Gamer Score 101

The Achievement has become so ingrained into pop-culture that its co-opting as a universal form of expressing sarcasm, humor, and irony is now firmly entrenched -- as illustrated by this "Achievement" from the blog Casa de la Risa, which may also qualify as "a Chuck Norrisism."

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From the moment that every new gamer hears that distinctive "plink!" and sees the notice pop-up on the screen declaring "Achievement Unlocked: 20G - Name of Achievement" with its distinctive graphical representation of the controller number for the gamepad that they hold in their hands, they begin to understand that something significant has just occurred.

In the case of the very new gamer, unfamiliar with Gamer Points and the Game Achievement System that is used on Microsoft's XBox 360 platform in conjunction with its Live Service, they may need to read up on the subject online, or more likely, ask one of their more experienced friends -- but it is the rare gamer who can resist the draw that this formal system for the recognition of gaming accomplishments brings to the hobby of video gaming.

That being the case, would it surprise you to learn that the Gamer Score and Achievement Systems almost did not happen? Or that some of the people behind the creation of XBox Live did not believe that gamers would want such a system? All true.

When Microsoft engineer and Live Architect Vince Curley first devised the Achievement System it was envisioned as a minor -- even incidental -- addition to the Live service; while it was thought that it might be of passing interest to gamers, who might use the system as a means to keep track of how completely they played a given game compared to their mates, and as a means to compete with each other in a very limited way, the real motivation behind its creation was to provide game studios with a hook to hang the hat of online play off of.

Achievements were envisioned as a means for promoting community play, though the implementation of the system was initially flawed due to the lack of a formal introduction for the studios and game developers, who misunderstood the purpose of the program from the start.

"At first, achievements were not well understood by game designers, and we didn't provide early titles with good guidance on how to best use the system," says Vince Curley in a 15 July 2010 blog posting on xbox.com.

"Because of this, early implementations of achievements were inconsistent and not as good as they could have been. Some games did the minimum required: 5 achievements which were tossed out for basically just starting the game. Some games made the achievements way too hard or too easy," he explains. "These days most designers realize that achievements provide a great motivator for people to try out new areas of their game, or offer replay value that would be difficult to advertise without them."

That the game studios and game designers failed to grasp both the value of and proper implementation of both Gamer Score and Achievements pales when you realize that Microsoft itself did not initially recognize the significance or potential of its Gamer Points / Achievement System!

Hindsight being 20/20 it is not really all that surprising, because the service upon which it now thrives was in many ways undiscovered country at the time. When it created the XBox 360 it was with the committed goal that the console platform was to be dedicated to the notion of online gaming and the creation of an online gaming community that centered around the console and its games, with the result being a sort of tunnel vision when it came to matters that were thought to be on the edges of that goal.

The creative types in Redmond, Washington saw the service first as a social destination, second as a community in its own right, and third, as a vehicle through which to sell extra content. They hoped that eventually it would develop into an economic zone in its own right -- and it has -- but at the time their goals were smaller, much more basic, and easy to obtain. It did not disappoint them, in other words.

The Birth of a Phenomenon

XBox Live is, at its most basic, defined as an online multi-player gaming and digital media delivery service that was created and operated by Microsoft Corporation as a subscription-based value-added service for owners of its XBox 360 gaming and entertainment console.

A more complex description would contain the same information, but would add the words "Online Community" and "Entertainment Gateway" to the mix, because the service has evolved into a place where XBox 360 owners can play and purchase games, watch TV and movies, and participate in online communities like FaceBook, in addition to accessing a surprising variety of other media and content.

If we could hit the virtual rewind button and snap back to 2005 -- and the launch of the XBox 360 -- to tell the folks who were largely responsible for the new and expanded Live Service what an impact that the minor little Gamer Point and Achievement System was going to have on the gaming communities that were loyal to the new console, it is doubtful that we would have been believed.

Now they are willing to admit that they did not fully appreciate that they had a tiger by the tail when the service first launched; it was not until entire virtual online communities dedicated to the Achievement system and methods to maximize unlocking those elusive Gamer Point granting events sprang up that they began to grasp its significance, but it was not until their arch-rival Sony created its own copy-cat Achievement system that they fully understood and appreciated what they had created!

Based upon Game Trophies of graduated value rather than upon a numeric system, Sony's Achievement program came too little, too late for it to capture a position on the issue or gain an advantage. Despite the fact that Microsoft had not set out to create a dominate position on the issue, it did so by default, because it was a good idea that resonated strongly with the gaming community.

Shortly after Sony created its program the Steam digital distribution service was established, and it too created a gaming Achievement scheme. Since then other similar services have done so, all of which is a testament to the symbolic importance of the system.

The Tiger's Tail

In a recent poll, thousands of gamers who own two or more different gaming consoles or platforms were asked how important Achievements were in selecting the version of a game that they purchased, and a shockingly large percentage indicated that it was a definitive matter. Nine out of ten gamers who own both an XBox 360 and a PS3 indicated that they would choose the XBox 360 version of a game over the PS3 version, specifically because of the Achievement system. The only time that a PS3 game received majority choice was when the game was a platform exclusive title.

Even more curious was the number of gamers who played both the XBox 360 version of a game and the Games for Windows Live version in order to unlock additional Achievements and Gamer Points (3 out of 5). Clearly Achievements and Gamer Points have become an important part of modern video game culture!

These numbers and the trends that they illustrate beg the question: just what is the Gamer Score and Achievement System? The answer to that question is simple according to Microsoft:

The Gamer Score -- indicated by the symbol "(G)" -- is an achievements system measuring the total number of Achievements unlocked and their associated Gamer Points accumulated by a Microsoft Live gamer, each of whom are identified by their unique Gamer Tag which is also their member name.

These Achievement points are awarded for the completion of game-specific challenges, such as beating a level or amassing a specified number of wins against other players in online matches, and the total number of points earned, as well as a detailed listing of all of the Achievements that a player has unlocked are presented as part of the information retained on each gamers Gamercard.

Establishing Structure

When the program first launched, retail Xbox 360 games could have up to 1,000(G) spread over a variable number of Achievements, while Xbox Live Arcade titles could contain as many as 12 achievements totaling no more than 200(G). These were basic guidelines, but nothing was actually required by Microsoft, and the result was inconsistent implementation of the program by game developers, largely based upon their view of the value of the program itself.

Some developers viewed it as an inconvenient hurdle, and chose to lump all of the points into as few a number of Achievements as they thought practical, making them trivial to unlock so as to get the matter addressed with as little fuss as possible on the part of the player -- an attitude that backfired on the game makers, who quickly learned that gamers actually liked the system and resented it when the blokes who created the games turned it into trivia.

Other developers took an extreme view at the other end of the spectrum, creating insanely difficult Achievements that very few gamers would ever unlock, and quickly gained the ire and anger of the gaming communities interested in the program, because while they did not want the events to be too simple or trivial, they wanted them to be at least within reach of the average gamer!

On February 1, 2007, Microsoft announced on their Development Blog a set of new policies that developers must follow with respect to Gamer Score and Achievements in all future game releases, and in effect codified the process with official policy and requirements.

From that date onwards, all regular disc-based retail games were required to have a total of 1,000(G) as part of the base game upon release -- and were encouraged to add up to 250(G) for every DLC package that they added to a game, but were limited to a maximum total of 1,750(G) to be available for any title in any calendar year. A title could still ship with fewer than 1,000(G), but if it did so, any additional content such as expansions or DLC that were added to the game later would as a result not be permitted to charge a fee. With the lucrative nature of the DLC and digitally-delivered expansion programs via the Live Service now fully understood and considered part of the base revenue stream for new games, that punishment was severe.

In addition to providing minimum requirements for retail games, Live Arcade titles were required to have have 200(G) upon release, and could add up to 50(G) for each DLC, up to a total of 250(G) per calender year, and these requirements finally standardized the implementation of (G) in both retail and Arcade titles to the point that the average gamers soon knew what to expect from new games.

If You Build It, They Will Cheat

With the system now firmly established, and game studios properly implementing Achievements in their games the popularity of the pursuit of (G) and competition communities dedicated to that sport became a well-established feature of the gaming landscape. Regular competitions for the most (G) gained in a week and month are a regular part of many community sites, with prizes ranging from bragging rights or digital trophies that are displayed next to the member's name on their board posts to actual games, cash, and other prizes, depending upon the site.

The race was on for the first person to reach 100,000(G), and following that milestone the number targeted became 250,000(G), then a half-million, and finally one-million (G) -- a record that it was thought had actually been reached in early 2008 only for it to be revealed that the gamer claiming the accomplishment had illegally altered their Gamer Score, and had not legitimately acquired that number of (G) through standard game play.

While the (G) hacker enjoyed a few days in the limelight, once Microsoft's PET -- Policy Enforcement Team -- became aware of him, and did a check of his Gamercard and Gamer Score, it was quickly determined that he had edited the total using an exploit that was only then understood to be widely abused on the service. His punishment? Publicly labeled a Cheater -- his Gamercard altered to indicate that he was a Cheater, and his (G) total reset to Zero (G). Even the games that he legitimately unlocked Achievements for are now permanently banned to him, so he cannot return to them to unlock the Achievement anew.

On 25 March, 2008, Microsoft cracked down on Gamerscore Hackers, having identified a significantly large number in the process of the standard security sweeps conducted by the Live PET. In a single move, the PET identified the cheaters and reset all of their Gamer Scores to Zero (G) without warning, editing the offending Gamertags to indicate that they were a "Cheater" so as to leave no room for doubt on the part of their mates and the people that they played in online games.

In a post to his official blog, XBox's Major Nelson said:

"Today we took action on some of the accounts we have identified as the most serious offenders who have violated the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use by tampering with their Gamerscore and Achievements.

"The steps today takes the form of the following:

"-- Resetting the entire Gamerscore for an account to zero

"--The account will be unable to regain all previously obtained achievements and Gamerscore, however, the players will have the ability to gain future Achievements by earning them fairly, like the majority of the Xbox LIVE community does.

"-- The account will be clearly labeled as a cheater for the community to view on xbox.com. You can see an example here. In dash, the personal view of the gamercard will be labeled as well.

"Xbox LIVE remains committed to keeping the service free of cheating in order to maintain a fair and level playing field for everyone."

When Microsoft took this official action it was greeted with enthusiastic cheers by the Live community, though many members wondered why the PET stopped at simply labeling the cheaters and setting their scores to zero, expressing the opinion that it was also an offense that fully warranted the Ban Hammer.

Considering the large number of gamers who were detected and busted for the offense you might think that this would be the last you heard of that sort of thing, but the problem cropped up again in May of 2009 to the point of requiring yet another mass public action, with offenders getting branded and having their scores reset to zero, but this time the Ban Hammer made an appearance in the case of repeat offenders, who found themselves not only labeled and reset, but their doubly-offending Gamertags banned from the Live service for life!

Wyld Stallion!

The current (G) record is held by a gamer named Stallion83, who set the 500,000(G) record in October 2010, and has created a website to track his progress where fans can chat him up (http://www.1milliongamerscore.com/) or see what his standing is for a given game by simply clicking on his Gamercard and checking his stats.

Holder of the Guinness Book of World Records 2010 & 2011 Gamer's Edition title for highest Achievement and Gamer Score, his ultimate goal is to reach the 1-million (G) mark legitimately.

Chances are good that by the time Stallion83 is close to his goal he will be unlocking those Achievements on a newer, next-generation version of Microsoft's gaming console, but that should not be a problem -- Microsoft has publicly committed to the Gamer Score and Achievement Systems, promising that all of the Achievements and your Gamer Score that you have unlocked on the XBox 360 will move forward with you when a new version of the gaming system is launched.

It is conceivable that in the year 2035 when your kids bring their mates home from school for an afternoon of Xbox gaming, their mates will be wicked impressed by the massive score that their grandfather possesses, and find his old XBox 360 to be an interesting artifact.