Achievement Points Commentary

Jan-5-07, 9:15 pm by Hanford
File under: Video games, consoles

So I've seen a few blogs and Digg link to the Xbox Live's Achievement Points Success article. Here's the lowdown on Achievement Points, courtesy of the article:

Here's how the points system works: Microsoft mandates that every developer of Xbox 360 games "hide" 1,000 achievement points in every retail game and 200 in every casual game. Players earn points for certain successes in the game. The more challenging the task, the more points are added to the player's profile -- or Gamerscore -- which is visible to anyone who cares to look.

The article is all about what a smashing success Achievement Points are, to everyone's surprise.

Except it shouldn't be. It's basically a meta-highscore of all the games you play. High scores have been around forever, and hardcore gamers care about them. To have a system that kinda combines the scores from all your games into a master total is pretty damn cool, and having to hunt for them in each game just adds to it. I find it odd that Microsoft stumbled upon this game mechanic accidentally.

Note: I've never played a game hooked up to Xbox Live.

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Justin C wrote: Jan-12-07, 5:07 pm

I don't think Microsoft stumbled on that mechanic. It was pretty well planned. Game industry critics when they first heard about them, didn't understand them before the 360 shipped. When the system was actually working it instantly created a metagame across all games, and deep within games.

I believe for the most part the system works because it's very, very accessible. If Live didn't put them in the forefront, or games didn't allow you to see the scores of all the other players in the world (and sort out your friends), it wouldn't be an interesting mechanic.

Even more interesting, relating more to Live and not so much about the Gamerscore, is seeing the high scores of other players. That's way cool. I can instantly see where I rank to all the players out there, and again to my friends. It's addicting.

But again, it's a mid to hardcore mechanic. The casual might not even care. Then again connecting your machine to the internet is fast becoming a mainstream thing.

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