Playing games for the Gamerscore only? Why?

I don't understand the people who just play games to increase their gamerscore. Does it really matter that much?

Come on, these games aren't cheap, why not enjoy them for all they are worth rather than just playing to get points. I've been playing on the 360 since Christmas and I don't know what my gamer score is. Yes, I know it's on the dashboard, but I want to play the games, not sit there looking at some meaningless number - I haven't looked in weeks.

It's like buying 100 books, just to be able to say you have 100 books. But have you read them? Did you learn anything from them? Did you enjoy them? If the answer to these questions is no, what is the point?

So, why do you play just for gamerscore?

Gives the game replay value as you want to get the acheivements.

Gives you a sense of achievement like you have accomplished something such as MileHighClub in COD4 or getting 1,000,000 points on guitar hero 3.

Saying that, I dont play for acheivements but it's nice to get them once and a while.

I don't understand why this bothers people...

You say that games are meant to be fun, well some people do find increasing their gamerscore to be fun...

why criticize how other people decide to play a game? does it affect your enjoyment in anyway?

as for the people who buy games ONLY for gamerpoints...well they need new hobbies. However, when buying a game, I actually tend to look at how many achievements the game has and see if they are something I will want to pursue, because they do add replay value to the game. A good example is Mass Effect. This game really has some good achievements, and will make you want to play again. However, if you now, or ever have played Avatar just for the gamerscore, then you are going to burn.Essian

[QUOTE="Essian"]as for the people who buy games ONLY for gamerpoints...well they need new hobbies. However, when buying a game, I actually tend to look at how many achievements the game has and see if they are something I will want to pursue, because they do add replay value to the game. A good example is Mass Effect. This game really has some good achievements, and will make you want to play again. However, if you now, or ever have played Avatar just for the gamerscore, then you are going to burn.darkjedirpm

*looks at gamerscore*

why criticize how other people decide to play a game? does it affect your enjoyment in anyway? mfp16

No, of course not, but I am interested.

Otherwise, you'd just be playing for no reason, making the gaming expirience just as pointless

Following that line, I assume you don't read fiction - because you don't get any from it, so it is pointless.

I try to get one achievement a day. I like to have my gamerscore up, but I prefer getting my ratio up. For instance, right now I have like 7810/23800 (would be 22800 but I put in GTA IV but was played on someone else's profile, so 0g) which is just a bit under a third.VitamiX

same. for some reason this bothers the hell out of me but my ratio is WAY more messed up. it's more like 2000something/13000 haha but i'm trying hard to get it up.

gamerscore is what made me buy an xbox. i don't care if the number means anything, i love seeing it go up.

because like dion said, it adds replay value and gives you something to work for in the game. Otherwise, you'd just be playing for no reason, making the gaming expirience just as pointless.mohfrontline

How about good ol' playing for fun? I always play for fun and don't really give a heck for achievements.

In risk of sounding like a parrot, Gamerpoints add tons of replay value to a game. Instead of going through the game once and forgetting about it like many used to, Gamerpoints give you an incentive to go through the game again and squeeze as much play time out of it as possible. However, I agree that buying a game solely for the purpose to raise your Gamerscore is extremely wack/lame and those people really need something better to do with their time and money.stevenk4k5

I love to have a high completion-%. I don't care that much about my total GamerScore.I wouldn't buy games just for more GS.

[QUOTE="VitamiX"]I try to get one achievement a day. I like to have my gamerscore up, but I prefer getting my ratio up. For instance, right now I have like 7810/23800 (would be 22800 but I put in GTA IV but was played on someone else's profile, so 0g) which is just a bit under a third.psistarman

same. for some reason this bothers the hell out of me but my ratio is WAY more messed up. it's more like 2000something/13000 haha but i'm trying hard to get it up.

gamerscore is what made me buy an xbox. i don't care if the number means anything, i love seeing it go up.

I do the same - try to get 100% in all my games, or atleast as much as I can before I stop enjoying the game. Currently I'm on 30,300 out of a possible 39,950, so roughly 75% which I'm very happy with.

I like getting achievements and it does add replay value to the games. It is also a handy way to compare games with friends to see who has done better.

I play just to play the game at first, then I'll get achievements (for single-player). For online, I'll play for achievements then just play for fun, unless the achievements hinder my team's chance of winning.

It's easy to find people who play just for achievements, look for anyone with College Hoops 2k6 that doesn't like NCAA basketball...

Besides, I'd rather have a high completion percentage. At the moment I'm at around 53%, which I like, but it could be better.

Some people were saying, "what about just playing games for good old fashioned fun?" Well, some people find playing a game and going for achievments on it very fun. I do. For instance I beat Grand Theft Auto 4 within the first week of buying it and I was already considering selling it on ebay to make a decent amount of money back because I disliked how the multiplayer was set up. Then I decided to check out the achievments and found ways to squeeze more out of the game and actually make it worth the $60 i paid for it. I ended up getting all the flying rats and stunt jumps over the course of another couple weeks after which I felt satisfied and like I got my money's worth.NickAnguiano

Well, I was one of those, but I replied to a guy who wrote that without achievements playing games would be pointless. I see your point and I respect it. Though, I don't care for the achievements myself.

Why do some of you guys assume that just because some people play games for gamerscore, that we dont really enjoy the games? Some of the games that I rent just for easy points I end up really liking, and if it wasn't for the fact that it had easy achievements I would have never of give it a chance. Oh and I have 1000 in avatar, but I actually played through the whole game :ospartan3795

Actually that's a good point - I have very little interest in sports, but rented some US sports games like Madden, NBA and NHL, and found I did enjoy playing them. If it wasn't for the fact they have mostly very easy achievements I would never have considered getting them.

Random Thoughts by Me:

Guess that I'm a ratio guy too because it makes me feel that I've gotten my money out of the game.

I was a little peaved when I plugged in someone elses GTAIV at a Halo3 gaming party and "got off the boat". I now have 5/1000 points on a game I'll probably never own myself.

I could care less about my total score.

I do like to compete with my 15 yr old nephew even though he's slightly better at most games.

My nephew states that his friends use Achievements in a monetary form. He said that one kid "owed" a bunch of achievements to others. Now this is weird.

I dislike online achievements (probably cause I'm not good enough).

Proud to say I earned Halo3's Overkill achievement legit. Still don't have Steppin Razor, Two for One, or Maybe Next Time (or whatever they're called)

Random Thoughts by Me:

Guess that I'm a ratio guy too because it makes me feel that I've gotten my money out of the game.

I was a little peaved when I plugged in someone elses GTAIV at a Halo3 gaming party and "got off the boat". I now have 5/1000 points on a game I'll probably never own myself.

I could care less about my total score.

I do like to compete with my 15 yr old nephew even though he's slightly better at most games.

My nephew states that his friends use Achievements in a monetary form. He said that one kid "owed" a bunch of achievements to others. Now this is weird.

I dislike online achievements (probably cause I'm not good enough).

Proud to say I earned Halo3's Overkill achievement legit. Still don't have Steppin Razor, Two for One, or Maybe Next Time (or whatever they're called)

Yes there are some gamerscore freaks out there that have 1000/1000 out of games like TMNT, KingKong, Avatar and stuff like that. those arent games, but in other games its a sense of accomplishment or just have a bit of replay value on a game that your realy only goin to beat once( *cough* *cough* *ninja gaiden 2* *cough* ). I think on every game there should be a couple ridiculously hard achievements on each game say like getting 10000 killz on gears(dont get meh wrong im not a gears gunky or a 360 fan boy) its just a good idea as it becomes a competition between your friends to see who can actually do it. I only have all the achievements out of 2 game 1250 out of The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion just because i loved this game, and Call of Duty 4 because it became a competition between my friends. PS3 is starting to use this system and even on of the biggest games of all time World of Warcaft is goin to have um with their next expansion. The only thing they should improve on is making the achievements harder to get or making some that are near impossible to do so you can show it off whereas now pretty much everyone can get about every achievement if they realy wanted to.

Those are my thoughts on it, yes i think some people take it to far, and yes i think they could improve the system, but i love the concept.

Some games are just "fun" or "good" regardless of achievements, but there are other games that I won't even consider playing, but since they have achievements I'll give them a whirl. Who knows, you might find a diamond in there that would otherwise go un played. Or you can rent Kane & Lynch and play the worst game ever made, not even achievements can help this turd.

I never buy a game for gamerscore, but I have rented some in the past and will in the future. Why? Well it means it's an afternoon or more of playing a game. I don't rent god awful games for gamerscore only e.g. Eragon, just games that I don't mind playing.

I buy games for games, not for a pointless number.

I'm sure 99.9% of acheivement junkies don't buy games for gamerscore, they rent. Which kinda makes the first statement moot.

My score is as high as it is because I'm on the blockbuster 30 bucks unlimited rentals. I try tons of games because it's not really dropping 11 bucks for a sucky game. There's tons of games I've rented, played for 3 hours and brought it back and got another because it sucked.

I lose all respect to whom ever has Avatar 1000/1000 in their gamerscore.Solidus_Mute

Developer have a powerful tool in their hands. They can make a crappy game, give it easy achievements and there are high chances that it will sell.

I only point whored for a short amount of time when there was no good games dropping and I used Gamefly so that kills all that talk of buying games for gamescore. When I was point whoring I rented titles I thought would be easy points or just wanted to try and to my surprise I liked a lot of them, so Achievements bring attention to some games that are slept on.

I haven't played Avatar yet but stop with bashing people who have, you have no idea if they are Avatar fans or if they really like the game. Look at Kung-fu Panda I bought this for my daughter and she and I love it, its a good game and its very well made too as far as (story,gameplay,graphics). Im not the only adult who thinks Kung-fu panda is good look at some of these review spots, it got a better rating than a over hyped Alone In The Dark which was plagued with bugs and Kung-fu panda was based on a movie too a genre we all know that usually releases crap and that's just one game.

Gamerscore is similar to the Hi-score which a lot of gamers played to achieve since Pac-man and guess what it was fun too.

I think it's the satisfation of achievement. just to know the number is high. and it makes you think you're all bad***

but even if that's true, who really cares. just let them enjoy themselves.

i dont buy games for my gamerscore, but i go after alot of achievements.

I got Assassins Creed 1000/1000 and Mass Effect 1050/1050. Why? I had loads of fun on those games and Im proud to have completed 100% on all.

I don't believe most people actually buy these crappy games for achievements. For instance, this summer I got an unlimited game rental thing at blockbuster for a month. I did a mix of games I wanted to play for fun and some games I wanted to boost my gamerscore with.

However, if there are people out there actually paying full price for games like Avatar for the quick 1000 points then I'll agree - that's messed up.

To add though: Of the games I actually own, I do find myself wanting to get 100% of the achievements (cuz like others have said) it adds replay value. Sureachievements don't "mean" anything - but it's just fun. As you know, a lot of things in life don't have much meaning (or at least we don't know the meaning).