What else can be done?
Ingress previously had a modification in what Wayfarer-related functions players could have access to based on their level. In PoGo, there have only been reductions in level requirements for access. Perhaps it is time to consider raising required levels. At a high enough requirement, abusers would be slowed down. For 46, there is a time-locked task that takes at least a week. Many rewards are time-locked. Wayfarer could be one too.
If that is too high, other alternatives such as limiting how many nominations or edits lower leveled players can make could be explored. There are some smart folks on these forums - what other options could be looked into?
Comments
Are more serious players (those at higher levels) less likely to abuse wayfarer than more casual players? It seems it might be the opposite. I think raising the level might have an effect on coal nominations, but so would clearer guidance in the games and a little experience.
It would interesting to know (not that we ever will) if an analysis of those who actively abuse the system are more likely to share any particular characteristics, with game level being one.
In combination with the disciplinary ladder, likely yes. The more a player stands to lose, the less likely they are to engage in a behavior. This also has an effect on bots - those being slowed down could give Niantic staff breathing room in combating cheating behavior. Not a fix, not even sure if it'd make a significant dent, but likely would help to some degree.
They can't solve it. There is a discrepancy between what the players want (more waypoints, more stops, etc), and what Niantic wants (only high quality stops). Unless they can align both interests, people will keep bending the rules, abuse it, etc. That wil be a game of cats and dogs.If they want to have it solved, they should hire a story teller, gaming and / or gamification persons to try to align the interests. But I'm afraid that Niantic only can think of technical solutions and harder sanctions.
Increasing bars with higher levels won't help much. Yes, it will deliver less coal (also due to less nominations because of less players), but also due to less reviewers. So effectively, it won't help much. Furthermore, the reward vs the risk of losing accounts is not aligned (clear feedback, transparant communication, etc.).
The issue in the Netherlands will remain for some time. Although the networks / bots could be dismantled, they'll find new spots in the future, or people find new ways under the hood to game the system.
Not being able to nominate doesn't necessarily mean not being able to review. They could have different level requirements for various Wayfarer related activities. Being able to review could possibly stay where it is now. Not helping much vs not helping at all could be a significant difference, if not even more.
Why would you do that and start reviewing? How does it fit the story of the game i'm playing? What's in it for the player?
Most nominations, at least at my place, will be of nominations of minimum 100 km away, in places i'd never visit.
Reviewing for me personally was a tradeoff. If I make nominations, it's more than fair that I give something back to the community and do my part of the reviews. If I wouldn't be allowed to nominate... why would I do it?
So the question that should be asked by Niantic: why would someone review, what's in it for them, and how do we keep both interests aligned.
Whenever someone starts getting nominations... maybe they only get 10, until they get 100 approved. Then they get 20, until they get 200 approved. And so on. Something like that.
This would only be right if everyone's nominations take around the same amount of time to resolve. If you're in an area where it takes 18 months, you would be treated very unfairly with this idea.
Most casual Wayfarers wouldn't submit 40 nominations right away anyways, that sounds reasonable. Incentivising reviewing could help deal with some prolonged queue times. Upgrades are enough of an incentive for me but wouldn't hurt to get Wayfarer themed avatar gear in Go or maybe a unique Ingress player icon after achieving a medal of a certain level for Wayfarer agreements