Xbox Live Achievement Points: what's your view on them?

[Rage4Kon]

We already get people modifying their gamerscores on XBL, and they don't do anything. Do we really want to encourage that behavior by tying them to actual rewards?

I think they ruin the gaming experience as getting an achievement for completing a level might be counted as an achievement officially but to you it might be nothing special. Achievements shouldn't be something that applies to everyone in the same way. Each person has their own personal achievements and whether or not they get points for them doesn't matter whatsoever.

 

[Kevin Lyons]

I just use them to see how thoroughly people play the games they buy. Other than that, I don't really care.

 

[Drakmorg]

Sometimes they can be fun, giving you some reason to try something new in a game, even if it's just an idea.
"I had no idea you could even do that, I'll start a new game and try that out!"

Sometimes they're just so much of a pain in the ass that I don't bother.
"You want me to beat this on the highest difficulty level, using only the starter weapon, and never die once? Screw that."

Either way, I don't really see a problem with them. You like the little feeling you get when you hear the "achievement unlocked" sound, Great. You don't care about achievements? That's fine, nobody's forcing you to unlock every single one and it's easy enough to just ignore that they exist.

 

[Captain Epic]

I'm assuming that there's no real difference between the Xbox gamerscore and Ps3 Trophy level. I know people who love getting platinum trophies and I get it. Some people just like setting goals for themselves. What I don't get are people who claim there's no point to getting trophies/achievements. There's no point to games to begin with and that argument falls apart when you remember that. I recently got my first platinum (Uncharted 2), and I enjoyed getting it. Playing on crushing difficulty was really cool because it changed how I played the game. I was more careful and I was actually forced to think my actions through. That's what's great about Achievements/trophies, they can make you get extra gameplay out of a game and change how you play it. There is one more thing I have to say. If you buy a shitty game just cause it has easy trophies/achievements, then you take trophies/achievements way to seriously.

 

[goldenheart323]

Do you think Achievement Points should get you more than respect?

I don't see why game points should get you anything. The point is to get them for fun.

I don't pay Achievements much attention. What makes games funner for me is to have the top 10 scores kept track of... for my console. If not scores, it's at least fun when the game tracks my stats like number of headshots, kills, barrel rolls, etc.. I don't really care if there are 5,231 people in the world better at a game than I am. I don't care if I play better than 10,033 people. I just care if I've beaten my best score, (or my friend's score since he last visited). I can't think of a single 360 game that still bothers with personal top 10 scores, (granted, I don't play much these days though). However, they do pester the heck out of me if my console's not online. I think I've played some racing games that tell me if I beat my best time, but it never tells me by how much I beat it or how close I almost came to a new personal record.

 

[YourMom]

I don't think they should buy dlc, but maybe an avatar item based on the game...

 

[TheKruzdawg]

It depends on the achievement really. I'm really proud that I got an achievement for beating Mass Effect on Insanity, as I found that pretty challenging and an achievement in itself. In the long run though, they don't really matter, although I have found myself renting games that my friends have played so that I could beat them... But I don't get bent out of shape about it.

For me, they do add more length to the game, if the game was already fun to begin with. For example, I have no desire to go achievement hunting in Mirror's Edge, because that game was frustrating. I got all the basic ones and maybe 2 or 3 extra and I'm fine with that. On the other hand, I'm actively working to get all the achievements in the Mass Effect games, as those actually provide some bonuses (mostly in ME1; ex. getting 150 sniper rifle kills allows a new character w/o sniper rifle training at the start to select that as an extra ability), as well as the game actually being fun.

 

[theevilgenius60]

I know microsoft doesn't give m-points for achievements, but I do like their xbox live rewards program. They basically gave a reason to explore the whole 360 interface. I've earned 720 microsoft points over the 3 months I've been on it just for looking around. I know 720 sounds like peanuts over 3 months, but that's currency I wouldn't have otherwise. God, I just sounded like such a shill, but I just wanted to put that out there. Getting free m-points is always good.

 

[OverweightWhale]

They really shouldn't earn you respect. I'm fine with achievements, for me they offer more replay values for some games. They give me a reason to keep playing. I have over 30,000 points, but don't go around acting like I'm a big shot.

 

[Warlord211]

They are completely pointless, but I like them and have over 45,000 gamerscore on Xbox Live.

 

[Bat Vader]

Gamer score is kinda nice but also kinda useless as well. It would be nice if they could be used as some form of alternative currency on X-Box Live. For Example: Trading in 1000 gamer score gets someone 100 or 200 Microsoft Points.

 

[mysecondlife]

they are somewhat nice to have. Usually I like to go back to some of older games and play them at higher difficulty. since most games award for beating at highest difficulty, I don't have to remember what I've done few years ago.

But if I don't get 100% on them, it feels like the game is resenting me for it.. even if the achievement, trophy is such a ***** to get (Infamous, Rockband, etc)

 

[King of Wei]

They're alright. I use them as a kind of review system for games. Looking up the achievements online gives me a general idea of what to expect from the game. And there's the undeniable small sense of pride you get when you max out your favorite or really challenging game.

It would be nice if they could be used as some form of alternative currency on X-Box Live. For Example: Trading in 1000 gamer score gets someone 100 or 200 Microsoft Points.

I'm surprised they haven't done something like that already.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

They're alright. I use them as a kind of review system for games. Looking up the achievements online gives me a general idea of what to expect from the game. And there's the undeniable small sense of pride you get when you max out your favorite or really challenging game.

It would be nice if they could be used as some form of alternative currency on X-Box Live. For Example: Trading in 1000 gamer score gets someone 100 or 200 Microsoft Points.

I'm surprised they haven't done something like that already.

I thinks it because of how ridiculously easy it is to alter your gamerscore?

I like Achievements, they make the game a lot more rewarding, and its no different to people trying to get 100% in games

 

[YonderTunic]

I think it's nice when they present you with an alternate way of playing the game as another means of challenge, which I find adds a fair amount of replay value to games when done correctly.
Most games don't really do this though, and I find flat out collecting all the achievements just for points to be pointless and boring.

 

[ReaperGrimm]

I just like sound it makes when you earn one. *BEEPBLOOP*

 

[JWRosser]

I like them. It gives you motives to complete additional tasks or goals in the game, and get some secrets or Easter eggs that you would have probably missed.
Funnily enough, a lot of the time when I get an achievement, I feel I've achieved something. How weird is that? (with the exception of ones like the first AssCredBro achievement....that you get in the first cut scene).

I like getting them, and, if I enjoy the game, I'll often go out of my way to get them (within reason) - not because I want to increase my gamerscore...because I don't give a toss about that, but just so I feel like I've earned something.

 

[Discord]

When I first saw them I thought they were going to be used like some XBOX LIVE currency, and you could trade them for DLC and such. Not a bad idea might I add.

But it would be nice if they could use it for something like a system to get free items or tokens to trade in to win sweepstakes and such.