Whilst most of the people I know, outside of the internet, are intellectually challenged by a pile of hay, they can all agree that their lives have been both enriched and enhanced by achivement points. One of them has even gone as far as to say that he won’t play a PS2 game ever again because it doesn’t HAVE achievement points.

These people are, of course, the very worst examples of the human race, but they all love spending a lot of cash on video games. Sony is buggered whatever which way it tries to spin the situation. Implement a similar system and people will moan that they’re stealing, or neglect to implement it and have people, like my friends, refuse to buy into their console on the grounds that it’s missing something as mundane as achivement points.

I agree on the semantics of “entitlements” though, which makes me inclined to believe that this might be bullshit. Even if “achievements” isn’t the perfect term, you’ve achieved something and get your reward. In this situation it’s a few points but for ages we’ve been rewarded for our achievements in games with new cars, maps, etc. You’re not “entitled” to them per se because, hey: it’s only a game. Not to mention that “entitlement” is a little too close to “achievement” for comfort.

Besides, Microsoft’s legal ninjas would be all over it. When they have patents for things as frivolous as being able to spectate on an online game when you’re in another country to the participants (seriously, they have that one) I’d bet that the achievement system was patented years ago. And would it even work on a less centralised network like what Sony are pushing?

No, it doesn’t feel right. Milestones, maybe. I like “milestones” more than “achievements”, it’s a slightly more formal register. A bit more class. “Achievements” is so obvious, so bourgeoisie.

If I was going to try and defend it, i’d argue that the feature was so eetsy bittsy irrelevant that it would be like your friend sneezing, then you sneezing, then him accusing you of only sneezing because he did it first. But, like you say, people actually buy tat for easy points, so it’s obviously important to someone, somewhere.