I have to be honest, I don’t have much interest in acquiring Xbox Live achievements or PS3 trophies.
My problem with the Xbox achievement system is that it does not necessarily mean you’re a good gamer. While some achievements are harder to obtain than others the fact still remains that there are a ton of games that award players with gamerscore points relatively easily. So what does a high gamerscore really prove? That you have played lots of games?
Now compare that to the PS3 trophy system where you are awarded bronze, silver, gold or platinum trophies based on challenges with varying difficulty you complete. This allows other players to instantly look at your collection and determine what kind of player you are. Someone who settles for bronze or someone who goes for gold.
When you get to the bottom of it both systems provide nothing more than online rep. Now what would make these kind of systems more interesting would be to have some kind of rewards for completing achievements and challenges.
Both consoles have an online store why not reward players with points that can be used to purchase content and games. The gamerscores and trophies could be maintained for persons who like to show their hard work of course. The point to penny ratio would have to be determined by the online market places but I’m sure it would encourage gamers like me to play their games thouroughly if they knew the rewards could be cashed in for content.
Maybe then some developers won’t be lazy in implementing these challenges in games as they would essentially be giving away money. I believe this would change how we view these systems as it would no longer just be about bragging rights but something more.
