Will you vote to restore sanity or keep fear alive with your foursquare checkin?
Two of the hottest events in the country are taking place today on the National Mall, John Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity and Stephen Colbert’s competing March to Keep Fear Alive. Comedy Central has partnered with foursquare to let you choose which side you’re on when you check in. Those choosing to keep fear alive will earn a badge featuring Colbert’s face, while those choosing to restore sanity earn one featuring Stewart’s.
The unlock text for Stewart’s badge reads:
You’ve joined Jon Stewart to bring America back to reasonableness. You’re probably not the badge-wearing type, but we figured this little electronic one was pretty discreet.
Colbert’s reads:
You stood with Stephen Colbert to help beat back the forces of sanity! Wear this badge proudly and remember to always… shh! What’s that? I think there’s someone behind you. Run!!!
Comedy Central will be tracking the results live on their website so everyone can see which side people stand on.
The rallies come complete with their own iPhone app with a map, news, photos, videos and information. You can also enter your foursquare account details to choose which side you’re on and unlock your badge. UPDATE: There’s now an Android app available as well with all the same functions.
These events will almost certainly also unlock at least the Super Duper Swarm badge and quite possibly the Epic Swarm badge. Both venues are currently at Super Swarm levels, mostly from Indonesian jumpers aiming to be the first to unlock the badges. It appears the badges will only be available at the official venues in Washington, DC and not at the hundreds of local rallies happening simultaneously around the country.
It will be interesting to see whether more people check in for sanity or fear or if they check in to both just to get the badges.
Are you attending the rally? What do you think of the badges?
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I said this on the foursquare blog but you’d figure that Colbert would have the red circle and Stewart would have the blue one
I thought exactly the same thing when I saw it.
Sanity has been at Epic Swarm status for at least an hour now. Fear looks poised to hit it very soon.
As expected, all Swarm badges are being unlocked. Well over 2000 check-ins at both of these venues today already.
Seems attendance is capped at 30 people for each of these venues currently?
Seems badges unlock fine, but venue pages (on my android at least) only list “30 people” as being there
Will badges be awarded at local rally points? Or only in DC?
“It appears the badges will only be available at the official venues in Washington, DC and not at the hundreds of local rallies happening simultaneously around the country.”
Hey, all. Thoughts on using the Sanity/Fear app to check-in even though you’re not in DC? Cheating or no? I almost feel like it’s cheating since you’d be getting the Sanity/Fear badge, but you’d consequently be getting the Super Duper and Epic badges instead of earning them. I actually want to be at a venue or work towards the bigger Swarms.
I’d feel differently if it was just the Sanity/Fear badges that I was unlocking… What about you guys?
JR, I agree with you. I wouldn’t have a problem if it was just for the Fear/Sanity badges, but I feel like I should really be there for the Super Duper and Epic swarms.
I agree. I didn’t mind getting the Sanity/Fear badges since the app isn’t GPS-based, but I was hoping I wouldn’t earn the swarm badges. It feels wrong.
Then again, by all checking in to the same event — regardless of where we are — we’re all a part of the event. The swarm badges reflect that. Of course the Fear/Sanity badges reflected that, too. Hrm.
I’m sure there’s a lot of people all over the world who don’t support either the Lakers or the Celtics, but still unlocked the badges for them by giving out shouts – me, for example! I didn’t consider that cheating.
It’s several hours after the actual event, I’m downloading the Android app now (it’s HUGE, I needed to uninstall Google Maps to make room and see if I can get the Sanity badge, don’t think I will still get the swarm badges though if I do it will be due to other people doing the same thing.
OK I did it and it _did_ unlock the Super Swarm badge (I never got that one) as well as the spooky swarm and of course the Sanity badge, no Epic swarm (which is fine with me)
I agree. It is cheating. Wouldn’t feel that way if it were just the Sanity/Fear badges.
I’m watching the rally live via Web since I don’t live in DC. Does that mean that I shouldn’t get the badge since I am supporting it by watching? Or is that cheating?
Typical…no BlackBerry option to get the badge. Again Foursquare screws over BlackBerry users: Crappy App for us to use, and now we can’t even earn certain badges.
Untrue. I didn’t check in using the app and still got the badges. The apps are just something fun to add on to the event. But you can check in from any device to get the badge.
I tried an Indonesian style check-in for sanity and did not get the badge, but with the app I did.
Don’t blame Foursquare. It’s not their app, you moron. It’s Comedy Central’s app.
Of course, there’s no Blackberry app. Everybody knows Blackberry users don’t have senses of humor.
Hey Michael…
You don’t have to be an ass and start throwing insults. Real immature.
I unlocked the four badges through my phone and I don’t see it on my iphone profile. Is there a specific person or venue I have to follow?
The iPhone badge screen only shows the badges you’ve unlocked in your current city. If you checked in remotely to the Sanity/Fear venues, they’re technically counted as being unlocked in Washington, so they won’t show up on your iPhone. They should show up on your profile on the website, however.
Is there a setting that I can change that can allow me to see it on my phone? I really want to have it on my phone for bragging rights LOL..
Robert, I did also and got all the badges ;D I didn’t use the app at all
http://foursquare.com/aanga/badges/4ccc49f683ccb7131597d7d1
Interesting, I wonder why the behavior was different for us.
What time did you try? Maybe they were switching things up? I checked in about 11:30 am EST
I think it was about 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time (which would have been about 8:00 in D.C.
i tried using both the iphone app and regular foursquare check in yesterday. no dice. but my friend checked in on his blackberry and got both fear and sanity badges and the epic and super duper swarm badges. im kind of mad about this. lol
I think the takeway from your story is “Blackberries are more dependable than iPhones,” which I think most of us already knew.
Did anyone unlock “Player Please!” badge at this event? I had a boatload of friends, both male and female, check in but I didn’t unlock this badge. Not complaining terribly, unlocked the new swarm badges…
No almost about it. That’s cheating.
http://support.foursquare.com/entries/188223-what-is-a-foursquare-check-in
[...] tons of these badges out there, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving badge. There are others, though, [...]