VIDEO: Achievements are ruining gamers
Matt Hawkins It’s true. Ever since they were introduced via the Xbox 360, crappy games have been able to waste people’s times nonetheless with the promise of at least boosting one’s silly little gaming score.
Came across this Game Genie in IRL clip alongside the most recent Pokemon IRL clip from before. Original plan was to simply add it to the end, since I like to clump semi-related material together for more bang for one’s buck. But it touches upon a serious issue that deserves exploring…
… And that’s how achievements are ruining gaming. Actually, not gaming, but gamers. Because they convince folks to spend way too much time on crap games by enticing them with chance to score silly points that have no bearing on the actual experience. Not that pulling off some legit feat in-game is all impressive or commendable, but still. Conversely, games that are actually good get the shaft as a result, though only complete douchebags refuse to play anything if they won’t beef up their gamer scores. Yet there are a few guilty of this. Ultimately, standards are being affected here.
I guess my biggest beef is how it’s just another silly thing that white people these days concern themselves over, and how they can’t do almost anything unless there’s a carrot in front of their face. The most serious “problem” that my generation seems to have is their inability to focus on anything, since turning your cell phone off and just not checking Twitter every 5 seconds is not an option. Hence the birth of the “GTD” (aka Get Things Done) cottage industry, which involves all kinds of expensive task management apps.
In addition to silly programs that shuts ones internet off to help concentrate on work (which makes zero sense, cuz if someone was that hard up, couldn’t they just turn off the app then?), you’ve got others, the vast majority actually, that simply create lists. Essentially they do whatever one could already do with a pen and pad of paper, yet sans all the cool animations an iPhone app can provide. At the least the following, called Epic Win (yeah, the name is fairly lol-worthy) does a somewhat original job of combing the white man’s burden of not being able to keep track of menial tasks and offering the same degree of reinforcement to tackle banal tasks that a Skinner rat would receive, but instead of a block of cheese, it’s meaningless ego boost like on Xbox Live…
… The only thing I can say towards its credit is that it’s only a few bucks and not $50, like the vast majority of rip-off GTD programs. But anyhow, despite the warm reception Epic Win has gotten, I still find it kinda douchey, sorry. Do I really need to tricked into doing the dishes? Unfortunately, for most people, the answer is yes.
Anyhow, for those who still dig achievement points despite my rock-solid case as to why they’re dumb and meaningless, here’s something for you. Knock yourselves out.
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