I finished "Bayonetta" last night. While that may not be that interesting, as I'm sure there are many people out there that have already completed Platinum Games latest oversexed opus, the fact that I finished it on easy is. After playing the entire game on normal, I dropped the difficulty down for the final boss. Because of that cop-out I came up 20 achievement points short of what I would have if I beat it on normal, and that's a big step for me.
You see, I'm a recovering achievement addict, and I'm a gamer living with this problem. Longtime readers may remember my exploits being well documented on this very blog, as well as just how much of an exhausting experience that was for me. This is my story since then.
A Brighter, Less Achievement-Filled Future
In early March 2008, when I finally finished my run for 25,000 achievement points in the six months leading up to the release of "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" a weight lifted off my shoulders. Not only had I finally completed the lofty challenge that I set for myself, but I also felt that I had faced my addiction and won. I overexposed myself to something that was not only influencing my gaming habits, but also my life, and came out of the scenario with a different perspective on the situation; I no longer needed to devote my time to unlocking achievements to enjoy video games.
It's been almost two years since I learned that lesson, and in those two years, I've only earned a meager 10,591 points. While that may seem like a lot to some people, for someone that managed to get more than double that in a quarter of the time it's a big step. I've stopped playing games strictly for points, and I now only invest a large amount of time into games that I either need to review, or, that I genuinely enjoy. There's no more "Open Season" or "Trophy Bucks" on my recently played games list. Those games are now a thing of my past, and I can look past the games that can be described as "an easy thousand."
An Addiction Is Born
This need for achievements goes back to mid 2006 when a co-worker remarked to me that because I didn't own an Xbox 360 he was racking up achievement points, and I wasn't. Well, I couldn't let a challenge like that go unanswered, so I manned up, purchased a 360, and started chipping away. I was instantly hooked, and now had even more of a reason to play Xbox games, even the bad ones.
I should have seen it coming. I have, what some may call, an addictive personality. Whenever I find something I really like, I tend to focus on it, and obsess over it for great lengths of time. While it's never been diagnosed by any means, I'm fairly certain that addiction runs in my family, as I've spent my life being regaled with tales of my grandfather's gambling problems which I have seen make their way down to other generations of my family. I decided early on that I would consciously never go down a path that might lead to me becoming dependent on something. It's why I've never smoked a cigarette, done drugs, and usually drink in moderation – as you can tell; I'm a hoot at parties.
The thing is, gaming has its hooks in me, and it has from a very early age. While I can cope with it most of the time, I spend most of my day with persistent gaming related thoughts running through my mind. I guess that's what happens when you make something like that such an integral part of my daily life. It's the only news I tend to care about and if I don't add at least two or three new games to my collection a week I feel like I'm missing out on something. All in all, gaming is a fairly consuming aspect of my life, especially since I've gone so far as to spend most of my free time writing about games. Are you noticing a trend here? So, when Microsoft's point collecting metagame came along I really should have prepared myself.
New Gaming Horizons
In the time that I have relaxed my quest I've still been playing games, just not necessarily Xbox 360 games. I've rediscovered my PS3, DS, and Wii, as well as some of the great titles that I have overlooked in the last few years. My game collection has virtually exploded, and in recent months I've even added things like a Famicom and Neo Geo to it. I'm playing more dodge ball, and I've even gotten engaged. While I can't say that those things wouldn't have happened if I was still hooked on achievements (I'm pretty certain that last one would have no matter what), they are all things that I have shifted my focus to in the last couple of years.
There's a great analogy that I heard on a recent episode of the A Life Well Wasted podcast where Matthew Shafeek was talking about the year that he gave up video games completely. He quoted a comparison of the different facets of life to the four burners on a stove, and if you want to turn one burner up you need to turn the other ones down. Simply put, I've turned my interest in achievements way down.
While I cannot deny the fact that there is still a little part of me that jumps for joy when I unlock another achievement in a game, I'm just no longer going out of the way to get them. There once was a time when I would have rubber banded my controller to make Superman fly 10,000 miles for 30 points, but now I just let most* of the extraneous points go. If I have to go out of my way to unlock something, then I probably don't need to unlock it, and I still stand firmly by my commitment to not play a full-length retail release multiple times, just for achievement points. Times have changed, and so have I.
Still On Top
In retrospect, I don't really regret much when it comes to my achievement score. I'm relatively proud of where I stand, as I'm still at the top of my friends list, with a 7,000 point lead over second place (which happens to be Multiplayer's own Russ Frustick). The one thing that I have realized after all this is that Microsoft doesn't offer a way to turn achievements off. You're stuck with them, whether you like them or not, and there's no going back to just enjoying a game as its own product, that is, unless you still play your Wii.
*After finishing "Bayonetta" last night, instead of going to sleep, I went back and replayed the Prologue twice to unlock five achievements that I could have during my original play through, but just missed, as well as a couple for an item that I only had enough halos to purchase after I beat the game. I'm still just taking it one step at a time.