Achievements: A Double-Edge Sword

When Microsoft announced back in 2005 that the Xbox 360 was going to include achievements, the press were skeptical about such a feature (and quite possibly still are). Boasting big features like the 360's player-created content and Xbox Live Arcade, achievements seemed like more of an afterthought, than the focus. Fast foward to today where achievements have changed how we play our videogames in the new millennium. For as long as I can remember, games have always been about fun and storytelling. The incentive to go out and grab the next big title was because you wanted to play it, not get the achievements for it. In the grand scheme of things, these achievement points might inflict more bad habits than fun features.



Sure they provide a great social aspect to games. I will not argue with this, in fact I think its one of the 360's greatest ideas. You can compare yourself to others and help reach the in-game goals together or even talk about how you got them together. We are social creatures, us millennials. We like having all of our information and personal business right out there for everyone to see. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, you name it gamers are associated with it too. It is a great form of interaction and I think these social aspects have created rich new social environments for our benefit. MMOs are thriving with it and websites are dedicated to it.



Gamers are aggressive by nature. The games we play are cutthroat and promote competition, whether its First-Person Shooters or Real-Time Strategy games. I can recall many nights of Halo smack talk between my brothers and I and sometimes one of us ended up with a busted lip (me). The battle of wits and skill is a constant selling point for games. The industry has become so aware of this that games don't even need a singleplayer story mode even. Xbox achievements have created monsters out of some of us by accident and it is with this in mind that I am not attacking achievements, just questioning the outcome that they bring out. Gamerscores have become the videogame world's pissing contest. The more Gamerscore, the more hardcore you are.



This is also another negative stigma with videogames nowadays. Marketing has split the industry apart and tried to categorize just what gamers are; Casual, Core/Hardcore or whatever label they want to put on us, it all seems so dense. Just how hardcore do you have to be, to be considered "hardcore"? Not every Call of Duty player is out there playing Gears or Halo because they are hardcore. They're out there paying Civilization, or trying out the latest puzzle game on the DS too. I'm getting ahead of myself here, lets back it up.

As I turned on my PS3 the other day I felt uneasy about sinking in more of my time into an RPG that is going to take forever like Persona 4 because I wouldn't get any recognition for it. And it is in that thinking that I immediately stopped that train of thought to pursue it further. For years, I had boasted myself as an RPG player, but was at a crossroads where I felt like I should have been playing for achievements and trophies instead of enjoying a game as wonderful as Persona 4. I've been arguing with myself about where is my time going, and do I really want to play a game for hours and hours without being credited for it? It's a shame that it has come down to that question, for me even. I usually don't let trends and social communities taint my way of thinking but for once, I was upset about having to make that choice. For some, this isn't a problem but for most adults with families, wives, jobs, it in fact is and I'm sure game developers would agree since they are working in their respected careers just like any other person out there.



I also took a look at my collection. My PS3 games were nothing but Playstation exclusives and my 360 was the dominant force with exclusives and multi-platform titles, all for the sake of achievements. This is also what could be hurting the Playstation 3's sales since I feel like I had already invested my time into getting so many achievements. Now Sony is telling me I can get trophies this late in the game? Not to mention, they weren't retroactive so I lost out on Uncharted, Heavenly Sword and Metal Gear Solid 4 trophies.



I even examined my habits and what I have been playing lately. RPGs take forever to finish and I think with the idea of achievements taking longer to obtain, it becomes difficult to complete them and even finishing the games themselves. We've seen the effects of marriage and kids on the gaming hobby, but achievements also come into play if you're thinking about playing a quick game of Call of Duty instead of finishing Valkyria Chronicles.



In my struggle to finding a balance between my hobby and the needless social interaction of it, I realized that I am my own worst enemy. I shouldn't care about people seeing my achievements or trophies, but rather, enjoy the game I purchased and forget about sharing it with online strangers. The incentive to playing games shouldn't be more incentives, but rather the enjoyment they bring us.