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In Hindsight: The Meaning Of 100,000 Achievement Points
Do achievements mean anything to you? For some people, the sound of an achievement being unlocked is as annoying as a mosquito buzzing their ear. For others, it's the sound of greatness, and the sound of hard work paying off.
If you look at my gamerscore to the right (next to Steve Martin), you'll see that I am an achievement addict. With the exception of this moment in my life, I'll tell you that I don't go out of my way to unlock them, and I could care less if someone has a higher gamerscore than I do. Both of these statements are true...to an extent. I will play bad games to unlock points (see Backyard Football 2010) if the points can be obtained in a few hours or less.
A few minutes before writing this blog, I scrolled through my entire Xbox 360 games played list. Having played almost every game on the market, it took me about an hour to scroll through this list. In a way, I felt like I was flipping through an old school yearbook or family photo album. Memories, both of good times and bad, came flooding back into crystal clear focus.
For the first time as a gamer, I was viewing my history – my body of work, if we can call it that. As cheesy as this is going to sound, Xbox 360 achievements don't just offer up an arbitrary number, they hold memories and histories.
Imagine where we can go from here. Instead of just unlocking a trophy or points, what if our accomplishments could be stored as videos? Think Halo replays but for every game and with no fuss of recording them ourselves.
If you have five years of Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 gaming under your belt, I strongly urge you take a look back. I found it to be a fascinating journey back through gaming.
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