Free Form: Achievement points. Why oh why?

Well, if it's good enough for Ash to do something like this then it's good enough for me. :-) Basically every gamer around the world is aware of the reward scheme within the Xbox 360. There has been a strict divide within the gaming community when it comes to achievement points in games. My question is what makes AP's so important to gaming and gamers as a whole?

I have a theory! Remember back in the day (bear in mind I was born in 1980 so my "back in the day" may be a bit earlier than yours) when you went to the arcades or to a friends house and you spent hours and hours trying to beat each others high-score/lap time? Well, to me, AP's are just that. They are my high-score for the current generation of consoles.

Now I know some people are addicted, almost literally, to gaining as many AP's as possible by playing anything and I admit that I have fallen into the trap of playing a crappy game in order to gain more points (Sherlock Holmes, King Kong). So why do we put ourselves through it? Let's face it, you can't redeem the points and in the grand scheme of things they mean very little. Or do they? Remember that they are called "Achievement" points which is a very clever form of psychological phrasing (I'm studying to be a counsellor so I have a knowledge of Neuro-Linguistic Programming - NLP). Regardless of how mundane the achievement, there is always a sense of satisfaction to be had when we "achieve" something and gaming is no different.

Aside from the obvious satisfaction, do they actually add anything to the game or improve gaming in general? My answer is: yes! Aside from the reasons I've listed above, I've found myself playing and enjoying games I never thought I would. I've also found myself re-visiting games to "mop-up" AP's even after I've completed the game several times. To me, this gives games a sense of value.

Like nearly everything in life though, there is always a negative side. For me, personally, I think some game developers rely on AP's to shift their games (regardless of whether or not they're any good). Avatar is a classic example of this as you can gain all 1000 AP's in less than 5 minutes!! It took me about 3 minutes.....I'm a bad person! Lol! :-)

There are also AP's that are extremely tough to get. Now, I like to think that I'm an above-average gamer but my time these days IS limited (I work, I'm going back to college, I do charity work). I like the sense of achievement that comes with unlocking points but I get slightly annoyed when developers really want to test you. Ninja Gaiden 2 is a good example of a game that just takes the p**s! I do not have sufficient time to really plow all my efforts into getting even a few achievements for just one game. Whereas something like Oblivion is perfect as it kinda drip-feeds you the points throughout the game. That, to me, makes more sense.

Well, I think I should stop here or I'll just end up ranting. I hope I've given you something new to think about in regards to AP's. What are your thoughts though? Let me know. :-)