Xbox 360 Game News, Reviews, and Columns - XboxFocus

Achievements: Becoming MS' Bitch

by Chris Holmes September 19th 2008 6:55 PM CDT4 Comments

Since the beginning of this generation, there has been a growing trend in the Xbox world that has worried me, especially since you people have been lapping it all up and have become so ignorant of the side effects from it. The trend in question is the so-called “achievement culture” that has been sweeping Xbox LIVE and my friend s list.

Now, don’t get me wrong, achievements can be quite enjoyable occasionaly, and can prolong a game’s traditional lifespan to often stupid levels. However, there is one question behind their exsistance that has me believing there is something fundamentally something wrong with them:

Why does a “gamerscore” even matter?


Microsoft has indoctrinated all of us into believing those little numbers below your gamertag prove your mettle as a gamer. However, all they truly show is which people can follow instructions better and spend the most money.

In essence, the entire system is based on addiction: the addiction to keep on earning more points in the blind hope that our peers take notice and praise us. The points offer no commercial value and currently can’t be used for anything other than bragging rights, but they are currently the most coveted things on the platform (besides Gears of War 2).

Completing a game is no longer the main port of call for us. Now, we look at achievement lists to see far we've really gone into a game; then we go go about shooting a ridiculous amount of pigeons instead of paying attention to a game's story.

The culture that goes around this system is very aggressive too. Just the other day, some young stalker-type freak proclaimed he was better at Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise than me. I was bemused by such claims from this young squire, as I was a higher level gardener pulling in the big guns of the Pinata world, where as he was just some small-fry trying to home some worm-like creatures with matchsticks. When I compared our achievements, it was suddenly obvious where his attempt at boasting had stemmed from: he had 40 more points than me. It’s a bizarre state of affairs when some lackluster kid can claim to be better than me based on some kind of nonsensical and non-purposeful score.

Microsoft has created a monster incapable of being controlled and tamed. Games are now work, and fun is controlled by the very system we support because we believe it gives us some form of advanced entitlement, but instead we are just another brick in the wall. They have changed the way people have played their games forever, and the problem is not going away. Sony have recently launched the PS3’s copy and its “trophy” system; which are essentially achievements under a different name.

So what does this mean for us? A return to the old collect-a-thons of old as devs run out of fresh achievement ideas is most certainly on the cards, and forcing players to complete a game on a certain difficulty level above their natural ability to get is definitely going to become more prevalent. However, the worst thing that could possibly happen is already seeping into our games quietly, and that’s achievements that actually force users to purchase accessories. Rainbow Six Vegas 1 & 2 and Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise actually require the Xbox Live Vision camera to get some achievements, and this is where the system will be tested to its limits. Will people actually go and get an expensive addition to their system in order to get more gamerscore or will it awaken people to the cage they are trapped in? It seems this will be the only way to deter us dumb sheep from completely allowing Microsoft to trap us in this constant bizarre vortex of points and pointless numbers.