Yeah and no, whilst it is a good idea and I have heard this idea before, it will in the long run cost the developers and creators of the marketplace content money. MS points go to all sorts of items on marketplace - all sorts of companies, and since the money goes to them they won't be gaining much if you were to use MS points.

Hmm, maybe not MS points but some kind of actual reward for all your hard work other than points. I think Sony are doing something with their accomplishments in home which allows you to get t-shirts and stuff your your home in games which looks really really cool

Swannzie:
I hear you. The idea may need some tweaking, such as game specific points for more of their content or swag.

braindead_hero:
If Sony does implement something like this I think it will finally give them the boost they seem to be lacking in the latest console wars.

I know they aren't going to give us free games or our money back or whatever. I don't want that. I don't mind paying the price for a good game. I just think they are close to something here that could work as a marketing tool to boost more sales and make the customer very happy.

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Technology is very advanced these days and going farther every day. I see no reason why any points you earn from achievements could only be used for specific things/items, etc. A tracking system could easily be implemented behind the scenes preventing you from using MS points for, as an example, music downloads for a zune or downloading an xbox live game. I don't think all aspects of this have been considered and I also think there's an easy way to turn this into a marketing tool to increase sales on many things rather than lose money in the process. Plus there's another issue. Customers have higher expectations than 5 years ago, 10 years, etc. Companies have to step it up more and more every day to gain our attention and thus gain our dollars. The cell phone industry, which I work in, is a great example. Better and better rate plans come out every year. There's plenty of companies out there vying for your dollar. The problem with the gaming industry is there's actually not enough competition being that there's only 3 consoles so Sony, MS, and Nintendo feel they don't have to work as hard to gain our attention. What they don't realize though is they need to work harder than ever or customers en masse can migrate to another platform.

Lance_Kalzas
Bravo sir. Well put.

Thanks.

I think that this idea can never work because you talk about achievement whoring online as it is in ranked matches and what, imagine if those points were for money. The online community would be in chaos on some games. Also imagine all the games like Cars and such that people will be playing just to get money. I could see checkpoints where if you hit like 10,000 or 20,000 you get like a free XBLA game or something, but anything more would lead to the already achievement problems that are happening.

That is a great idea. I don't think we're trying to say X number of Achievement points equals X number of MS points exactly. Any type of appreciation/reward for being a customer of Microsoft would be appreciated and this would work towards that. Getting a free xbla game every 10K points is a great idea.

Thats an interesting idea. I mean, i remember how Bizarre had mentioned the reason they made PGR4 achievements easier was because in PGR3, only .7% of the people that played it got the all Platinum achievement. I wonder how many got all 1000 points? Ive alwasy thought gamerpics should be added into games for unlocking ceratin achievements. But even something as simple as a t-shirt like you mentioned, is a really cool idea. I like it.

I agree, but in a rephrased way, 100 Achievement points should equal 10 MS points. Then Achievements would mean something.

I definitely wish i could use my points but all the cheaters would prosper.

I certainly *like* the idea, but there is just no such thing as something for nothing.

You make interesting points when you talk about cash-back offers, Buy One/Get One, or a free month of Live with your Elite, but these all involve you spending more money. What's really happening is that companies are trying to get you to do additional business with them by offering an incentive to do so. Basically the companies are writing off whatever they're giving you as a "marketing" expense, but the key is cost justification. Whatever they're giving you is designed to bring in more business in the long run. In other words, if I offer you 5% cash back, and you make your purchases with my card instead of my competitor's card because of that, I make more money and the extra money I earn is supposed to make up for the 5% I gave you and then some. In the case of a free month of Live, I'm hoping that the free month gets you addicted so that you'll become a paid subscriber. Heck, the whole reason cell phone companies give you a free phone is because you're locked into a contract for monthly service- for which you are paying. There just is no such thing as something for nothing

Ironically, achievements themselves are little more than a marketing strategy that goes something like this: I'm standing in the store, trying to decide whether or not to buy a game for system A or system B. Assuming the game itself is the same, what's the differentiator? If I get points on one system and not the other I just might buy that system's version.

The money problem with MS giving you points for achievements is that there's no cost justification- MS would literally be giving away something for nothing. You score achievement points, they give you cash in the form of points. Sure, you might have paid $60 for a game, but you can earn all the achievements you want without Microsoft seeing another dime. This goes double for rented or used games! Sadly, the economics just break down too rapidly.

Nevertheless, I'm sure there's some way out there that we as gamers can make achievements worth something beyond bragging rights. I applaud your forward thinking in that direction

People cheating achievements makes it impossible to make them worth anything more than bragging rights. It would be cool to get a free T-shirt or something though.

Certainly they should, it gives something back to the players and encourages them to play a game to its fullest. Of course, the amount of points shouldn't be ridiculously high- 200-400 maybe, maybe less, but it would stimulate a desire to play any given game through rather than simply playing then trading or renting a game for a go.

I have actually thought about this from the start of the launch of the first 360...and I had actually thought that this is how it worked, for each achievement unlocked you can use it to buy stuff on the marketplace...I thought hey thats cool...but nope I was wrong