Renowned scholar and intellectual Blake Buch shares his thoughts on the gaming industry, the future of new media, and breasts.
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Achievement Unlocked. If you own an Xbox 360, you have no doubt seen these words. Seemingly innocent and designed as simply a ploy to keep gamers playing games (instead of watching Movies, socializing with friends or having lives). But despite Microsoft’s intentions, achievements have created a new form of entertainment, social status, marketing and a quantitative measure to a qualitative problem.
To dig into this, I’ll first turn the system on myself.
This represents me. Not just an aging snapshot, but also a live updating representation of me. Lets dissect it a bit. First the name, what I have chosen to call myself. Entire books are written on this, and it’s nothing new, so we will gloss over it. Next we have my Rep, it’s a player review representation of me. How well do I play with others? It also stems into what kind of a gamer I am. Look around your friends list; chances are you have people all over the place in rep. Some of them might be jerks, but most likely the rep separates those who use games as simply entertainment and those who use games as a social vehicle for interaction. Talking online with a friend and playing the same game together can be nearly identical to spending face time with that person. Yet, despite it involving human interaction, you are very much alone.
There is debate as to the social aspect of “meeting online,” be it a game, myspace or some back ally on IRC. There have been several studies to link Internet social interaction and loneliness as well as several to link the exact opposite, citing a strengthening in long distance relationships. Ultimately the effects of this will not be known for some time, as it is still in its infancy.
Regardless you can determine from a glance at someone’s rep (to get back on task here) their degree of online socialization and thus the kind of gamer they are (solitary or social).
Now we have the “G” or Gamer Score. This is the most brilliant part of achievements. Microsoft took the very qualitative measure of “how good of a gamer are you” and turned it into a quantitative value. The more points the more skills you have. But it digs deeper than that. If you were to do a cross examination of points and achievements you could determine exactly what kind of gamer someone is, and what kind of games appeal to them. All this information has been put into the public by Microsoft; it’s easily readable off their database. In this information you can find exactly what you need to market to the right people.
Again lets take me. If you click to expand my gamer card, you will see all the achievements I have earned and those I have not. If you were to explore them, you will find I do not play Ranked Online games. I just don’t care about deathmatching. You can see I enjoy First Person Shooters, enough to attempt to finish them fully (except for FEAR). All of this information is better than any study on a market could hope to accomplish. I’m almost insulted to think that no company has attempted to exploit this information to market their products to me.
This gamer score also tells you how long, how often and how much I like to game. If an achievement requires someone to log 100+ hours into a game, it’s pretty obvious what their minimal game playtime is. It’s also pretty safe to assume that larger gamer score = more active gamer/longer member of Xbox Live. There’s a few ways to cheat, but that just reinforces the concept that the bigger your score, the better a gamer you are.
What does all of this mean to you? Believe it or not, but the Achievement Unlocked sound is the sound of potential $$$. It’s an old concept being executed on a global scale like never before. It’s also a very unoriginal company Microsoft paving the way for a new way Gamers interact with each other. Believe it, you will see the Achievement system continues to grow and expand. Playstation Home will incorporate Sony’s attempt at Achievements, and I expect Nintendo to make one of their own.
Who knows, in years to come, you may find people selling their Achievement Expertise online, willing to (for a fee) improve your gamer score (or whatever it is called) to advance you up the social ladder of the future.
Who is Thomas Barbalet? Consultant? Podcast editor? Shout boy? International sex symbol? Find out this week as he guest hosts with the rest of the BDPE crew. Also this week we've got kiddie (fox) porn in Second Life, THQ makes billions off crap games, and Square Enix inbreeding reaches an all-time high.
Judgement: Crackdown DLC, Double Dragon XBLA, R4 DS Flashcart
Jank: Mo' Money Taxes: The Album, Trade-in Jank
Quote: "Then, number two tried to introduce some _____ into the equation"
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The BDPE crew descends upon New York City to attend the IGDA Christmas party. Note: Guitar Hero + Open Bar = BAD CALL.
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Easy to say Barbalet dropped me a note this morning.
Drop on by and buy merchandise so I can go yachting.
On a sad note, where's the Face.jpg thong?
This week we are graced by the presence of the mighty BEN BUCK DOUBLE B! He shares with us his thoughts on gaming, his experiences with the ladies, and something about the barracks. Also this week, Kaz Harai replaces Ken Kutaragi and no one notices, the leaked Gears of War script already sucks, and Call of Duty goes back to the future.
Judgement: Pokemon Diamond / Pearl
Jank: 360 HD DVD Drive for $72?, Saints Row and Lego Star Wars II now 360 Platinum Hits
Quote: "Blake Buck ain't got time for weight loss. He's a podcaster. A professional podcaster."
If you have any feedback, you can shoot us an email here, call our voicemail at 845-BATTLE-9, or leave your thoughts in our forums here.
