Whenever that "pop-POP" plays and the "Achievement Unlocked" message
pops up, the 360 gamer's heart jumps with a rush of sheer joy and
exhilaration. Ok, so that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but
there isn't a 360 owner alive today who doesn't enjoy hunting down
achievements. Unfortunately, the fun in gathering elusive achievements
can turn into a full-blown addiction, so that these individuals will
cheat, boost, use gamesaves, and do whatever it takes to get to the top.

They're easy to spot. They have a gamerscore so oppressively massive
that they have no choice but to brag about it. They have a full 1000
points from a game that was just released. And, most importantly, they
will never, under any circumstances admit guilt.

I recently came across one such individual in the Xbox.com forums
who had a gamerscore of 90,000+. He had actually bought a PAL 360 so he
could play(or not play, rather) the different versions of games and get
the achievements twice. I worry for the future of gaming when I hear
that someone spent 400 dollars on a system that he already owns so that
he can boost some number on the internet.

What has gotten into people? Last time I checked we played games
for fun, to relax, or (thanks in part to achievements) for challenge.
But playing for bragging rights is going too fat, let alone wanting those bragging rights so badly that you are willing cheat to get them.

Don't get me wrong, I love getting achievements. I think they add a lot of replay value to games that I wouldn't otherwise play as much. Not for the points, but for the challenge. For example, F.E.A.R. has the hardest achievements of all the 360 games I own (a whopping three games!) and yet I have more points in that game than in any other because I love the challenge.

When you skip the challenge and go straight to the points, however, that takes away the entire point of playing games. When you boost and use gamesaves, you basically screw over those of us who get our achievements legit. When I see someone with 50,000+ points, instead of thinking "wow, that's one hardcore gamer!", I think "doesn't he have anything better to do than boost and cheat?".

Unfortunately, there's really not a lot that can be done to prevent this, so it looks like we'll have to deal with more and more "addicts" in the future. We can only hope that as they push their gamerscore past any lingering doubt that they got them legitimately, the whole purpose of having the highest gamerscore becomes...pointless.