Wired Article on Achievements and Gamerscore
Just had to share, especially as a co-worker forward it along with the following embedded image:
My favorite quote? 
Each Achievement earns you a little icon and a number of points to add to your Gamerscore, which is visible to everyone on Xbox Live.
So, in essence, a Gamerscore is a numeric indicator of how you’ve squandered your life. When you’re on your deathbed, instead of having to agonize over each poor choice and missed opportunity in your life, you can just check your Gamerscore. “199,970 points,” you’ll scream, gripping the bed frame with the last of your strength. “I lived a hollow pastiche of an existence!”
Of course, at the same time you’ll be wishing you’d fixed 50 zippers in Sewing Cop 4023, because then you’d have an even 200 grand. Such is the honeyed agony of Gamerscore.
Sony is threatening to go one further with the game awards on the PlayStation 3. The awards will take the form of virtual trophies you can put on your shelves in your online 3-D gamer home.
So, follow along here: There’s going to be an imaginary world in which I have an imaginary house where I will put the imaginary awards I won performing imaginary tasks as an imaginary person in a completely different imaginary world. So if you’re wondering what separates a hobby from psychosis, the answer is “about 600 bucks.”
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I think the guy might be missing the point a bit. Gamerscore and Achievements in the world of XBL to me are much more like the high score in and Arcade Game. It’s the next logical iteration. It allows you to compete on a global scale in games that aren’t even competitive games. This is how i think most people see them. There are the Achievement whores out there that just have to have everyone and that’s their cross to bare but for most i think what i described is the typical thought.
"So if you’re wondering what separates a hobby from psychosis, the answer is ‘about 600 bucks.’"
Now THAT is amusing.
I will admit that I look at some people’s gamerscores and shake my head because they’re so high…I wwonder what they’re doing outside of gaming.
At the same time, I am 5 points shy of 5,000 and it really is driving me mad. Yes, I could dl an Arcade game and get a few easy points; but what kind of achievement is that? Better to wait for a game I like playing to gain that achievement…even if I don’t get any sleep until I do.
Finally, MS idd a brilliant thing with achievements. If a game is multi-platform, I will automatically defer to their console because of this.
I hate how gamers have to defend themselves from people for the way they choose to use their free time. These same stereotypes could have been used in the 70′s against Gates, Woz, and Jobbs. Thanks to video game simulators NASA, Law Enforcement, and Medicine have advanced the way they teach. I guess its just more fun to criticize people for reading the wrong books, hearing the wrong music, watching the wrong movies, playing the wrong games.
Honestly I never really cared at all about the gamerscore or achievements… that is of course until Crackdown.
For some damn reason I am simply determined to get every achivement in that game! Maybe cause its so damn good and I just want any reason to keep playing, or maybe because the achievements are so cleverly designed that I actually feel rewarded for getting them (because I was knowingly working on something to get the achievement, rather that an achivement appearing out of nowhere and I dont even know what I did to get it).
Funny enough, he has something of a point. Achievements are hollow, but as logikil said, it’s like the high scores on old arcade machines.
Personally I’ve never really cared about my points, definitely not enough to get extra games just for the points, but I doubt Sony’s attempt will have the same effect. I mean, I don’t want to have to "travel" to someone’s "home" to look at trophies. All I want to do is click a few buttons (as few as possible, mind you) and get a list of what that person has done and compare that to my list.
And why do I do that? To see what achievements I still want to get? No, to be able to ask for (or offer) help getting through a level.
Slightly off-topic, but am I the only one ticked off by that site’s layout? The lack of padding on the left, and often annoyingly long texts makes me want to leave rather than read two paragraphs more…
ouch…that hurts.