Event Storylines
Osprey1
Posts: 610 ✭✭✭✭✭
<soapbox>
Harry Potter is a literary universe. HPWU did a good job carving out a niche in the canon with the calamity and the mystery. On the other hand the story lines for the events have gotten weaker.
People have been sharing opinions on whether they want spoilers on the events. I realized that I felt a little cheated that there wasn't really discovery of the event that led to a purpose for the challenges.
I really wish that we had some characters like Ingress has that have social media profiles and make videos. The confounding wizard and the witches working with Hermione would be a great start.
One interesting complication is the Statute of Secrecy. I think it would be cool if there was a companion app that made use of steganography to magically send us to secret wizard web servers with immersive connections to the story line via social media posted images. The images themselves might also visually encode hints.
This was a bit rambling, hopefully you can help refine this idea.
</soapbox>
Comments
Confession
I haven’t read the books, seen the films or otherwise been exposed to the HP universe
I played Ingress (L16) for a few years attending several anomalies in Washington, Vienna, London, Dublin and Belfast but likewise never bought into the storyline
However, I do agree HP has enough source material to flesh out background and context. There are other rich sources to tap into such as RPGs too
Any extra support activity will require funding and some support from Niantic though
But firstly I’d like to see some form of comm tool as per Ingress, because if players can’t find each other then a HP community won’t grow which underpins events
Considering that the HPWU app requires more than 3Go of memory, I'm not sure a companion app is the best idea, some people are bound to not have enough space for both (some already can't install HPWU).
There is space for messages (we see memos and owls flying all the time), but they aren't used for anything in-game, while we could receive letters, newspapers, memos...
In-universe, we are our characters, walking and flying around, and, I suppose, meeting with the people giving us quests while visiting the Ministry. Social media isn't something you'd see in the Wizarding world, tech doesn't like magic. You could use the classifieds in a newspaper for coded messages, old style ?
Personally I hate the story. It feels contrived. The collection mechanic was taken for this game and the story seems to be bending over backwards trying to come up with a reason for it. Yes the characters are from Harry Potter, but this story line and spell are a far cry from that universe. It's like trying to jam the Spiderman musical in with the marvel movies. I want this story line to end so they can have a game where we explore the Wizarding World. No need to shoe horn in as many cameos as possible. Make something new that doesn't utterly destroy the suspension of disbelief.
I don't like the story. I'm not a gamer, and was attracted to this game only because I love the books and everything else about the HP universe. I tried to like the story, but I share what appears to be a general consensus that it feels like an afterthought that was thrown together to fit the existing game mechanics. Either give us a story worthy of comparing to any of the books, or ditch it entirely and focus on making the game play experience more challenging.
I would also like some form of in-app communication. I installed Ingress and played it for a couple days just to see what it's like, and the chat functionality looked great. I announced my presence, and was immediately welcomed by other local players. It was perfect for coordinating any sort of group effort.
I've heard the arguments against it including harassment, spam bots, etc. Those are all valid points, but it still doesn't help me understand why the chat functionality exists in Ingress and not PoGo or HPWU.
Then there's the argument that Ingress attracts an older audience than PoGo or HPWU, so leaving in-app communication out is necessary to protect minors. At first I thought that was a pretty good explanation, but I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe I'm wrong, but don't all three games share the same Terms of Use? Children under the age of digital consent have to sign up for a Niantic Kids account, and app permissions are managed through a parent portal. The chat functionality could just be disabled at the parent's discretion, and there you have it. Problem solved.
Plus, there's the fact that I've never encountered a kid playing one of these games. Maybe other people have, but not me. At any of the popular spots to play in my city, I've only seen older millennials or middle-aged folks. I'm sure there are some kids playing, but I feel like it's safe to assume adult players are in the majority by a significant margin across all three games.
All things considered, protecting children hardly seems relevant to this issue. There are very important matters involving the health and well-being of our children we should all be focused on, but whether chat should be included in HPWU isn't one of them.
Just do it. It'll be fine. If there are problems, we'll work it out. I think it would be a big victory in the effort to promote the community aspect of this game.
As an Ingress player of reasonable standing (L16) and 3 years + it is my experience the community protects itself - affirms the good and critiques the bad in player behaviour
Playing WU with a friend tonight we saw a tower with green smoke indicating someone was playing there, but without a means to chat, it could have been anyone, there is simply no way to communicate unless we bumped into the player
I do appreciate the child protection issue and am fully supportive, but how can the WU players look out for each other if we can’t communicate?
@Acumen I support your thoughts on in-game communication. It's a good discussion that I believe could use a fresh bump, if I may...
https://community.harrypotterwizardsunite.com/en/discussion/1461/authenticated-players