Cookie Monster

So, I just passed the 15,000 mark in my Gamerscore, and am now fifth place in the imaginary race I have against the others on my friends list, none of whom seem to be aware that there is a race.  Gamerpoints are important stuff, damn it!

When did gaming become so competitive, and when was it decided that we need cookies to get us to play?

A lot of people cite the 360's launch as the beginning of the gaming achievements, but Star Ocean: Till the End of Time had a massive number of achievements (called Battle Trophies), and it was released 2 years before the 360.  I'm pretty sure that there were other games with achievements prior to that, but that was my personal first experience with them

Now, that said, I really didn't care much about those trophies, as they didn't really have much weight to them.  My Gamescore, however, is public and is a (fairly sad, when I think about it) public expression of my gaming abilities and habits.  It's funny how much it's changed my gaming habits and, from what I've read, that was intentional.  This encouragement to explore games deeper than one would without them is one of the major reasons for Microsoft adding the achievement system to the 360 and XBox Live, and I think it works well.

It's interesting to note that the achievement pop-ups on the 360 were a last minute addition, and that they were originally considered intrusive to the player.  It's funny that a happy accident for Microsoft has changed gaming forever with that one little tone, and like a lot of new tech, I can't imagine life without it anymore.  I barely play my PS2 these days, not because the games aren't fun or look good, but because there isn't a way to show my progress/awesomeness to my friends, and stick it in their face.  I look at my extensive PS2 library, which is around 5 times the size of my 360, and feel guilty about all the games that I haven't finished since last summer.  (Of course, the fact that I see up a 360voice blog for my console doesn't help, as it gives achievements too.)

Now, the question that's left open for me is whether or not there's enough of a cookie in the leftover achievements from a single play-through to entice me to play the game again.  I tried with Mass Effect, but that failed, largely because I think it was too soon after my last play-through for the narrative to feel fresh.  It took me 6 months for a second play-through of Halo 3, so I assume something similar will work with Mass Effect, maybe longer due to the RPG aspects of the game.  Perhaps I should try this with Fallout 3, as it's been about 6 months since my last play-through, and Fallout: New Vegas is due out in the Fall.

We'll see, I guess.