What Achievements actually mean...

Valsam75 · 01-06-2006, 11:51 AM

The Idea of achievements is an innovative way to add aditional time
value to xbox games. But what achievements really mean to most people?

Well regretfully most achievements mean absolutely nothing more than
how much spare time one has in his hands and the number of games he
has or the rate someone buys and adds new games to his collection.

That's because gamerscore usually comes from achievements that do
not represent actual game skills but rather game-progress instead.

For example you can get the 1000 gamescore points from KING KONG game
in less than a weekend ! And most sport games like NBA LIVE 2006 and
2K6 donate plenty gamerscore effortless.

Of course the good news are that there are exceptions to this "rule" and
for that you can find games with meaningful achievements that do really
represent high skills. Such games are mostly arcades and online multiplayer
achievements.

The strange thing is the more well though and meaningful an achievement
is, the less score points it gives !! (2 points - 30 points max !)
You can end up playing your favourite ARCADE game for hours days months
and years before you unlock that mere 5 point super Achievement !

Still it pays greatly and brings tears of joy to see that notification system window when pops up to certify your "proffesionalism of skills" even
if the score you get is no more than 3 points !

So although the overall gamerscore in a player's gamercard could mean
absolutely nothing more than the number of titles someone has in his
possesion, some small individual game online achievements can certify
real skills.

If one needs to know about a player's expertise on gaming, better view
each game's achievements individually instead of judging by the overall
gamerscore. Also remember that most achievements that show actual
skill are the online ones and the achievements that have to do with
the ranking to the score leaderboards.

Your opinion ?

Dizz · 01-06-2006, 12:32 PM

Im my opinion its a good idea if you use that. but i dont think i have ever really compared gamerscore to anyone else. so i dont use it.

Don_Rico · 01-06-2006, 01:23 PM

To me it really is curtain achievements that's really meaningful. But the Gamerscore is noce to brag with too, though my gamerscore is pretty much just for the ladies.

John1170 · 01-06-2006, 07:24 PM

They dont mean much to me. It is just nice to get a hard one. It keeps me trying to get the hard ones. It adds replay.

n2pizza · 01-06-2006, 07:25 PM

i think of it as like respect in a game or if you have 1000 points in graw people wont talk trash about you

Molneze · 02-06-2006, 01:38 PM

I like Achievements

They are fun to get.

Liam · 02-06-2006, 02:05 PM

I think that Acheivements are somewhat of a double- Edged sword. On one hand you'll aways have someone who goes for all for all of the easy acheivment just to boost thier gamerpoints and tell everyone how "Awesumly grate" they are. On the other hand you have some acheivments that truely have to be earned, that you are actually proud to get. This adds to the replay value and also makes you glad to have earned it

Syrus15 · 03-06-2006, 08:55 AM

The only reason some ppl play games is for their gamescore to go up.... And it doesn't really do anything. The more achievements in a game, the more ppl buy it.

Ghostspectrum · 03-06-2006, 09:51 AM

Sadly, my gamerscore is only 1970!

killertaco321 · 03-06-2006, 06:47 PM

I wonder how long it will take for someone to get all the achievements on oblivion.

MH_prophet · 03-06-2006, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don_Rico

To me it really is curtain achievements that's really meaningful. But the Gamerscore is noce to brag with too, though my gamerscore is pretty much just for the ladies.

Right, because the ladies love them h4rdc0r3 g4m3r5. And don't feel bad Ghost, mine is a paltry 1,200-something. Or 1,100 something maybe, I haven't checked in a while. Thirdly, I agree with Valsam, if you want to approximate someone's skill, you'll have to look at specific achievments rather than overall gamerscore.

Molneze · 04-06-2006, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MH_prophet

Right, because the ladies love them h4rdc0r3 g4m3r5. And don't feel bad Ghost, mine is a paltry 1,200-something. Or 1,100 something maybe, I haven't checked in a while. Thirdly, I agree with Valsam, if you want to approximate someone's skill, you'll have to look at specific achievments rather than overall gamerscore.

If you want to know someone's skill, you play them!!

Jay2984 · 05-06-2006, 01:25 AM

The achievements were a great idea on MS' part. Its fun to try to go for those really hard points like the sniper achievement on GRAW for example or beating COD2 on Vet. Others are very easy to get, Ive caught myself playing games like NFS and King Kong that I wouldnt usually play or enjoy just to boost my gamerscore but found that KK was a very enjoyable game. Not much replay value in KK but enjoyable the first time through. I do agree that a persons gamerscore, no matter how high, doesnt actually prove they are an exceptional gamer. Maybe just a little to much free time on their hands or have the money to buy or rent a lot of games. It is bragging rights in a way especially getting those seemingly impossible achievements.

TecH N9nE · 05-06-2006, 01:29 AM

I think its also to get people to play a game who wouldnt normally play them. Like me, i wouldnt normally ever play any soccer, sports etc. games. But then you get addicted to getting your gamerscore higher and it makes you buy/rent them when you normally wouldnt. Then you come to find out that they are actually good games. Plus I think that it gives you and your friends some good friendly competition. Instead of just saying "yup i played that game so what?". Now you can say "well i got that achievement, wheres yours?" haha

TecH N9nE · 05-06-2006, 01:30 AM

haha damn now aint that good timing! great minds think alike!

Jay2984 · 05-06-2006, 01:39 AM

lol exactly what I was thinking when I read your post, I left you good feedback on your rep.

Don_Rico · 05-06-2006, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MH_prophet

Right, because the ladies love them h4rdc0r3 g4m3r5.

Of course they do! That's like my no.1 pickup line!: "Hey gurl, I got a gamerscore of 7000, wanna go get a coffee or something?"

ChuckSteak0331 · 05-06-2006, 07:10 AM

In my opinion, the gamer score was a good Idea on MS buisiness side, but a bad idea for some of its players.
Now, you have people who are like Molneze (please take no offense) who will do anything for the next achievement to get those next couple of points. Now, what they do with those points is well beyond me. You cant spend them anywhere, and personally, half the people out there done really care. That is where MS did good. It keeps players like Molneze, buying their games and promoting their system.
Where they messed up a little in my opinion is with people like myself, and from this thread some of the others out there. I personally dont know what my Gamerscore is, not if I have ever got 100% of the achievements in any game. Lets face it, they are 1 of the same. So when I go online and play a round of GRAW or PGR3 and many others, you have people judging you by your gamerscore. And in many cases, just booting you out because your a "noob". I do not consider myself a noob, since I've been playing video games since colecovision and the commador64 were cool. But since I do hold a life, job, wife, friends, and family, I dont have that much time to play many games, and to the extent to get all the achievements.
People online will "brag" about how high their gamerscore is compared to yours and when you think about it, its just plain silly. Thats like bragging about being the cool one at a mental institution. Its hard to be the popular one when your in a nut house. I play the game for the experience. If I get a achievement, I just count down until that little sign at the bottom of my screen goes away.

Kaptain Kilt · 05-06-2006, 10:10 AM

I'd like to say I'm beyond the meaningless acheivement points, but everytime I turn on my system, that number is starring back at me, almost as if to say: "You going to do something about this?" The worse part is, I have.

I play Geometry Wars still because I want that next acheivement. But the games are also starting to show you your score or acheivements based on your friends list, what a superb way to keep a competitive nature about your game.

I don't think any game does acheivements as well as Battlefield 2: Modern Combat. The acheivements are based on the ingame medals you must have in order to advance in rank. This is a real chance to see who you are up against, or to see if that gamer who sent you a clan invite is really worth a damn.

I've also caught myself playing games I wouldn't normally play because I see a friends score shoot up quickly so I grab the same game. The only problem I see thus far, it seems there isn't a vetting system. I would guess the developers decide the acheivements and the points. Like mentioned earlier, you can get points for certain games in an hour or less, while games like GRAW require you to make top of the leaderboard or play 8 hours straight.

EfDizzle · 05-06-2006, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by killertaco321

I wonder how long it will take for someone to get all the achievements on oblivion.

right now i think oblivion have the realest gamer achivments right now i got 523 in it and im trying to get 1000 i dunno gamerscore got me addicted because i alwaYS TRY AND get the highest and itt makes me buy games i wouldnt normally get such as table tennis Nba live 06 ( i love nba 2k6 live sux) and madden ( im a madden fan but it sux on 360) so its agood thing and makes sales good