For those of you that skim the blog, skip the podcast, and ignore the comments, there's an interesting discussion going on stemming from a discussion we had in this week's podcast.
What kind of impact has the pursuit of Xbox 360 Achievements had on your gameplay?
The four of us (Chris, Sara, Nelson, and I) agree that Achievements have had an impact, and that they make the games we're playing more enjoyable. There's something very rewarding about the small "pat on the back" you get when you finish a level or collect an item or do something particularly challenging. There's also a strong social component to Achievements, because individual Achievements can be viewed by your friends, and compared game by game. It gives you something to talk about with other gamers ("I finally got Pacifism on Geometry Wars!"), and comparing your Gamerscore with friends can create a fun rivalry.
In the comments, DevsterC points out:
"Completing CoD2 on veteran remains one of my proudest achievements. When I see someone on my friends list or my recently played list who has that, there is an instant "they're a good gamer" or "that's my kind of gamer" respect that crops up."
Goon360 says:
"I see them as in game goals, almost like a meta game of sorts. I also like to present them as PROOF of in game accomplishments ( think trophies). For multiplayer games, I always tend to hurry and collect as many online achievements as I can, so once I do have them , I can sit back and just play the game for fun...without having to worry about what I need to be doing in this game session to earn this certain achievement."
Are there games you play solely to get Gamerscore points?
One side-effect of the rivalry among friends is that some people will play a game they might not otherwise solely to earn Achievement points. I don't think the developers of games mind it when a customer buys/borrows/rents a game to do that--it's another way to get customers to become interested in a purchase. In the podcast, we discuss the race between Sara and me (she's 1000 points ahead now!), and that both of us have played games solely for points, and I pointed out that I actually enjoyed not only the race for the points (our own "meta-game"), but I enjoyed playing games like Harry Potter. Heck, I played Avatar for an hour or two even after I earned all 1,000 points...
Nelson pointed out that being in last place by such a wide margin (neener neener neener) has caused him to lose interest--for now--in the "Gamerscore race," at least among the five of us.
In the comments, AriesDog says:
"I know everybody thinks Call of Duty, Halo 3, Gears of War, etc. are the games we should play. all the time. And do. But like movies, it's good to mix it up a bit. When you're feeling like playing something light and fun, dare I say "Nintendo-ish," I see nothing wrong with playing one of the kiddie platformers. Especially if you enjoyed the movie, then it's another level of fun. I had a good time with Pirates of the Caribbean, Meet the Robinsons and Kameo."
What games do you continue to play knowing you won't get any more Achievements?
We all have games we love, and play knowing that we probably won't be getting any Achievements anytime soon. For me, it's Lumines Live or Puzzle Quest. For Chris, it was Gears of War. All of us agree that a good game is a good game, and we all enjoy playing regardless of points we'll earn along the way.
We also discussed that it's subtly disappointing to finish a level and not get even a small Achievement, or to finish defeating the last boss, only to get 10 points for the effort. We're all salivating, waiting for the Pavlovian bell, but we'll keep playing great games anyway.
In the comments, MthdDirector says:
In my opinion, there are far too many great games for the 360, to be focused exclusively on gamerscore -- or, to put it another way, getting achievements isn't the end-all for gaming on the 360. Just my 2 cents! I'm sure other people may feel differently :)
What do you consider a "good" Gamerscore? Are YOU a real "gamer?"
I think anything over 3,000-4,000 is worthy of praise, and anyone in the 10K range is definitely someone who plays a lot of videogames. Some others might think that's pathetic. And I'm certain that there are real "gamers" who have a score under 1,000. Maybe they really only like one game (or game type), maybe they spend a lot of time offline, maybe all their game time is being taken up by World of Warcraft. Or maybe they're still enjoying playing on the original Xbox.
In the comments, Soldier x25 says
I have close to 100,000 gamerscore. I'm a gamer..I also consider a little girl playing a dogs game on her DS a gamer. In conclusion I think gamerscore is nothing without friends to compete against.
In a follow-up blog post about this topic, CaMaRoGuY579 says:
"...I have a rather high gamerscore compared to the majority of LIVE users. When I first got my 360 on launch day back in 05', I NEVER would have thought I would have become so addicted to gamerscore. The thought of actually having a 'paper trail' for my videogame career on the 360 was quite amazing to me, and actually getting points for doing stuff in games just blew my mind. ...
As I continued to gain gamerscore for playing these amazing titles, I liked it more and more. Especially when I could get achievements for beating COD2 on Veteran, which most didn't have. I hooked up with a buddy that I kinda knew in real life (Thats the life without a controller, you know?), found out he got a 360, and found out that he was loving the gamerscore as well. So we started trading tricks and tips on how to increase our gscore. ..."
Okay, your turn. What do you think of Achievements?