THREEVIEWS

John: No, achievements don't live up to the hype.

I hate achievements. They mock me. They interrupt my game. They beg me to play in ways I don't care to. Most egregious, they make me avoid older games that never had the misfortune of being coded to include them. Achievements have mutated the gameplay experience into an obsessive arms race and a compulsive grind.

Even now, years after their introduction, achievements still feel ill-conceived and tacked on. This headless blunder has seen little in the way of governance from Microsoft. It seems like the certification process for achievements is much looser than the standards demanded of the core game. It means, that as long as a retail release title has no more than 50 achievements totaling 1000 gamerscore, developers are free to torture players how they see fit.

Add to that, downloadable content, which forces the wretched whore to purchase a previously 1000'd title just to keep stride. Gamerscore inflation has become a reality with the advent of these super-games — titles are 'allowed' to add up to 250 gamerscore a quarter via DLC. Your launch titles don't have near the G value of a Fallout 3 (1550G) or Halo 3 (1750G).

The existence of missable or glitched achievements sends me grudgingly into the spoiler-laden minefield of gaming forums in search of guidance. Click the wrong post and — *pfft* — plot point ruined. The majority of multiplayer achievements have the shelf life of Wonder Bread. Try and find an adequately populated lobby a year after release.

Some community driven sites have attempted to level the playing field but the beast Microsoft has unleashed is not easily tamed. TrueAchievements.com weights gamerscore awards according to the number of players who have actually unlocked a given achievement. xbox360achievements.org provides an achievement-centric GameFAQs-like forum to guide players past glitches and pitfalls.

Unfortunately these aids don't mitigate cheaters, hacks or mods. The need for boosting — deliberately winning/losing with a consensual player — unfortunately remains essential. Despite such community efforts only Microsoft can affect the changes needed to bring back the joy.

I will take part of the blame though. Once I popped, I couldn't stop. But this whore wants to feel like a virgin again.

Frank: Achievements are achievable. So what?

I don't care about achievements. If I get an unlocked notification I will ignore it faster than a "friend" request inspired by a random Halo encounter. I don't need a leaderboard to prove my gamer worthiness. If you want to know if I have beaten a game, ask me.

If the tasks presented in each achievement description can't be accomplished while playing through a game's various modes then they likely aren't essential to my enjoyment. A developer's vision is better embedded into a game's design rather than an arbitrary weighted checklist.

More often than not, such awards come naturally while performing required game actions or they are so obtuse and difficult as to never be encountered let alone achieved. Either way, their importance is moot.

As a sign of status achievements are just as frivolous. Some games dish out awards just for showing up. Often within days of a title's release, FAQs, guides, cheats and increasingly elaborate video walkthroughs, will have even the weakest of players boosted well on their way to 1000. If everyone can do it, how special is it really?

The arbitrary scale is laughable too. What makes spamming 20 grenades worth the same amount of points as completing a story arc or level? Only your game designer knows for sure.

Often the goal is to encourage players to try a feature or mode they might otherwise miss. I would like to "Create a game lobby" to discuss with developers how lazy this is. Inciting the player to play is best done within the context of the game. That, in my opinion, is the mark of a great game.

In their current incarnation achievements could cease to exist today and the gaming landscape would be just as engaging. In fact I think it would be better for it. Perhaps then cutting room floor ideas would get a chance to shine rather than being collected into the game equivalent of a deleted scene reel.

Kevin: Yes, achievements deserve a trophy!

I love achievements. I don't sleep with just any achievement that pops mind you. There are no Air Benders or King Kongs padding my gamerscore. I expect the tasks and awards to be as well designed as the main gameplay. When achievements live up to this standard they always enhance my enjoyment of a game. Achievements have added a layer of design and community that prior generations of gaming only hinted at.

The centralized meta game that Microsoft pioneered and standardized has enabled gamers to truly display their badges of honour. Although they had misgivings, Sony saw fit to relent and add a version of achievements — trophies — to their service. Steam, EA (Spore) and Blizzard (World of Warcraft) have followed suit and now achievements are a legitimate element of the gaming milieu.

The addition of this game-within-a-game-outside-of-a-game has injected replay value into titles where none was possible. Many achievements invite me to participate in areas of a game's design I would not normally venture. Easter eggs have been magically transformed into Fabergés worthy of the quest.

Achievements have become another effective way for developers to showcase design and personality in their products. Fan service can unobtrusively be embedded into a game for those eager to invest the effort for a chance to spend more time with a favourite. From love letters (Gears of War 2's Friends with Benefits - Complete all acts in co-op on any difficulty) to retorts (Left 4 Dead's "Zombie Genocidest - Kill 53,595 Infected" answers Dead Rising's "Zombie Genocider defeat at least 53,594 zombies"), even an achievement's description can evoke pleasure.

The communities that have sprung up around this phenomenon also add to the excitement. Posting to message boards' 100% Clubs, writing or proofing guides, or offering your assistance to help others achieve otherwise unobtainable goals (boosting) encourages the social nature of our hobby. 'Perfecting' a game is a thrill but being able to share that feat and the associated minutia with like-minded players is just as gratifying.

If nothing else, achievements have helped formalize an aspect of gaming that has existed since the beginning — the "High Score" and by extension the "Leaderboard". The competitive side of gaming craves record-keeping and Microsoft's implementation of achievements, while not near perfect, is most certainly an achievement unlocked.

You've read "our" views. What is your perspective? Give "us" your feedback.

Achievement graphics courtesy of http://www.technology-ninja.com