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As a kid, I grew up in the 16-bit era. From the moment I saw Sonic the Hedgehog running through Green Hill Zone all I could talk about was the Sega Genesis and how cool it was. That Christmas, my brother and I received our first brand new game system, a Genesis model one, packaged with Sonic the Hedgehog. Every other gift that year was either a game or an accessory compatible with the Genesis. Some were great, like Mickey Mouse’s Castle of Illusion, and some were duds, like Mario Paint “competitor” Art Alive.
Within days my brother and I were locked in competition to both complete games, but also achieve the highest scores. It was frustrating to us that the only way to save our scores would be to never turn off our console or remove the cartridge. So at the age of seven I devised a plan.
With a notebook and a pencil, I created a grid that detailed every game we owned with a scoring system or a means to complete it. From there I made columns for each person in our family as well as possible friends that would come over to play.
Out of this grew a likely unhealthy love of getting every last drop from every game I got my hands on. At one point I could get every ring in Sonic the Hedgehog and finish the game with a few dozen lives stocked up.
Not much has changed since then. I’ve traded in the old notebooks and graphing paper for arbitrary digital bragging rights, but the game remains the same. I can no longer figure out how I collected every single ring in that first Sonic game, but I still obsessively check online leaderboards for any game I play that supports them. When Marvel Pinball was a free download for Playstation Plus members I stuck to the Spider-Man table and honed my skill until I topped my friends list. But without much competition from others I knew, my interest in trying to top my previous best wore out.
This is where achievement systems come in. When the Xbox 360 came out in 2005 (seriously? Almost 7 years?) I was skeptical as a late adopter of the original Xbox (got mine in January of that year). But the achievement system was something that immediately captured my attention and my childhood love for keeping scoring records for every game I owned. As soon as I got my 360 in 2006 I immediately started to feel that same obsessive love for gaming that I used to.
During a gaming session I always keep www.xbox360achievements.org open or its Playstation 3 counterpart www.ps3trophies.org just so that I can attempt to get 100% completion in as little time as And even though I don’t top my friends list with the most impressive scores, I repeatedly compare scores with others and often choose what to play based on how easy it is to get achievements. I will almost always play a game that I know I won’t enjoy (Eragon) before a game that I’m excited for just for the points.
I think it’s also interesting to look at the types of achievements people unlock. Some players tend to stick to just what they happen to unlock along the way, which tends to look more like a list of what campaigns they’ve completed. Others will stay locked into multiplayer gaming and their skill as well as time absorbed by a game is revealed. You can also see trends in what types of games people like, be it adventure, shooter, sports, or in my case, an obsession with kids games, racing games, and campaigns that yield easy unlocks.
At what point does all this remain a fun hobby or become a job? With success of achievement based games like FarmVille, MMO’s, and Call of Duty look-a-like leveling systems, do we as gamers have a need to brag about our accomplishments?
I think this is what sets gaming apart from other entertainment mediums more than anything else. Every type of gaming has statistical analysis, but no other medium really does unless you make a game of it. In gaming you can enjoy a story like Mass Effect and then compare how you played the game to your friend, both with your own decisions, as well as your gamerscore.
In real life, we are increasingly seeing games being made of everything. When Foursquare launched in late 2009, going to public places or events became a game. I use Netflix ratings like a game, partially because I’m crazy obsessive, but also because I like trying movies out I didn’t know about based on the Netflix recommendations. There’s also Get Glue, where you can earn real life stickers for just about anything you can think of being entertained by.
Next time you turn on your gaming rig of choice, think about the way you game and how it affects the way you play. Also, compare your scores to mine and see how we differ. It’s fascinating.
Until next time, I’ll be trying to figure out how in the hell to finish the game Wardner on Genesis. It was one of the games we received as a gift that first Christmas. And to this day, I’ve never met a person who knows about it, let alone has finished it.
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