Just out of curiosity, how many of you have played/bought a game just for the achievements?

I have a long-standing competition with a friend of mine for who has the highest gamerscore. He recently overtook me after he bought Avatar and 1k'd it in 5 minutes. I admit to having whored a couple of games (my gamerscore of approx. 42,000 testifies to that...) but I refuse to play Avatar.

While I personally think that the concept of achievements is, at its core, completely useless, I still find myself choosing the 360 for multi-platform games because I can get achievements for it. I have to admit, Microsoft have outdone themselves with their creation of gaming achievements and gamerscores.

Cue Se[BBB]e....

You're lucky blokey, you haven't been snared by achievements.

I remember when I used to play games for the games and not just for the achievements.

On the upside, I find that they add replay value to a lot of games. I find myself playing a game for longer than I would normally or going through it again because I want to get the achievements.

On the downside I know I can never get that Expert achievement for Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Except for the drums. I'm going to Expert drums even if I have to build myself cybernetic arms and legs to do it! My current limbs may not be fast enough for the job.

I wouldn't say I've been whoring, but easy achievements may make me more likely to buy a game, yes. An example is Prey, which is a decent game, but has easy achievements.

lol at all the people who make fun of me for the grind that is WoW and then basically do the same thing with achievements.

It's not grind because it challenges you to do things you wouldn't otherwise do, such as completing all of Episode One and firing only a single bullet (which I did, and was a lot of fun). Of course, there are some grindan achievements as well, but you can always choose which ones to take.

no, but I consider buying a game that you normally wouldn't buy just to get your achievement score up grinding.

...except most people don't do that. It might be a slight factor in deciding about games, and it might make you pick up that one game you've been thinking about getting, but very few people would buy a game they don't enjoy just to get the achievements... And if they do, it's gotta be really easy achievements, in which case it's not grinding.

I've never purchased a game for the achievements personally. I buy games that I want, that is it. I think the fact that my gamerscore is so low considering my time having an xbox shows this.

I have lots of games, great games, just no time to play any of them. I'm working on finishing Ratchet & Clank this week, then maybe I'll turn my focus back onto Mass Effect.

I've never bought a game just for the achievements. Mainly I rent games now but even then, I won't put a game on my list just because it has easy achievements. If I want to play it but don't feel it's worth buying then I'll rent it. Never because I want to bump my gamerscore.

My proudest achievement (no pun intended) is getting all 1000 gamerpoints on Call Of Duty 4.

Captain Contradiction to the rescuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeee!

Also, blokeh, note that even if someone does buy games for achievements, and do certain tedious things only to get their precious points, it's still something that makes them happy/satisfied. So basically, it makes games better and more playable, it helps the developers sell more copies, shifts more games in general, it gives players more bang for their buck, it gives grinders what they want. No matter how you spin it, it's still positive. Even if it's tedious as all hell, the person that decides to still do it still obviously think it's worth it, and get a lot of gaming hours at the same time.

Pre-owned and rentals that don't count towards those figures say "Howdy".

But I see where you're coming from. Burnout Paradise on PS3 has a similar kind of thing (called Paradise Points or something), and I've found myself trying to get them all, and WARHAWK has an almost unlimited amount of goodies to collect, so I can totally see the attraction in achievements, and is why I'm kinda giddy about the trophies in PS Home (if we ever fucking see it).

But, like Fanboy, I have to say that anyone who buys/rents games to up their score and NOT for the actual enjoyment of gaming has lost the spirit of what gaming is all about.

The spirit of gaming is all about having fun, and killing time. This fits the bill. They wouldn't do it if they didn't enjoy it. Most people will play more to get achievements, but only the ones they think is fun to get. Others like to grind, to ramp up 10,000 kills on Gears of War, etc. They wouldn't do it if they didn't like it.

But it's nice to see you like the concept. Now imagine all games having it, imaging different achievements giving you different points, imagine being able to compare any game's achievements with your friends, imagine competing about who can rank up most points, imagine a central display of your gamerpoints. Xbox 360 really takes it to a whole new level. Well, actually, Xbox 360 started it all, so you can't really say that. But it's by far the best when it comes to handling achievements.

I know. I *do* have one sat no more than 10 feet away from me right now....

For me, gaming has always been to immerse myself into a whole new world and a new persona and act out things I would never be able to do in real life. Just to kill time.... that's what the Wii is for.