Major Nelson's blogcast for this week had Aaron Greenberg on from the GamerscoreBlog regarding the new Achievement policies the Microsoft is incorporating. Two rules covered in the show that weren't previously mentioned are regarding multiplayer content and online achievements. First off, any downloadable content that gives players an advantage must be free for download. Some EA games as well as Chromehounds are guilty of this and Microsoft is keeping it from happening again.
The second ruling is actually more of a guideline about online achievement. Gamers have stressed how they dislike multiplayer achievement that are dependent on ranked games, or result in "boosting", and Microsoft has made note of this in their "Guidelines and Best Practices" documentation. While it doesn't keep it from appearing in future games, it at least makes developers aware of the opinion of their audience.
So, that definitely clears things up a bit and it's good to see Microsoft looking out for its customers. Do you think these are steps in the right direction?
[Via QJ.net]





Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-16-2007 @ 2:09PM
Mark C. said...
I think achievements should come more from the Single Player modes. Thinks like getting points for using the Vision camera is just a joke. I am not paying $50 for a camera that I won't ever use again just for gamer points. That sounds like a scam to sell more cameras. I also don't like the idea of having to play an entire game in split screen to get points like Rainbow Six Vegas.
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2-16-2007 @ 2:23PM
morphy said...
As a vision camera owner (future father-in-law is a gamer and bought it for me for x-mas) I would rather them actually make it more useful.
More rulings and clarfications certainly help though.
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2-16-2007 @ 2:29PM
Derka said...
Maybe they do care...
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2-16-2007 @ 2:32PM
DjDATZ said...
Bravo microsoft...a step in the right direction and a good way to listen to your customers.
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2-16-2007 @ 2:32PM
DjDATZ said...
*a good way to show that you are listening to your cutomers.
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2-16-2007 @ 2:35PM
LunarDuality said...
I concur that these are two very good addendums to the current policy. I hate the massive amounts of multiplayer achievements in general and the dependence on Ranked games makes it worse. And why punish others when you can just let boosters do it together in the privacy of a "player match"?
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2-16-2007 @ 2:35PM
Kid Pyrrhic said...
Vegas' achievements were actually some of the better ones I've seen.
A good chunk were available through the storyline and player matches. This should be the rule, not the exception.
As for the splitscreen one, that achievement is incorrectly worded (or programmed?). All that is required is that you beat the terrorist hunt missions in a single player game.
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2-16-2007 @ 2:38PM
Jojo said...
I think moves like this are great. Its nice to know that Microsoft listens to the little people and is willing to make 'tweaks'. Achievements should be primarily single player, because despite how great Live is, majority of game players primarily play single player.
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2-16-2007 @ 3:02PM
Rez said...
I think that the gamer should be given the option of choosing to go for gamerpoints online or offline. By this I mean the goal would still be 1000 points and say still 500 points in the offline game but then you should get to choose, either play on a harder setting offline for the other 500 or hit live and go against others players for the points that way. Then everyone would be happy. Some people hate playing online for points(I'm cool with both I'm just giving some feed back thats all.)
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2-16-2007 @ 3:32PM
Insomnious said...
"...any downloadable content that gives players an advantage must be free for download. Some EA games as well as Chromehounds are guilty of this..."
This is very good news. It was, at times, infuriating to know that in order to stay at your peak, you need to fork out for the Microsoft Points. Definitely not the way things should be.
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2-16-2007 @ 3:47PM
Mark said...
It's hard to please everyone with these unified gamerscores. Some people want more online achievements and others want more offline achievements. I think to make a system that really work, you probably need separate online and offline gamerscores. So a game has 1000 for offline achievements and 1000 for online achievements. You would have a online gamerscore and an offline gamerscore that would be different numbers. When people looked at your gamercard they would see both scores listed. If the game didn't have an online mode, then it would just list N/A for the online gamerscore. Then the people who want online achievements wouldn't be upset about the amount and score of the offline achievements. People couldn't complain that online achievements are because MS is trying to force you to buy Gold memberships. You would have an indication if the person played games online or offline more.
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2-16-2007 @ 4:41PM
dusty said...
i agree one hundred percent. i think its frustrating for a competitive, ranked player such as myself--and others--to have to put up with acheivement whores in ranked games. i think that it should be more than microsoft's opinion though, and it should be enforced that all online achievements be earned in player matches where no one cares if someone cheats, boosts, or whatever.
so, if the ranked players really want points...we'll go to a player match to earn them, not like they matter for much anyway.
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2-16-2007 @ 5:26PM
Quarem said...
I believe that what was said was that downloadable content that gives a player a competitive advantage must be free OR unlockable within the game itself.
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2-16-2007 @ 5:43PM
Eric said...
Thank you god on the no more allowing EA to f'ing charge for cheat codes. That was getting annoying.
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2-16-2007 @ 6:30PM
LR said...
I really liked Dead Rising's achievements, and to some extent, also Viva Pinata (with perhaps the exception of the 50 hours worth of gameplay-- which takes forever)
Multiplayer achievements I could totally do without. More often than not, I'm seeing people just going through the motions with that one. And some are a real pain, especially when the game is older, and you're attempting to find players. Wasn't there one recently that had something to do with 100,000 people online at the same time?! That's totally pointless.
I really wish XBLA games didn't have so many multiplayer achievements.
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2-16-2007 @ 7:38PM
wat tnb said...
I don't like having to play online with complete strangers (most of whom are assholes) online to get points and would rather play for fun (and get rewarded with gamerpoints at the same time). This is the reason I haven't gone online with Gears yet.
This is also unfair for those without Gold memberships. I think the majority of achievements should be attained in the single player, as well as the multiplayer achievements (especially the "kill so many ---" ones) should be both online and offline, so you can choose to play split-screen with buddies (or those too poor to buy an Xbox 360) or play online (or both) and work towards your goals.
GRAW and Perfect Dark Zero are two examples of this excellent practice. (10, 000 kills is retarded, though)
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2-16-2007 @ 8:45PM
CoopaClown said...
Alright. I may be wrong, but this little bit states that XBLM content that adds gamerscore points must be free, right? And wasn't it stated in a different post that the Shivering Isles content for Oblivion will add 250 points to your gamerscore? Well...wouldn't that mean that Shivering Isles would have to be free? I think it does. If I'm wrong, you've got to let me know. FREE OBLIVION EXPANSION!
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2-16-2007 @ 8:49PM
Ben said...
@17
Additional achievements for a game that does not already have a 1000 gamerscore must be free, but games adding on to an already existent and achievable 1000 gamerscore can charge for the extra content. So Oblivion can charge for the extra 250 under MS rules, but a game like Crackdown couldn't until they have added 100 points since the game only has 900.
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2-16-2007 @ 9:42PM
Jason said...
Awesome, the Gears of War online achievements suck. They are freaking hard to get because the people online are too good. Yes, it's easy to make a crack about those people playing too much, but it's true. If you can be that good, you are playing too much.
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2-17-2007 @ 1:56AM
Mike said...
17 & 18 - you guys have it wrong. That rule states that DL content that gives players a competitive edge must be free, not content that adds points. So a bigger gun, or faster car... they'd have to be free so they didn't skew the rankings unfairly. That's what it says.
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