In the gaming community, I am what is known as an achievement whore.  This sounds worse than it is.  This just means that I like to collect as many achievements as I can in each game.

Every developer for the XBox 360 and XBone is required, by Microsoft, to put achievements in their games.  Steam also has achievements now, but I don’t think developers are required to have them as not all games do.

What are they?  Things of great joy!  Many gamers will say that they are a waste of time, but I see them as little guides from the developers to help you find parts of the game that you might not otherwise.  The achievements themselves are just little badges that pop up on your screen when you complete certain criteria.  Each achievement has a score attached to it.  As you play more games and get more achievements, your “gamer score” goes up.  It’s kind of a status thing for all to see.

Some achievements also have new accessories and gear for your avatar.  This was a bigger deal in XBox 360 and isn’t used near as much in XBone.  I thought it was cool when I unlocked a Portal hat for my little toon to wear after unlocking a big achievement in the game.

There’s a third-party website, www.trueachievements.com, which let you create an account for free and compare yourself to other achievement whores.  They put some weight on the achievements as well and make the more challenging achievements worth more points.  So yeah, call me what you will, but I love my achievements.