Ahh, the lure of achievements. Many gamers this generation have been chasing the dangling carrot that is the “buh-plipppp†sound that accompanies earned achievements in Xbox 360 games.
Some people though, take it a bit far. I present to you Stallion83, avid gamer and achievement whore hunter who has now amassed an impressive 500 000 gamerscore using Microsoft’s digital penis measurement tool.
According to his blog, his goal to reach a million Gamerscore started sometime in 2006, and 4 years later, he’s halfway. “It’s going to be a long process getting to 1,000,000, but hopefully I can make it there someday,†he says.
It would be all too easy to make jokes about how the dude has no life, and that he’s waggling his giant e-peen around, but it’s quite the accomplishment. Personally I don’t care much for achievements, not even having attained 40K during the same time-frame, but congrats to him. The highest south African total, as far as I’m able to ascertain belongs to RA1NKING, who at 197 291 has a heck of a lot of catching up to do.
Watch Stallion83 hit 500 000 in the video below. (link included too, on account of our embeds being eaten by gremlins)
Last Updated: October 18, 2010
Kat
October 18, 2010 at 17:56
I like getting a high gamer score, but I don’t think I would have the patience to play every game on the market to get a gamer score that high. Kudos.
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
October 18, 2010 at 21:46
I’ll admit, when I first got a xbox 360 I was in complete awe of achievements. How could you not? It’s an easy way to gauge your progress in a game, and who hasn’t compared their gamerscore to that of their friends?
However, once you really sit back and think about it, achievements are hardly the bees knees, and actually takes more away from our favourite pastime than what it adds. This may sound counter-intuitive, but have you ever wondered if achievement-whores still enjoy gaming, or whether the obsession of inflating their gamescore is all that motivates them? Just spot the number of people on your friend’s list who have 1000 GS points for mediocre to pathetic games like Avatar, Over the Hedge, King Kong, etc.
I actually miss those days where you would merely play a game for the simple pleasure of gaming, without always being aware of trophies and gamerscores, or to just explore every inch of a game, because curiosity drove you, instead of the promise of some inconsequential number.
I really wish you could disable trophies or achievements. 🙁
Gavin Mannion
October 19, 2010 at 06:46
I fail to see how some people playing to get achievements takes away from gaming at all? I don’t have a huge gamerscore but I do love it when I get that little notification it makes my game more enjoyable.
An then in some games that I have completed but want to continue playing I check what achievements I can get and start going for them. For me it totally adds to the experience and I have a pretty measly score of 16000 ish…
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
October 19, 2010 at 11:16
@Gavin It boils down to one fundamental question: why are you playing games? If your motivation is to experience the game in its entirety, story, gameplay etc., and your gamescore is secondary, then there’s no problem. However, if you’re merely buying games for the score, then gaming has shifted from merely a hobby to something else.
I used to play World of Warcraft, and still occasionally return to Azeroth. A few years ago, Blizzard added achievements, and although grinding for gear was already a fairly pointless exercise (I gotz ur purplez), we now have individuals who are obsessed with completing scenarios, not because it brings them joy, but merely to inflate their achievement point totals. It’s the same on xbox and PS3 as well.
You could argue that gamerscores have always been a part of gaming (social gaming in arcades :D) and this is just a convenient way to tally the totals of all your games, however… most of the achievements are generally uninspired and ranges from the completely idiotic (press x 1000 times) to the downright selfish (google: Halo ODST’s achievement “be like Marty”). I believe Nintendo is spot on in this regard, that fundamentally, achievements detracts, rather than adds value to gaming. The perceived “value” of achievements has very little to do with the quality of the game, and for too many have stomached terrible games, purely because they give easy 1000 points. That… is just… sad.
Achievement Unlocked: You have just read a Bobby Kotick post