Why I quit playing Foursquare | Hacker News Reader

Why I quit playing Foursquare

creative360.com

37 pointsadamhowell13 comments

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I thought this was about the schoolyard game foursquare.

I am ashamed to admit this, but I played that all the way through 8th grade.

...

Now that I know what Foursquare is, I have to say, foursquare seems preferable.

Don't be ashamed. It's an awesome game.

Who knows, maybe there will be adult intramural leagues some day, like there are with kickball and dodgeball.

Not only is it an awesome game, it can be a true art. I have seen four-square players who turned the game into a noncompetetive sport, similar to hackeysack, which allowed them to pull tricks you'd never imagine.

Ever seen someone do a flip after deflecting a four-square ball, land in a push up position, and then deflect it again with their head? I'm telling you, these guys were amazing.

Don't be ashamed: there are weekly foursquare games in one of the most trafficked parts of my university's campus.

Yeah, there are also games at the University of Pittsburgh. I never played because I was convinced it was a secret front for the bible study group run by the founders of the club. Recently, I mentioned this to one of the current officers of the Pitt foursquare club and she mentioned that the founders really were into their bible study, but they ran foursquare separately. I missed out.

Here's the reply that I tried posting but didn't see show up. It may have gone into moderation for approval.

Bravo. I went through this, too, when I got a surprise message from Foursquare saying, "You've been unseated as the mayor of such-and-such!" Really, who cares? I haven't checked in at all since I realized that Foursquare makes it into a competition.

Don't even get me started on Parallel Kingdom. I nearly lost a friend to that game.

What I liked about Dodgeball was that it gave me a kind of third eye when going to a venue I hadn't been to before. I was able to go to the Dodgeball website with my phone, see the photos of people who had checked in at that particular venue and approach them since they seemed to know more about the venue than I did and they practically invited these kinds of interactions by being users of Dogdeball.

That was in 2000, I think, and I used it until Google bought the site. They were kind enough to give everyone 2 weeks to delete their accounts before transferring everything to Google's servers. I still have privacy concerns with these kinds of sites, but now I have no problem broadcasting my location if I'm at a public event that's been announced somewhere else already.

Would you continue using Foursquare if it didn't have competitive and teritorial gameplay?

Can anyone explain what exactly Foursquare is? From what I can gather it is some sort of social-networking mixed with Geocaching, but I seem to be missing something about it.

Basically: You go to a spot (eg, restaurant, bar, bookstore) and check in there. It broadcasts your location to your friends. The difference here is that the vast, vast, vast majority of this is all done on the iPhone and your friends get a push notification when you check in.

For me, Foursquare is a way to invite others - it's great to see friends checking in somewhere, ping them and join up with them (or vice-versa). Good nights out. The problems with it (personally) arise when people check in.. everywhere. I don't care if you're at work or at home - checking in carries with it an implicit invitation.

It definitely works best in large urban areas with lots of activities (I use it in Portland, OR).

I feel the urge to correct an underlying misapprehension running through this post. Being competitive is not anti-social. It may not be for you. It may not be for me. But competitive behavior is a staple of human (and other animal) social behavior. Mafiosos bust balls. Jocks kid and taunt each other. Michael Jordan was both extremely competitive and extremely friendly and social. Competitiveness and social-ness aren't antagonists for all people, just some of us.

I was a very early user and the initial draw for me was gathering badges as quickly as I could. I gathered them all so badges stopped driving me toward checking in. Then there was mayorship. But, most importantly, it was seeing when/where my friends were checking in. And as long as my friends keep checking in and I keep checking in, why would I quit "playing" Foursquare? The playing bit, in my opinion, is simply the hook.

And let's not forget tips.

The coupons / deals for mayors offer a more practical reason to use Foursquare. Judging from Foursquare's funding announcement, more resources will be given to that aspect now.

As an entrepreneur, I see this aspect as very Tom Sawyeresque - I love the idea of getting third parties to pay your users to use your service.

This basically explains why I am apathetic about foursquare.

I used to do a lot of stuff with the Fire-eagle team (who still have a really solid geo platform). However the real barrier to this stuff being really useful is the frequency and granularity of updates.

The thing that geo-location brings, the thing that we really want is serendipity. It massively increases the chance of meeting a friend while out because your devices know you are a block (or a foot) away even if you don't. This means that our ability to encounter serendipity is exponentially increased because it's no longer limited by our senses or memories. Dodgeball would introduce friends of friends, for example.

The problem remains, until geo-location is automatic and effortless the cost and frequency of updates belies the effort.

Ok. Normally, the articles on HN with similar titles about quitting this or that are an exposition having to do with some technical or moral appraisal of the service; this is just a complaint that he no longer finds himself needing or wanting what the service provides. And that's perfectly fine.

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