GamrCred Launches a New Gamer Reputation Aggregation Service

In addition to those two core elements there is a third element that they include, and while it does not represent as large a percentage of a gamer's overall rep and game cred as the previous two, the Respect that other gamers show towards you by hitting the Respect Button on the service is also factored into the formula -- a sort of GamrCred version of Facebook's 'Like' button if you will.

The valuation for each of the three sources of cred is a matter of public record on the GamrCred website, which states that:

1. 50%: Your game Play component (hours played, achievements unlocked);

2. 40%: Your social media engagement as part of Say;

3. 10%: GamrCred Respect points given by others.

Each component is put through our patent-pending algorithms to create the overall GamrCred rank."

And there you have it, straight from the FAQ Page on the GamrCred website.

It is usually considered rather cheesy to quote yourself when you are writing about a subject, but I cannot resist quoting the observations that I made on my semi-official personal blog (Speaking Of. . . GamrCred) that I write as a sort of accompaniment to my game review and preview activities for the Cape Cod Times, which is a newspaper in New England in the USA...

Here is the quote:

"Seriously though, as odd as this feels to be saying, after contemplating what the GamrCred service offers and its value to the gaming community in general, I cannot escape the gut feeling that it is really about time someone came up with something like this! "

And my opinion in that respect has not really changed -- I am left slightly stunned and in wonder that it has taken this long for someone (anyone!) to put this package together and present it to the gaming community. If you do the simple math, the first Xbox LIVE Achievements were unlocked just over six years ago, while the first PlayStation 3 (via PSN) Trophies were unlocked in the middle of 2008, which works out to just four years ago, but the folks over at Sony did some seriously dedicated work in trying to catch up with Microsoft in that respect, convincing the game studios and publishers that they should add an extra Trophy to every game that would not appear in the Xbox's Achievements list -- a Trophy that is awarded for... Wait for it... Wait for it... Unlocking all of the other Trophies in the game!

When the PC Digital Distribution Service Steam began to gain momentum -- an event that largely correlates to the wider and more common availability of un-metered broadband Internet Access worldwide and particularly in North America, it was the launch of the iconic and famous game compilation title The Orange Box in late 2007 that marked the emergence of a Steam version of Microsoft's Achievement System.

There are significant differences between the Steam Achievement System and those of the other two gaming giants -- including Microsoft's Games for Windows LIVE which not only added Achievements to games released for Windows PC, but included every Achievement unlocked in any game that was branded a "Game for Windows LIVE" to the existing Xbox LIVE Gamerscore...

Over at Steam the achievements system has no associated points or gamerscore attached to it; when the creator of Steam (and The Orange Box actually) Valve first announced the new Achievement System for the service, they declared that the main reason for not including a points-based secondary value system for the Achievements was to allow game modders, map-modders, and indie dev's to also include Achievements in the games and mods that they released to the world via Steam, and how freaking cool is that?!