Achievement Unlocked 5.30.08: What Comes Next

Posted by Rod Oracheski on 05.30.2008

This generation of hardware gave us Achievements and Gamerscore. What's in store next time around?



I don't think there are many who would have predicted the rise of Achievements and - to a lesser extent - Gamerscore in the hearts and minds of gamers.

Nintendo certainly doesn't appear to have realized the impact Achievements would have ahead of the Wii's launch, and they shows no signs of having noticed even at this point, so don't expect any Wii-centric version any time soon. What would they have anyway...a YOU NINTENDID IT! sticker for your daily activity log?

Like Nintendo, Sony had a chance to adopt something similar to Achievements prior to the launch of the PS3 but missed the boat. They have the much-talked-about Accomplishments system apparently about to launch, but at this point that seems to be too little, too late. It doesn't help that it's been 'apparently about to launch' three or four times now, either. It'll probably show up right around the time Home does.

In any case, we're well into this generation of hardware and it's time for those early looks into the next-next-gen consoles. More specifically, what's going to happen to our Achievements?

WHAT OF OUR GAMERSCORE? [/gamerscore whore]


To be very clear, I'm doing some wild spitballing here. I haven't bothered to talk to anyone from MS and try to wheedle info out of them, these are just what I consider fairly common sense 'next steps' for the Achievement system when the next version of Microsoft's console launches - whether that's in 2010, 2011, or 2012.

1) Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'
Let's get the first obvious one out of the way right here - the Achievement system continues. Microsoft would be incredibly shortsighted to let the system lapse after this generation of hardware. It's been linked to everything from increased game sales to longer gamer retention - keeping us playing past the point we'd have moved on to a different title in the past.

2) Rest not on these laurels
And now, the second obvious one - it continues, but in a new form. That whole bit about being "shortsighted" up there? That applies here as well. The system is a great start, a solid foundation to build from, but there's room for improvement. Carry over the Gamerscore and Achievements from the 360 line, and - providing the next system is backwards compatible (something that shouldn't be an issue with Microsoft owning their hardware patents this time around) - let us keep earning those Gamerscore points on the next system. That leads us to...

3) Secure your assets!
While Achievements are fun to get, there's really no point to the Gamerscore. Talk of doing something with those precious points evaporated swiftly under the weight of rampant exploitation of the system. That's one thing that has to be fixed next time around. Secure the system so those points can mean something besides ePeen waggling.

4) Read this header - 50G
Having the system secure is only half the equation for making Gamerscore count for something. The other side of it is getting a better standard for distribution - aka NO MORE EASY POINTS. The general trend has seemed to indicate companies are doing this on their own as they realize that a solid Achievement list is a selling point for their game, but it can still be better. Declare an end to Achievements like "Beat [x] level!" or "Beat [x] boss!" as those stretch the definition of "achievement" pretty thin - and make each list have to be 50 Achievements while you're at it.

Look at it this way, if having a file size cap on XBLA titles helps foster creativity, something developers keep saying, then having 'no lazy Achievements' as a standard requirement along with a 50-Achievement list should create some really memorable ones.

5) No witness protection plan for bad games
The ability to hide your play history from random people - that's great. Being able to hide it from your friends? That's pretty weak. If I see a friend suddenly sporting 5,000 more Gamerscore, I want to know what's up. Let's face it, if they played through Avatar, Cars, and every launch window sports title just to whore up some points - they deserve the teasing.

6) Speaking of no place to hide...
Microsoft has no say over this, but wouldn't it be nice if you knew the Gamertag of every reviewer out there? It'd sure be nice to know that their opinion of a game might be tainted a bit by never having played it. I'm not saying they need to wrap up 60+ hour games before the review, that's just not feasible when people want to know what to expect before they spend their money, not after, but Achievements (especially those games with the lazy 'beat [x] level' ones) can really show you how much time they honestly put into it.

Would I trust someone who reviewed a football game, but never got the Achievement for scoring a touchdown? What about someone who didn't unlock a mandatory Achievement that's less than an hour into a game? If someone talks about doing [insert amazing feat here], and there's an Achievement for that...but they don't have it, would I trust them when they say the game is worth $60?

Would you?

Doesn't matter though, it's never going to happen. I'm just saying...it'd be nice.

7) Micro to Macro
Let's consider this first round of Achievements to be the micro level of them. Individual Achievements for individual accomplishments in individual games. To build on the system, let's expand to the macro level - go wide with them. Encourage publishers/developers to reward gamers who have played earlier games in a series, like Ubisoft did with Rainbow Six Vegas 2, using Achievements.

For example, they could provide special **cosmetic-only** appearance changes for multiplayer that are only available via unlocking an Achievement in the earlier game. Don't do anything that affects balance, like offering up exclusive weapons, but a different look or an entirely new character? That'd be nice.

It doesn't even have to be an Achievement from a previous game in the series for this to make sense. Let's say you unlocked an Achievement from Dead Rising, then put in Resident Evil 5 and found that you had an exclusive (let's call it Achievement-Exclusive) Frank West skin available to choose. Yeah, it'd take them a little time to create the skin...but it'd drive sales of Dead Rising once people found out about it.

A company that was good about supporting the concept might even find their entire catalog of games seeing better sales, as people 'gear up' for future releases. If there was a title that I was unsure about getting, but I knew it'd unlock something cool for me in an upcoming game I was excited about? Yeah, I'd be pretty tempted to check it out.

The other way to go macro is to have carry-over Achievements that aren't dependent on an individual game, but can be built towards by playing any relevant game.

Take FPS games, for example. A fairly standard Achievement is for scoring [x] number of headshots through the course of the game. You play a FPS game, and it doesn't matter which one, and get that Achievement - that's 1/50 for that game, but it's also a step towards fulfilling the HEADHUNTER meta-Achievement. Get the headshot Achievement from five or 10 games and bam - HEADHUNTER unlocks and...

8) Achievement is nothing without reward
If there's one thing that everyone loves, it's being rewarded for doing something. While it can be argued that the Achievement system itself is a reward mechanism, the carrot at the end of the stick that keeps us playing to get those 1,000 points, it could really be done far better.

Get 1,000/1,000 and unlock something from the game - even if it's just a theme or exclusive Gamerpic. In the case of meta-Achievements, go even bigger. Unlock a meta-Achievement and earn a download credit from XBLA, for example. Or go really old school with it and have the meta-Achievements earn you more tangible prizes. I'm not saying go all out like the old "mail in a screenshot and get a badge" days, but if The Behemoth can mail out trophies for top Alien Hominid players...



I've played very little over the last week, spending most of my time getting my new PC set up and ready to record high-def footage from games. That's right - a spanky new computer complete with an Intensity Pro capture card and just under three terabytes of storage, just so I can on occasion show you what I mean instead of just describing it. All I'm waiting for is a powered HDMI splitter (backordered!) so I can really get it working full steam...

I've also been fooling around in Age of Conan, leveling up a few classes. Next week, along with Chris Vicari, I'll be delivering some first impressions on the game. It's difficult to really do a proper review of a MMO, especially at launch, so we're going to try to do the best we can to fill you in on a wide range of the game's various aspects. Expect to see first impressions, maybe a 'patch progress so far' article, and then as complete a review as we can possibly provide.

A new trailer for Too Human hit the Net, a two-for-one affair that also included the next stage of the whole 'Goblin Man' sideline promotion. The trailer looked great, showcasing a variety of attack possibilities, and the documentary side is starting to really get interesting. The video disappeared shortly after going up - apparently some site, and I don't know or care which, locked up an exclusivity deal on it so nobody else (including the people at Gamersyde where I saw it) was supposed to put it up.

Is it just me, or does the notion of "Internet exclusive" seem wrong to anyone else? Whatever happened to the unfettered passing of information and ideas?

Until next week, I'm out.