Thursday 27 December 2007

Achievements: Good or Bad?

We got an XBOX 360 for Christmas, and I've been playing it a fair bit over the past couple of days. And something has attracted my ranting hat.

Achievements.

On one side, they're absolutely fucking genius on Microsoft's part. They keep people playing longer than they otherwise would do, trying to get those last few achievements. This can only be a good thing as far as Microsoft is concerned.

But then there's the other side, the seedy underbelly of it. The gamerscore whores. The main reason these people play the games is to gain the score that the achievements give. No longer do they play simply for enjoyment's sake, but instead to prove that they are better than others.

And achievements turn everybody into gamerscore whores to some degree. Gone are the days where you'd just play to play, to get a couple of unlockables maybe, to maybe get another couple of percent on that all-important game completion percentage. Now, you have specific goals. And you'll look at the achievements and think, 'That's what I'm going to aim for next'.

You no longer play for the sake of it. You play with a goal in mind, to get one of those elusive achievements and get the pop-up on your screen that tells you you've unlocked it, to get that sense of achievement you used to only be able to get when you achieved your own goals for the game.

On one side, I love them. I have always been a goal-orientated person. But part of me wants to play until I have completed every single achievement for every game I own. 'They look untidy if I don't do them all,' my brain rationalizes. And I don't like that one bit.

3 comments:

JLM said...

Hummmm.

Too many games in your life. I was like you, but I knew another game thats play with two people, without machines, mutch better.

Do you already thought about extending your horizons? Maybe a travel to Brazil? ;) Here the life is much more than you imagine.

bye beauty.

Sprite said...

I know that game. I play it with my partner, who I couldn't be more compatible with if I tried.

I'm a bit of a homebody, so no Brazil for me. Thank you for the offer though.

Daniel said...

Oh my God, creepy Brazilian guys indeed XD

Personally, I quite like having something to aim for in games (Main reason I hate MMOs in fact...) so I really like them. It can be a bit dangerous though, when you're constantly checking your achievements to see which ones you can do. I usually just play through the game normally anyway though, and then have a look at which achievements I can be bothered to get, maybe getting some easy ones along the way.

I definitely think they're a good idea, and the whole gamerwhores thing is probably inevitable with anything in games really. You've always had people boasting about highscores and completion times. Now they just have something else to boast about. Sort of nice of Microsoft I guess... maybe...