Students may not realize this, but the strolling professor rumored to give students good luck on their first chemistry test is actually a portal to another realm, or at least, that’s what players of the augmented reality game Ingress believe.

Anyone can see the players glued to their Android smart phones, stopping in stride in order to hack these portals, secure them for their teams and save the world.

Ingress has two teams, the Enlightened and the Resis tance. The Enlightened be lieve the exotic matter, which oozes from these portals and may shape human thought, will start a new age of prog ress, whereas the Resistance seek to protect humanity from its influence.

This cleverly crafted sto ryline originated from the minds of Google’s Niantic Labs, which released Ingress in the Google Play store last year and plan to make it available to Apple’s iOS user’s before the end of 2014, said Ingress Project Manager Brandon Badger in an interview with AllThingsD. The number of downloads of Ingress range anywhere from 1 million to 5 million installations world wide since launching, accord ing to Google Play.

Danica Baylon, a sopho more in psychology, said she started playing the game sev eral weeks ago.

“I found out about it when I was just searching for a cool game I could commit to when I have spare time, something that will get me off my butt and get me active, so Ingress was just a recommendation for me in the Google Play store, and it looked pretty cool so I just experimented with it,” Baylon said.

Baylon said she joined the Resistance faction due to her belief in freedom in place of “furthering mankind” and has persuaded several stu dents to join her cause, whom she calls “converts.” Among her converts are Scott War ren, a senior in paper science engineering and chemical en gineering, and Jordan Scaggs, a junior in computer science.

“She reminded me of it,” Warren said. “I had actually done a research paper fresh man year on parkour and interactive games with the environment.”

The interactivity of the game comes from the fact the portals, usually works of art and intellectual hubs, are real places on Earth found across the globe. Players use an in-game map system that identifies the closest portals in their area and can only make progress in the game if they physically travel to the portal.

Scaggs said he likes the game because it makes him aware of places in the area he didn’t know about before, be cause he is not from the area. He also said it makes him feel productive.

“It has taught us to look around the world differently,” Baylon said.

Portals on campus include D.H. Hill Library, the Court of Carolina, the globe in Poe Hall and Witherspoon Stu dent Center among others, according to Baylon.

Once at a portal, players are able to hack it, which allows them to perform a range of tasks such as powering up, defending and securing por tals and gaining access points to advance to the next level and acquire exotic matter.

Due to the convenient lo cations of the portals, Scaggs said he can easily hack por tals in between classes, while Baylon said she can even hack portals while in class.

“Just riding the bus you can hack like ten portals,” Baylon said.

Each faction competes for control of the portals, with blue portals on the map in dicating those that belong to the Resistance and green portals indicating those that belong to the Enlightened.

“Our goal is to flip the cam pus blue,” Baylon said.

This takes dedication, though, since most of N.C. State belongs to the Enlight ened faction, according to Baylon.

“It’s fun to go against the grain,” Scaggs said.

Warren said he reached level four his first day playing, but Baylon, still at level three after weeks of play, said War ren has an advantage because he has a bike.

Still, Baylon said she does sometimes drive to portals instead of walking and said she and her boyfriend went out at midnight one time in order to drive around and hack portals. An upcoming road trip with her family to Florida will also give rise to another great opportunity to hack portals, according to Baylon.

Though some might see this as borderline obsessive, Baylon said she sees it as a tool to ease boredom and keep her “out and about.”

“I see nothing wrong with it,” Baylon said. “It enhances your daily life and layers upon my community. Maybe Ingress is not your thing, but it is for me.”

If students would like to join the world of Ingress, they can download the game from the Google Play store and find players through in-game chats, Ingress Google Hang out groups and fan clubs.