Taiwanese gamers playing the augmented-reality, location-based mobile game Ingress created a tour of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) real-estate holdings in Taipei.
Ingress is structured around a competitive game between two teams of players to “capture” territory by visiting landmarks in real life, and is developed and published by Niantic Inc, the company that developed Pokemon Go.
In the KMT assets mission, players are tasked with visiting and “capturing” properties in Taipei that are currently or formerly owned by the KMT and its affiliates, with in-game text highlighting significant points in their history, sources said.
The properties include Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park, the Chang Yung-fa Foundation, The Palace luxury residential complex, the National Central Library’s Arts and Audiovisual Center and the China Youth Corps’ Chientan Youth Activity Center, among others, they said.
When asked for comments, an Ingress player known as Jason said that almost all of the capture points and missions are created by gamers, who submit the GPS coordinates of the landmarks and their missions to Niantic for approval and online publication in the game.
Ingress attracts players due to its high level of player freedom and the varied nature of the missions, he said, giving the example of French players creating a tour of that nation’s museums as a game that is similar to the KMT assets tour in Taiwan.
Ingress had previously featured missions based on locations that are relevant to Taiwanese history, culture and geography, such the Taiwan Rail ways Administration’s Tamsui (淡水) Line, the sites of the 228 Massacre and the Sunflower movement, he added.
The 228 Massacre refers to the government crackdown that began on Feb. 28, 1947, and a series of bloody purges against civilians in subsequent months by the then-KMT regime.
The Sunflower movement refers to student-led protesters’ occupation of the legislative main chamber for almost 23 days in March 2014 against the then-KMT government’s handling of a cross-strait service trade agreement.
Jason said Niantic shares location data between Ingress and Pokemon Go, and many Ingress landmarks have been recycled as Pokemon Go hotspots for creature spawning and virtual supplies, making it likely that large crowds of Pokemon Go players will soon be visiting the premises of former and current KMT-owned properties.
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