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Whoever wants to play for the sake of achievements is, to me, a lost cause. Many games I play have no achievements, including one of my lifetime favorites: Valkyria Chronicles.
I won't point my finger to blame anyone about this. It's a nice perk to have in the game if and only if you already picked it up because you genuinely want to enjoy it. I get disgusted when I find a blog post about the top 5 games for easy achievements. I don't play for numbers. I have personal standards in what I want to play, and those standards revolve around games that genuinely interested me.
I don't care if all Xbox 360 Achievements and Playstation Trophies disappeared tomorrow. I wouldn't shed a tear. I'd rejoice, because people will start looking at what's actually good, not what's easy to collect more points in.
I won't point my finger to blame anyone about this. It's a nice perk to have in the game if and only if you already picked it up because you genuinely want to enjoy it. I get disgusted when I find a blog post about the top 5 games for easy achievements. I don't play for numbers. I have personal standards in what I want to play, and those standards revolve around games that genuinely interested me.
I don't care if all Xbox 360 Achievements and Playstation Trophies disappeared tomorrow. I wouldn't shed a tear. I'd rejoice, because people will start looking at what's actually good, not what's easy to collect more points in.
While I enjoy getting achievements (it validates my shallow existence) I'm more interested in the game. Some people seem to treat their gamer score like a badge of authority and validation. Go figure.
I prefer quality over quantity when it comes to trophies/achievements. Sadly I have neither. Good blog though.
Excellent blog and you express many of my own thoughts about achievements/trophies.
... though admittedly, sometimes "boosting parties" can be fun. In Warhawk the trophies were brought in long after the game was released and it's possible to achieve the trophies while playing in an unranked closed game (unlike most other online trophies). Most of the trophies are rather goofy (snipe someone flying with a jetpack) and some were just not possible to achieve in an actual game (fully loaded dropship - there is no way to see a fully loaded drop ship in an actual game because it's really a death can of 7 kills for somebody). We would create a rotation of games that included jetpacks and everybody sniping only or we would have dropship battles. The games were actually a ton of fun... just goofing around. Some of the trophies could only be acquired in a ranked game - those were different. But it seemed that for some of them, the devs really wanted to encourage people to just play the game differently for fun and not the usual more serious nature of the game.
Trophies/achievements can be good or bad. I tend not to worry about them at all (still don't have a platinum), but on the odd occasion they can actually be fun!
(though when I went for the top 1% of players of the week in Killzone I played the game a LOT... actually too much. This backfired and after I achieved that goal/trophy the game was never the same for me... it just wasn't as much fun anymore. I had consistently been getting in the top 5% and didn't think it would take much to get into the top 1%... but in my effort "just to be sure" I played wayyyyy too much!)
... though admittedly, sometimes "boosting parties" can be fun. In Warhawk the trophies were brought in long after the game was released and it's possible to achieve the trophies while playing in an unranked closed game (unlike most other online trophies). Most of the trophies are rather goofy (snipe someone flying with a jetpack) and some were just not possible to achieve in an actual game (fully loaded dropship - there is no way to see a fully loaded drop ship in an actual game because it's really a death can of 7 kills for somebody). We would create a rotation of games that included jetpacks and everybody sniping only or we would have dropship battles. The games were actually a ton of fun... just goofing around. Some of the trophies could only be acquired in a ranked game - those were different. But it seemed that for some of them, the devs really wanted to encourage people to just play the game differently for fun and not the usual more serious nature of the game.
Trophies/achievements can be good or bad. I tend not to worry about them at all (still don't have a platinum), but on the odd occasion they can actually be fun!
(though when I went for the top 1% of players of the week in Killzone I played the game a LOT... actually too much. This backfired and after I achieved that goal/trophy the game was never the same for me... it just wasn't as much fun anymore. I had consistently been getting in the top 5% and didn't think it would take much to get into the top 1%... but in my effort "just to be sure" I played wayyyyy too much!)
'Achievment unlocked: Fission Mailed"
I laughed waaaayyy to hard at this sentence. Like, five minutes straight.
I laughed waaaayyy to hard at this sentence. Like, five minutes straight.
I want to say people should be free to play any way they want, but running into boosters really sours my experience. It's selfish of me, but I want to enjoy what's unique to the game. So, I don't know if you're right, but I agree with you (which, if the past is anything to go by, likely means you're not).
That aside, add a few points to your internet score for amusing me. Then rub them in the faces of everyone around you until no one remains.
That aside, add a few points to your internet score for amusing me. Then rub them in the faces of everyone around you until no one remains.
It really depends on the type of game, I guess. Achievements in an RPG like, say, Dragon Age: Origins, are simply about having explored all of the content. They give you an additionnal reason to play the game again when you've beaten it once, in a different way this time. I'm fine with that.
Another good exemple of achievements enhancing gameplay would be with racing games. Getting Mirror's Edge platinum trophy was endless excitement because I had to become very skilled and know every shortcut in every level and time trial. It gave me a good reason to keep playing at least 20 more hours after Faith saved her sister from the evil guys (which took not that many hours to go through, sadly). I think I really appreciated the game more when I discovered you could do those insane wall-kick dances to reach high places quickly. Achievements meant you had to figure out the level design completely.
This is just to show that outside of competitive games where one may cheat, achievements aren't so bad.
Another good exemple of achievements enhancing gameplay would be with racing games. Getting Mirror's Edge platinum trophy was endless excitement because I had to become very skilled and know every shortcut in every level and time trial. It gave me a good reason to keep playing at least 20 more hours after Faith saved her sister from the evil guys (which took not that many hours to go through, sadly). I think I really appreciated the game more when I discovered you could do those insane wall-kick dances to reach high places quickly. Achievements meant you had to figure out the level design completely.
This is just to show that outside of competitive games where one may cheat, achievements aren't so bad.
They already have an achievements game:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/47471
It's actually a REALLY good game. Check it out!
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/47471
It's actually a REALLY good game. Check it out!
I feel like achievements are kind of an added pat on the back for spending 60 hard-earned dollars on a new game. Sometimes they add an additional challenge, which is nice. But most of the time they have nothing to do with anything...except to stroke my ego, which I admit I'm totally down with.
I was just thinking this the other day when I read about the new ACII DLC not having any achievements and people said "oh my, thats no good, I'm not getting this, theres no achievements in it"
It's as if today, you buy a list of achievements, and the game that comes with it is just a bonus, not the other way around -.-
It's as if today, you buy a list of achievements, and the game that comes with it is just a bonus, not the other way around -.-
I'm proud of my gamerscore because it accurately represents my time spent on the Xbox 360. I've never boosted or cheated in any way to get my achievements, half the time, I don't even look at achievement lists before I play through a game. It's fun getting them when you don't expect them and if you don't like at lists until you've already beaten a game, you get a ton of incentive to go through again.
Great blog, but I have to respectfully disagree with you. I hope that in the future, achievement systems will become cheat proof. That way we can use a gamer's Gamerscore and Trophy list as a true list of accomplishments.
Great blog, but I have to respectfully disagree with you. I hope that in the future, achievement systems will become cheat proof. That way we can use a gamer's Gamerscore and Trophy list as a true list of accomplishments.
27 years of gaming under my belt and have never once gone out of my way to get any achievement. Feels good.. knowing that my time wasn't wasted on that gigantic bore. Instead I played video games because playing video games is fun. Here's hoping for another 27 years of that mindset.
Achievements are kind of a waste of time. Like, they make you feel better about yourself. Okay. Who cares? I don't. I feel better about myself when I do something fairly spectacular and I don't usually get an achievement for them. When I do get an achievement, it's usually from watching a cutscene (that ends a chapter of something) or from doing something routine a thousand times, which...aren't exciting.
Basically, achievements suck.
Basically, achievements suck.
I quite like achievements because they give you some specific challenges to strive for once a game has began to run out of replay value. It's more of a "I've enjoyed the game, done a lot of stuff and there's not much else to do. Might as well have some fun trying to do acheivement x" mindset.
Well said. I know too many people that cheat for achievements that gain no bonuses or to inflate their insignificant e-penis. I've seen games fail in the eyes of people (Mostly GameFAQs, where else?) because games lack achievements or trophies, such as Valkyria Chronicles. It's a shame people won't give games a chance nowadays because they lack e-viagra. The only thing I've used achievements for is to find new challenges. Who'd have thought to go through Ravenholm with naught but the gravity gun?
I just see achievments as replay inncentives which is always good. Rule of thumb is higher the gamer score , smaller the penis and life. Its scientific fact.
I got a message once from a "friend" who wanted me to log into his XBL account and beat the airplane mission from COD4 on veteran for him. What pisses me off, is that I had to work my ass off for that achievement, yet this fucking clown wants his the easy way.
FUCK THAT SHIT.
Cheevos can be fun, but whores will always want to take the easy road.
FUCK THAT SHIT.
Cheevos can be fun, but whores will always want to take the easy road.
first thing i have to say is that most achievements are simply retarded. especially the ones who incite grinding, or doing the same thing a trillion times. those shouldn't exist.
i must say im not familiar with this whole achievement fever. cause i dont play console, but i would guess the reason people go crazy about them is cause achievements are the only or atleast the most relevant way of showing how big your penis is on the community(im assuming there is some kind of ranking that shows how much achievements points you have).
I think the problem is not the existence of achievements in games themselves, but their implementation in the out of game communities(xbox live for example).
Take mass effect 2 for example the only achievements i pretend to get are the insanity and keeping everyone alive ones (cause they are the only ones that present any kind of interesting challenge). This is because im playing on PC.
If i was playing it on xbox360 im sure i would try to get every single achievement, not because they are an interesting challenge, but i mindlessly want my Live avatar's penis to be bigger than my friends.
not sure if this is a bad thing, but it certainly is pointless.
in conclusion: The importance of achievements in the platform communities (xboxlive, etc) should be severely decreased. especially cause 95% of the achievements are not achievements.
another thing that should be done along with removing pointless, grindy and easily cheated achievements is dynamically calculating the value of the achievements, i.e the less % of people (that play/own the game) have the achievement the more the achievement is worth. at least this way you promote achievements as a challenge.
with that said, i think achievements in World of Warcraft are flawlessly implemented. cause they are not the only way to show how good you are, and not the most important way either. half the players probably dont give a fuck about them. but to the other half it provides them with a ridiculous amount of gameplay value.
ps: wall of text. ><
i must say im not familiar with this whole achievement fever. cause i dont play console, but i would guess the reason people go crazy about them is cause achievements are the only or atleast the most relevant way of showing how big your penis is on the community(im assuming there is some kind of ranking that shows how much achievements points you have).
I think the problem is not the existence of achievements in games themselves, but their implementation in the out of game communities(xbox live for example).
Take mass effect 2 for example the only achievements i pretend to get are the insanity and keeping everyone alive ones (cause they are the only ones that present any kind of interesting challenge). This is because im playing on PC.
If i was playing it on xbox360 im sure i would try to get every single achievement, not because they are an interesting challenge, but i mindlessly want my Live avatar's penis to be bigger than my friends.
not sure if this is a bad thing, but it certainly is pointless.
in conclusion: The importance of achievements in the platform communities (xboxlive, etc) should be severely decreased. especially cause 95% of the achievements are not achievements.
another thing that should be done along with removing pointless, grindy and easily cheated achievements is dynamically calculating the value of the achievements, i.e the less % of people (that play/own the game) have the achievement the more the achievement is worth. at least this way you promote achievements as a challenge.
with that said, i think achievements in World of Warcraft are flawlessly implemented. cause they are not the only way to show how good you are, and not the most important way either. half the players probably dont give a fuck about them. but to the other half it provides them with a ridiculous amount of gameplay value.
ps: wall of text. ><
Achievements would be sweet if they actually did something (money? boobs? minigame?)instead of, as you put it, pumping virtual genitalia.
I never understood the achievements much that they pop up every once in a while during play. I know it's sometimes tedious to unlock them but you do feel a sense of accomplishment when you do. Having others do the work for you is cheap. Though I know I will never have beat a game on the insanity or hard mode. Lets face it some people like me will never be that good. For the sake of my sanity and my controller. I try not to do the impossible.
when i started on the 360 i was hooked on achievements. i was trying to get at least 700 in every game i played. i even followed the oxm guide to 10,000 achievement points in 24 hrs. stopped after 8000. i was really only in competition with one of my friends who lived near by. anybody else, i didn't care if their score was higher or lower. it did make it fun for a minute. then 1st rrod. i got like 3000 points offline, recovered my gamer tag and lost those. after that i ain't care anymore. THEN, one of my other friends saw my gamer score, and was like. "damn!!! you spend way too much time on the 360." he's right.
I am a big achievement whore and have indeed boosted some achievements. However, in most cases this is because it's the only one standing between a full achievement completion. Having 100% achievements in the game is incredibly rewarding to me. Ever since I got the 360, I have been getting as many achievements as I can, often playing a game an extra time through or doing something really tedious. No, I don't know why. I know it's just a game, but it's like... I am such a completionist and seeing that achievement pop up is like getting a treat from my master.
However, I won't buy games just for achievements. It's not about the gamerscore, but about the achievement completion rate for me, so I can afford skipping all the shit games and focus on getting 100% in awesome games like Mass Effect 2.
However, I won't buy games just for achievements. It's not about the gamerscore, but about the achievement completion rate for me, so I can afford skipping all the shit games and focus on getting 100% in awesome games like Mass Effect 2.
I like the names of the Trophies/Achievements. Getting the "Totally Baked" Trophy on God of War for making a human sacrifice... that's just awesome. It took an already killer moment, and just made it a little better with that one little pop up. People that play just for achievements are stupid and are missing the point. Most of the time they are just there to make sure you get the full experience from the game, and forces you to explore area's you simply might not. Cheating to get them just defeats the purpose, and if you DO cheat... that Trophy/Achievement that you have is a constant reminder of something that you FAILED to do on your own.
Catch a man a fish, he eats for a day... teach a man to fish, and he eats for the rest of his life..
Bitches
Catch a man a fish, he eats for a day... teach a man to fish, and he eats for the rest of his life..
Bitches
I've been playin' my 360 for a little under 3 years now. I have no clue what my gamerscore is.
And I am happy.
And I am happy.
Wellcome to the type of world wich existed for 4 years now in WoW. Not directly the achievement thing mainly the "farm it out" events.
I've only been able to hear about the horrors achievements have wrought on gaming from others to place them into context. I learned how they copiously murdered various online multiplayer games because the newest multiplayer game gave new hoops for players to jump through.
And then there were tales like that I heard in this story, where people needed help gaining achievements. Arcades weren't like that, whether you won or lost in Street Fighter II, you were having a good time and perhaps learned a thing or two.
Sad some people can only have fun if they always feel like winners.
And then there were tales like that I heard in this story, where people needed help gaining achievements. Arcades weren't like that, whether you won or lost in Street Fighter II, you were having a good time and perhaps learned a thing or two.
Sad some people can only have fun if they always feel like winners.
I certainly go for as many achievements as possible in a game, with my goal always being for 100% completion. However, I've never cared how many points that earns me or picked up a game just to bolster my score. Every game I play because I wanted to play it, and unless I'm not having fun with it or am just ready to move on, I'll keep playing it until I've gotten every or almost every achievement. Even in the days before achievements, I would play games to their fullest, trying to do everything possible (and then some), because that's just how I like to play games: I love the idea of 100%-ing them. The addition of achievements just adds another mechanic for measuring when I've hit that point.
Have I boosted? Occasionally, yes. Sometimes I'll find a game that I'm close to 100%-ing on my own, but I don't want to become consumed with practicing the multiplayer over and over again when I have so many other games waiting in the wings. In this case, I consider how much I like the game and how much I "want" that 100%. There are plenty of games I've just said "Okay, I'm done" to when I've hit my breaking point. Sometimes, boosting is necessary to get those achievements just because the multiplayer is somehow glitched, easily exploited in cheap ways, or just full of a select few players who spent far too much time playing an otherwise average multiplayer. Either way, I do try to minimize it as much as possible.
But in terms of actually cheating achievements, like using glitches or exploits or downloaded saves? Never. The only time I ever did something like that was for Portal's gold medal challenges in The Orange Box, using a glitch to make it count a level even if I used in-game cheats, and that's only because it is near impossible to pull off the required times without a mouse and keyboard, something Valve didn't account for, and even with cheats, it was still an amazing challenge.
So I don't feel regret for going for achievements, when I find them fun to get and enjoy getting a high completion rate. But I suppose this is all an extension of my pre-achievements play style, and I'm not the average achievement whore you're discrediting.
Have I boosted? Occasionally, yes. Sometimes I'll find a game that I'm close to 100%-ing on my own, but I don't want to become consumed with practicing the multiplayer over and over again when I have so many other games waiting in the wings. In this case, I consider how much I like the game and how much I "want" that 100%. There are plenty of games I've just said "Okay, I'm done" to when I've hit my breaking point. Sometimes, boosting is necessary to get those achievements just because the multiplayer is somehow glitched, easily exploited in cheap ways, or just full of a select few players who spent far too much time playing an otherwise average multiplayer. Either way, I do try to minimize it as much as possible.
But in terms of actually cheating achievements, like using glitches or exploits or downloaded saves? Never. The only time I ever did something like that was for Portal's gold medal challenges in The Orange Box, using a glitch to make it count a level even if I used in-game cheats, and that's only because it is near impossible to pull off the required times without a mouse and keyboard, something Valve didn't account for, and even with cheats, it was still an amazing challenge.
So I don't feel regret for going for achievements, when I find them fun to get and enjoy getting a high completion rate. But I suppose this is all an extension of my pre-achievements play style, and I'm not the average achievement whore you're discrediting.
Apparently my 63k gamerscore is decent, considering I have never boosted or glitched achievements. And for that matter, I have played primarily games that I enjoyed and wanted to play.
And only a few like Terminator Salvation. I'll admit I played that solely for the 1k.
And only a few like Terminator Salvation. I'll admit I played that solely for the 1k.
Well first of all, congrats on an interesting blog post. Now, for my take on this:
I would first like to ask if you actually think boosting is cheating? I don't know about you guys, but cheating to me always felt like somebody has an unfair advantage over the situation at hand. Someone who uses mod chips for Achievements is cheating. Setting up parties were people take turns unlocking an Achievement? Last time I looked, you can't get banned for that, so it definitely isn't cheating, more like just taking the easy way out (Or trying to get Achievements in a game that doesn't have anymore activity). So that's that.
Furthermore, I also am a firm believer that everybody should just be allowed to play however they want to play (Providing that it doesn't harm someone else's experience). If someone wants to boost, then why can't everyone be cool with that? Hell, join in on the action if there are Achievements you don't have. And if you've got 'em, then you just scored yourself some free kills (Boosters are easy targets, usually). Stop making people feel wrong for going for Achievements, because there's nothing wrong with doing that Gnome in HL2, because that made me do something I ultimately would've never considered. If people want to play games for Achievements, then fuck, who are we to tell them they can't. If they find satisfaction in something, then why would we want to quell that? Live and let live, people.
And finally, I can only say to all those Achievement protestors out there, that you should just get used to them, because they've been nothing short of a success for MS and Sony. You can bet that we are going to see them in the next console generation. However, this being said, Achievements will never be a good substitute for great games. There are tons of developers that want to be respected, and the only way to do that is to make great games. These accusations that Achievements will be the death of gaming as a whole are outlandish as can be, because those little points, no matter how satisfying, can ever replace BioShock, Half-Life 2, etc. I mean, just think about what you said, and you'll realize how ridiculous it sounds.
I would first like to ask if you actually think boosting is cheating? I don't know about you guys, but cheating to me always felt like somebody has an unfair advantage over the situation at hand. Someone who uses mod chips for Achievements is cheating. Setting up parties were people take turns unlocking an Achievement? Last time I looked, you can't get banned for that, so it definitely isn't cheating, more like just taking the easy way out (Or trying to get Achievements in a game that doesn't have anymore activity). So that's that.
Furthermore, I also am a firm believer that everybody should just be allowed to play however they want to play (Providing that it doesn't harm someone else's experience). If someone wants to boost, then why can't everyone be cool with that? Hell, join in on the action if there are Achievements you don't have. And if you've got 'em, then you just scored yourself some free kills (Boosters are easy targets, usually). Stop making people feel wrong for going for Achievements, because there's nothing wrong with doing that Gnome in HL2, because that made me do something I ultimately would've never considered. If people want to play games for Achievements, then fuck, who are we to tell them they can't. If they find satisfaction in something, then why would we want to quell that? Live and let live, people.
And finally, I can only say to all those Achievement protestors out there, that you should just get used to them, because they've been nothing short of a success for MS and Sony. You can bet that we are going to see them in the next console generation. However, this being said, Achievements will never be a good substitute for great games. There are tons of developers that want to be respected, and the only way to do that is to make great games. These accusations that Achievements will be the death of gaming as a whole are outlandish as can be, because those little points, no matter how satisfying, can ever replace BioShock, Half-Life 2, etc. I mean, just think about what you said, and you'll realize how ridiculous it sounds.
But, for some games, the achievements do unlock something. I've been playing against bots in TF2 because you can unlock weapons for each class by gaining achievements for that class (yeah, I know, you can get them randomly, too). Those new weapons totally change the dynamic of the game, so I feel like I'm behind if I don't have them. I started late on this game (just got it during the steam sales at Christmas) so I don't feel so bad about this.
That's why I support offline-only trophies/achievements. Yeah, some online are nice and well thought, but most of them are simply stupid: Get 10002 kills, Get 10000 kills... WHAT? BTW, they're from Battlefield: Bad Company and Resistance 2.
I do have to agree a bit with this. There really aren't many games on 360 I enjoy, yet I still play the hell out of everything for damn points. Achievements seem to have ruined what used to be a great way to kill time and relax.
When I get an acheivement it tends to be on accedent or by some unforturate over use of a wepon. It's just ignorable for me. But I would not care if they vanished.
I like achievements and yeah, sometimes I mine for achievements, but if for some reason I couldn't do that anymore, I wouldn't really care. I play games for the games and I work on achievements later, if I feel like it.
I have never heard of anybody buying a game for the achievement points. I think the achievement hoarding just happens once a person finishes the main chunk of the game. That's what achievements are there for anyway, extending the time you play a game.
I do agree that cheating to get them is petty and stupid, though.
I do agree that cheating to get them is petty and stupid, though.
I used to be a die-hard PC FPS fan. Unless it was exclusive for the PC, I never bought any FPS on my console. But that all changed as I started playing split-screen Co-op with the lady. We played through Time Splitters 1, 2, 3, Halo 2 & 3, Left4Dead, Gears of War (console only at launch) & GoW2, we even tried playing Borderlands co-op. I also was getting into the achievements on XBL and raised my score to almost 50K, playing a couple shooters that I would have previously NEVER played on a console (the Call of Duty series, for one).
A friend of mine and I had a friendly competitive thing going with our gamer scores -- until he started playing old sports games, the Cars game (based on the Pixar movie), Space Chimps, Beowulf, College Hoops 2K6, Terminator Salvation, Monopoly, G.I. Joe -- and over a dozen other crappy games because they pump his gamer score up. He started playing games that just aren't fun for the sole reason of raising his gamer score beyond mine, which is worth: absolutely nothing.
I'm here to declare that I'm done with that shit.
I just built a brand new PC (my old PC was still great, I just couldn't run Crysis on High -- I still played Fallout 3 on the PC in 1920x1200) and with Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, I have to come out and say that I'm done with crap console shooters. How could I ever give up the grace and accuracy of the mouse and keyboard when the answer was that I simply needed a second desktop machine for the lady to play.
I tried playing Borderlands on the 360 tonight and I just CAN'T do it anymore. If I could talk to myself from 5 years ago, he would smack me in the back of the head and call me a fool.
Windows 7 is awesome. I can play Crysis at max settings, while installing a game via the DVD drive, and download several games through Steam simultaneously. I've set up two computers, one for myself, and one for the lady. Now we can play games together -- without the need for the couch or controllers.
To PC Gamers: Shooters will always play better on the PC. Always. I've always known this and I was a fool to turn away. Pay for your games, don't pirate them. You're killing your favorite pastime when you download PC games from torrents and elsewhere on the internet. The PC version is always cheaper. You have no excuse.
To my new PC: I played BioShock on the 360 first and for that I can never be forgiven. I will play the sequel on the PC and that is a promise.
To my friend the achievement whore: I hope you have fun scraping sperm out of a soiled prophylactic all over again in the next CSI game so you can earn another 1000 points. And you can't borrow Fallout 3 on the PC so you can use the console and cheat to earn achievements. That's fucking dumb.
A friend of mine and I had a friendly competitive thing going with our gamer scores -- until he started playing old sports games, the Cars game (based on the Pixar movie), Space Chimps, Beowulf, College Hoops 2K6, Terminator Salvation, Monopoly, G.I. Joe -- and over a dozen other crappy games because they pump his gamer score up. He started playing games that just aren't fun for the sole reason of raising his gamer score beyond mine, which is worth: absolutely nothing.
I'm here to declare that I'm done with that shit.
I just built a brand new PC (my old PC was still great, I just couldn't run Crysis on High -- I still played Fallout 3 on the PC in 1920x1200) and with Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, I have to come out and say that I'm done with crap console shooters. How could I ever give up the grace and accuracy of the mouse and keyboard when the answer was that I simply needed a second desktop machine for the lady to play.
I tried playing Borderlands on the 360 tonight and I just CAN'T do it anymore. If I could talk to myself from 5 years ago, he would smack me in the back of the head and call me a fool.
Windows 7 is awesome. I can play Crysis at max settings, while installing a game via the DVD drive, and download several games through Steam simultaneously. I've set up two computers, one for myself, and one for the lady. Now we can play games together -- without the need for the couch or controllers.
To PC Gamers: Shooters will always play better on the PC. Always. I've always known this and I was a fool to turn away. Pay for your games, don't pirate them. You're killing your favorite pastime when you download PC games from torrents and elsewhere on the internet. The PC version is always cheaper. You have no excuse.
To my new PC: I played BioShock on the 360 first and for that I can never be forgiven. I will play the sequel on the PC and that is a promise.
To my friend the achievement whore: I hope you have fun scraping sperm out of a soiled prophylactic all over again in the next CSI game so you can earn another 1000 points. And you can't borrow Fallout 3 on the PC so you can use the console and cheat to earn achievements. That's fucking dumb.
@WarZombie - asking for outside help and special assistance is something I would consider cheating. How is it any different than paying chinese gold farmers in WoW to do all the farming and such for you?
A grind is one thing, but some things are meant to be earned through persistence and effort, but watch the gold-buyers try to rationalize that away. And there are "services" out there that do the same for Acheivements and Trophies. Pay 'em, give them access to your account and they'll put in all work to boost your gamer score. Basically the same thing.
And at the end of the day, Gamerscores are the same kind of epeen as getting something really rare from a raid in an MMO, its a status symbol and little more. Except in this case, it means a lot more to the "gamer" than it does
Achievements are a cheap ploy to get you to open your wallet and buy more games and its proven to work so far. For all the "shovelware" on the Wii, no one's compelled to buy it for anything other than what it is. Yet there's plenty of crud on PS3 and 360 people would buy just to push up their gamerscore. Its pretty weak.
I prefer games that have their own, exclusive reward systems. There are plenty of games that can generate the carrot-on-a-stick effect without resorting to bastardizing their games. We've had them since the NES.
A grind is one thing, but some things are meant to be earned through persistence and effort, but watch the gold-buyers try to rationalize that away. And there are "services" out there that do the same for Acheivements and Trophies. Pay 'em, give them access to your account and they'll put in all work to boost your gamer score. Basically the same thing.
And at the end of the day, Gamerscores are the same kind of epeen as getting something really rare from a raid in an MMO, its a status symbol and little more. Except in this case, it means a lot more to the "gamer" than it does
Achievements are a cheap ploy to get you to open your wallet and buy more games and its proven to work so far. For all the "shovelware" on the Wii, no one's compelled to buy it for anything other than what it is. Yet there's plenty of crud on PS3 and 360 people would buy just to push up their gamerscore. Its pretty weak.
I prefer games that have their own, exclusive reward systems. There are plenty of games that can generate the carrot-on-a-stick effect without resorting to bastardizing their games. We've had them since the NES.
Really, really good article.
Made me think about my gamerscore,I only have 1 fully completed game, NFS : Most Wanted, though I am tempted to borrow Avatar : The Last Airbender from my niece to get a really easy 1000 lol
Most of mine come in around the 500 hundred mark after a coupl eof playthroughs and then its off to be traded. I like the avatar awards more, just got the bullshifters shirt in L4D2.
Made me think about my gamerscore,I only have 1 fully completed game, NFS : Most Wanted, though I am tempted to borrow Avatar : The Last Airbender from my niece to get a really easy 1000 lol
Most of mine come in around the 500 hundred mark after a coupl eof playthroughs and then its off to be traded. I like the avatar awards more, just got the bullshifters shirt in L4D2.
boosting is not cheating. Achievements are a good thing. Why would you care how people play their games? Do you play Modern warfare and call those with higher Prestige ranks losers? Are rewards for accomplishments a bad thing?
I find nothing wrong with achievements or trophies. I believe it adds replay value and adds difficulty too the game. It makes you do things you would never do. Beat the level only using the melee. It's something I wouldn't do if the trophy/achievement didn't exist but hey, It's going to make me play the level again with some challenge if I wish to get it. Some trophies/achievements make you play the game twice just to get them. Beat the game as a good/bad character. Truly I would probably play a game once leave it on my shelf forever intill I get bored and play it again but hey It's going to make me play the game again much sooner. If you don't like trophies or achievements you don't need to get them, nobody is forcing you. I also see nothing wrong with people who play a game and focus on trophies/achievements, if that's how they like to play the game than why should I question it. They enjoy doing it. I will only complain at people who get games they normally wouldn't just for the trophies/achievements, like those people who rent hannah montana.
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