OXCGN – Breathing Life Into Gaming

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

A recently locked thread on Xbox.com.au caught my interest.  In it user LakersLegend claimed:

Anyone with a big achievement score only proves they have never had a girl and are never gonna have one if theve got that much time to waste !  “replay value ” ! Dude when youve finished a video game get a new one or go ask a girl out, cause big scores are for big nerds.

This is fairly normal troll bait stuff but the gamerscore system with its achievement points or trophies has largely changed the way many gamers play their games.

Many gamers now define how good a gamer they are by that very score and gamers with low scores are often scorned as looking like (or playing like) ‘noobs’.

Gamerscore Whores

Gamers with high scores are often seen as lazy geeks who do nothing else all day and have poor social lives, as the above example displays.  This isn’t true, but the image sticks.

Certainly, I’ve found gamerscores to have changed how important finding treasures are and often I’ll retry sections in order to get an elusive achievement.  This does take time away from other pursuits and family time.

I also personally noticed I was spending more time getting frustrated trying to get points than actually enjoying the ride of the game.  Looking for points or trophies can actually break the flow of the game and feeling of escape.

I’d hate to consider myself a hardcore gamer.  These scores put pressure on hardcore gamers to get all the points for a game (because people can check your score or trophies) or push themselves to play harder difficulties to prove themselves, now that it is all public online.

Sure they may get them all and feel a great deal of accomplishment, but at what cost and what pressure.  No thanks.

Online gaming also is affected as a lot of achievements are for multiplayer only (I hate that).  I’ve had people get me to throw games or play a certain way just so we could get achievements on offer easier.  What’s the point?

Then there are those who buy certain games because the games offer easy points…just to see their scores go up. There really isn’t much to determine what a certain objective and therefore trophy or number of points is worth, since each game is different.  It’s therefore an inconsistent system.

There are some who often buy games (even crappy ones) to whip through them ‘hit and run’ style and get the points to add to their score before moving on.  The game is the way to more points; the gameplay is almost besides the point.

If you own both a 360 and PS3 as I do, then which game version do you get?  Do you want more achievement points or more trophies to display?  It becomes less a case of which version looks and plays the best and which will give me more rewards I want.

Perhaps it is to combat this that Sony has intelligently negotiated exclusive parts of a game like the Joker levels in Batman: Arkham Asylum or the interconnected content between Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines on their PSP and AC2 on PS3.

Headshot trophies, treasure points, difficulty achievements: to me, while I enjoy getting the points as much as anyone, it seems like the game becomes a case of do what the game-makers’ checklist says to do instead of play the game and enjoy the flow and narrative.

I now prefer to ignore the list of achievements or trophies and just play and see what I get naturally.  Sure, I may be missing out on finding all the guns in the game or some other gameplay benefit, but most often not.

I’m pleased to see finding things in-game become more of an in-game reward system, as in Assassin’s Creed 2, where you can use cash you find to buy things to help you in the game.  That is more incentive to me.

Gamerscore Hounds

On the other hand these gamerscores can enhance the experience too, as you explore more areas to look for treasures and try more diverse ways of playing a game.  It also adds a certain amount of replay value, if you are so minded to go back and try to get more achievements (which obviously LakersLegend isn’t).

There are lots of Gamescore ‘hounds’, defined as “somebody who pursues a particular activity with great enthusiasm or determination”, and certainly the achievement and trophy systems have been considered successful.

It is a gross generalisation to say that those with high gamerscores are social misfits who do nothing with their time but play games.  Many with high scores have excellent social lives and are involved in anything anyone else is, from sport, to different hobbies, to family life.

Points and trophies are a challenge to many gamers; a challenge to do better for themselves and for some to beat their friends in a friendly rivalry.

Also, many gamers are just good at gaming.  I can’t do the top difficulties of a game, but many can and love the challenge.  While I think gaming should be about entertainment, for many gamers gaming is about beating a really tough boss on the highest difficulty.

Who am I or anyone else for that matter, to say that my way of playing is better, or vice versa?  Gamerscores reward those skillful players.

The badge of honour for getting achievements and trophies may be intangible on one hand, but on the other because it is public it is equally real.

It sometimes even encourages a gamer to hook up with others in co-op matches so that the shared experience can get everyone points, and adds a social camaraderie element.

Then there are the completionists who want to finish everything not just the gameplay.  They want their full money’s worth doing every task that is set, and that includes the points or trophies.

If they have the time, ability, and desire then they are to be admired for their persistance…as long as their lives do not suffer for it.

It also can be an added reason to play the game you love and still have objectives.

In the end the gamer decides what they like and why they like to do it, as it should be.  To judge others on their choice, to call a gamer with a low score a ‘noob’ or one with a high score a ‘nerd with no life’, is just plain ‘point’less.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist….)

[ED: I also do not play a game simply to get the points. Anyone wanting to see my game list can see that. I have never achieved 1000 points in any game, but have finished several, and been nowhere near the top scores for that game. Why?

Because I just want to 'play the game', not gain the score. The game is more important to me than the score. But that does not mean those who want the higher score need to be ridiculed for taking the time and putting in the extra effort required to achieve that end result.

My hat goes off to those that have the skill-set to do that, but I also commend those who have low scores, and just enjoy playing the game for the simple fact of playing games.

A 'real gamer' doesn't complain, they game!.]

©2009 David Hilton:

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