A Treatise on Achievements

May 13, 2009 9:15 pm Sir Haxington Games for Fun, Games for Points, Gaming

I get a lot of flak for having a huge gamer score. Part of the problem people have is that I play games to “boost” the score; games I probably wouldn’t play otherwise. For example, I probably wouldn’t be playing Lost, the Cabela series, and a few other games if it weren’t purely for achievements. Also, those people never look at all the AAA games I’ve played, or point out that I’ve played the same or more (both in amount of games and achievements in any particular game) of any game they’ve touched. Haters!

However, here is where I take a stand. On the Internet! Every game I’ve played, even Cabelas, I’ve been able to take something away from. Before achievements, I’d stand around a Best Buy, look at the back of the box and laugh at the value games, then buy my copy of Halo, Gears, whatever.  I was a game snob. Now that I play these kinds of games, in addition to the AAA titles, I fully appreciate a good game when I see it. The difference is huge. I remember growing up, when I thought all games were good, mainly because I could only get one a year.

Personally, getting a high gamer score is a metagame for me. It’s purely about saying “I did this” and making a number get bigger. I love it. The main criticism I get is “But why? What do you get out of it? It’s a waste of time!” My answer is “What do any of us get out of playing games?” If you play Halo for two years, what do you really get out of it besides a higher rank and some experiences with people online? You were entertained for those two years. What can I say? I’m entertained by the achievement getting process. I love the sound an achievement makes when it “pops,” I love having a record of all my achievements, I love the little icon associated with the achievement, I love comparing achievements with other people. Love it! I also love the “MMO” factor of trying to get “one more.” Having that carrot to go after never gets old for me.

There are life some trade-offs for sure. I barely watch any TVs or movies. I can count on one hand the number of movies I’ve seen in the past year. I only watch 2-3 TV shows regularly. The truth is I get bored with passive entertainment. I like games because they’re interactive. I like books for the same reason- I like being engaged. I’d rather play a crappy game than watch a good TV show. In fact, the shows I watch are all comedies (except Terminator, because I love the universe), because good comedy games are hard to come by. The best way I can relate to people on this: Imagine the guy you know who will watch any film, loves B movies, including those terrible movies that show up on the Sci-Fi channel from time to time. Now, replace “watch” with “play”, “film” and “movie” with “video game” and I’m that guy.

There’s the “why.” Next time, I’ll cover the “how.” You know, the way I got my gamer score to 70k without using steroids. I’m sure the entire Internet cares about that.

Also a “treatise” is supposed to be longer, but it sounds more official if you use fancy words.