Kotaku 
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Denver, 1:08 PM
Sun Nov 22
17 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us: tips@kotaku.com
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
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Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
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Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
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Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
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Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
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Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
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Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
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Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
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Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
08/13/09
This is a fantastic example of a story being directly related to the field of gaming, which I come to this site to read, but having more to do with the effects of gaming on our lives beyond just living in the moment of a game world.
Keep up the great work AJ, and thanks for sharing a bit of yourself with us.
08/12/09
You know what? I keep trying to make a concise post, without being too rude, but it ends up being way too long.
This is pathetic. There I said it. I'll probably get disemvoweled, and if I see the banhammer for not brownnosing a Journalist, so be it. This isn't gaming news, this is an epitaph to a failed relationship, and by proxy an online frickin' avatar. Jesus tapdancing christ.
Have a kleenex and get over it. =|
08/13/09
I suppose the original post about the five break-up games was fine, but up there with Fehey's Second Life blog in terms of association to what Kotaku is overall, or the lack thereof.
This, however, is way too personal and way to opinionated to be considered and article or anywhere near journalism. I picked up a Wired magazine in a Barnes and Noble the other day on a whim and it had articles about "daily internet/social networking intake pyramids" and other ludicrous "articles" that this reminds me of.
Anyone who has seriously become this attached to their gaming "identity" and needs to "rebuild" themselves is just trying to find a way to cope with the fact that they're not with their partner anymore.
And that grieving should not really be shown through this medium, especially since how far Kotaku has come.
I say this not out of malice for AJ and what she's going through, nor out of self-interest for me as the reader, but for the image Kotaku needs to continue, and out of respect for the responsibility a Kotaku editor needs to have.
08/13/09
Do you go back and play the same games you played with your ex, or do you try something different to remove yourself from the past? Did you both have a group of online friends that would get together for Slayer matches in Halo? If so, do you continue playing like nothing happened? What about co-op? Maybe you both liked running around in Mercenaries 2 blowing shit up (I mean who doesn't) but do you put the game down because it's not a much fun without that person?
Whether you play alone or with someone games are a shared experience. How many dozens of us chimed in about how cool Liberty Prime was when he was mentioned in a FO:3 post? Or shared our opinions on the sex scene in Mass Effect had we played through it? Perhaps we had conversations about these things with our SOs as well.
IMO, I fail to see how this ISN'T about gaming.
It may not be news about which console games are being delayed to after the holiday season or which game developer shut down casting doubt as whatever games they were working on will ever be released - but its about gaming, which last I checked was why we all read Kotaku.
Besides, no one forced you to read all of the article. There's enough in the expanded format to give you a pretty good idea about what the whole of the post was about. It's like a lot like TV - if you don't want to watch it, (or in this case read it) change the channel (or read a different article.)
08/12/09
that literally made me laugh out loud.
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08/13/09
My girl, she get's her own 360 . . . and her own PS3 . . . and her own Wii . . . and her own plasma to play them on.
We are both pretty big gamers, and there are plenty of times when gaming together (on the same console) is great, and there are times when I want to play something, and she wants to play something completely different. Times like that, are not so great.
The first time that happened after we moved in together, I paid a visit to Best Buy the following month, and bought her all her own gear.
She was miffed about it at first - some emo crap about me not loving her or something. I wasn't really paying attention to any of what she was saying. I'm a guy and she was being naggie and emo and all. And everyone knows, the quickest way to make a guy tone you out, is to get get naggie and emo on them (that was a bit of humor, I'm not really like that).
Anyway, after a few LAN parties later, she was praising me for getting her, her own gear. She's the devil at Civilization Revolution, and gives as good as she gets in Modern Warfare and Rainbow Six. And I just love going online with her and tag-teaming on everyone else. Now I always have someone to play Cops n' Crooks with in GTA IV.
At the end of the day, she get's her identity and I get mine, she get's her game-on, and I get mine, and we are both the happier for it. And best still, I've never had to lose another argument again when we have a difference of opinion of what game to spend the evening playing.
The only downside, is that it is more expensive this way: two Gold accounts, two copies of multiplayer games that we both happen to like, etc. But if you ask me, it is still money well spent. After all, can you really put a price on piece of mind?
08/12/09
It started out, we needed another gamertag so that she could sign in when we play coop games together or pvp games on the same console. She'd play on my gamertag most of the time, and just use that one for multiplayer. Then later that changed into her personalizing the second gamertag, and then later on I upgraded it to Silver, so that she could have her scores online.
I've put a lot of very enjoyable time into developing my wife into quite a gamer. She's not hard core, but she's got game for sure. It extends my playtime quite a bit!
I really wish that LIVE Gold was not bound to the gamertag, but to the console. That way any gamertag that signed onto that system could leverage the multiplayer on it. Then if you sold the console, the LIVE membership went with it. Of course that'd be an issue if you got the RROD, but anything software based can be resolved.
08/12/09
So what if you work at Kotaku. Do you really need to have a massive gaming library just to prove a point? Personally, I don't think so. It doesn't change anything.
I remember working at a local video game store and talking to a customer who made it his point to play every single 360 game out there, just to try and get the highest game score. I can understand the sport in it, but when it becomes something that we need to prove, I think we need to step back and re-evaluate ourselves. I see gamerscore/trophies as only incentive to replay the game and nothing more. I could care less if I've never achieved a perfect 1000 points in a game or snagged a platinum trophy. The important thing is that I enjoy the game for what it's worth. I could care less if you've played a ton of JRPGs, having a vast knowledge about them and just simply playing the games are two different things and I can tell you the former is far more important.
With my girlfriend, we did things separately. We game online together with Guild Wars and we share a lot of things together, but it's all separate. Even if we were to share an account or even if I were to download things that only she would want to play and we were to break up, who cares? The most important thing is the time I spent with her and the memories that we shared. At the end of the day, I can re-create and re-buy all my things and while I may of wasted a lot of money and time, I certainly wouldn't think so in perspective of the fact that I shared a great deal of time with someone I loved dearly.
That's just my two cents though.
08/12/09
make a mii of a really hot dude, and then immediately try to make one that looks exactly like him. when you get to the finishing touches stage of your second mii, hesitate for a moment, and then make a conscious effort to change one thing about him so that he might look different from the hot dude mii you made just a minute ago. give the two miis the same name.
depending on your loneliness level, it might be best to continue this exercise until you hit the limit on miis. be sure to delete any miis that are not yourself!
now click the whistle icon and watch the miis line up! it's you! and a man-harem!!
you're da (wo)man now, dog!
i can make a video documentary detailing the finer points of this process, if you'd like.
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08/12/09
People do things because they want to...that makes them who they are. Who are you to judge? you who took the time to snipe after somebody took the time to share an experience about things that people do actually care about. Just because you don't agree with it, like it, understand it, care about it, et al, doesn't mean that nobody else does.
I enjoy building an avatar, gathering gamerscore, etc. It would suck to have to rebuild from scratch, and I'm glad i'm not in that boat.
People identify with whatever they feel like it. That's what makes it an identity. The fact that you don't is part of yours.
don't hate.
08/12/09
I'll be another daring soul, and say that I take my avatar representation seriously. I'd like them to be some sort of reflection of who I am, and when they are shared with another person that I care for, the dissociation from that particular game, console or avatar is a difficult process when things go awry. I don't understand why you're so frustrated about it. This was a personal anecdote, and she was courageous enough to share her story- all you did was get angry about it.
08/12/09
You know you played those games. That's all that matters. You don't need a diploma stating you graduated Tales of Vesperia.
As for that weird professional insecurity you have, your knowledge of the games should be enough proof that you played them and know what you're talking about.
Before PSN and Live, that's all the "proof" you had, or needed, anyway. Don't forget that. And for goodness sake, don't replay all your games just for a "gamerscore" and fake trophies.
>.
08/12/09
Achievements are the same for me. They're accomplishments. They're the gold stars that kindergarten teachers give their pupils. They're the collegiate dean's list. That gold Kotaku commenter star is an achievement. They're an allowance, or a paycheck (just not as practical). Achievements are a reward system, and psychology has shown us long ago that rewarding good behavior will get you farther than simply punishing the bad.
08/12/09
Whether I spend 15 minutes beating a level or 5 hours, I get the achievement just the same. While there are a few exceptions, the brunt of the achievements/trophies come from things people should be doing anyway. Most aren't extra incentives, but are awarded for things like "Beat Mission 1" or "Customized Your First Skill." We aren't leaving a real impression the way we did when we'd digitally engrave our initials into a cabinet. In most cases we're just proving that we played the game all the way through, and maybe looked for some extras.
Add to that the amount of achievement/trophy hunting people do, and the entire system becomes meaningless. I know plenty of people that play games just for the trophies/achievements, and are on autopilot all the way through. Especially with the FAQ's specifically tailored to trophy/achievement hunting popping up more and more. It wasn't possible to do that in the old days.
I see arcade scores as being much more comparable to leaderboards. Even in games with no real multiplayer component, topping the leaderboard shows that you are more skilled than others.
Even with your other analogies, the problem I see is that those are things that require extra effort and self improvement. Most people don't just get the top score on an arcade, or make the Dean's list, or get an allowance or paycheck. They have to practice and become more skillful at the task. And the majority of achviements/trophies don't embody that at all.
The current implementation of trophies and achievements reminds me more of school districts that are thinking about paying kids to go to school. They're giving incentives to do something kids should be doing anyway. And while there are trophies/achivements that do embody the idea of improving yourself as a player, most are given for beating a level/game, repeating a task, or grinding.
EDIT: LIIIIINE BREEAAAAKS!
08/12/09
See, this is where I will refute you based on my current experience.
I've got the highest GS on my friends list by a mere 1k pts or so right now. I'm sitting at 67k.
Does that make me better than anyone else on my list? No, it just means I have no life and own a fuck ton of games.
However, what me and my friends DO constantly do, is compare specific games against each other. Like if I've got 720/1000 in one and my buddy has 760, then hes got bragging rights, per se. And nobody really brags it, but its more of a friendly competition type thing.
Comparing on an overall score level is stupid. But breaking it down to comparing games level is yeah, back to the days of arcades.
08/12/09
My biggest problems with trophies/achievements is that I feel like they aren't pushing anyone to try. I always feel like that there are maybe 1 or 2 genuinely difficult ones to get per game, and the rest are either things like make it through the plot or just play the game a shit ton. It's like devs design the trophies/achievements such that everyone can eventually get them all, and I just don't think they should be that way.
One of the things I liked about the Killzone 2 trophies was that they forced you to practice at the game. If you weren't good, you wouldn't place, and hence wouldn't get the trophy. It actually meant something then, as it represented that you were of a certain skill level and had put some effort other than "Play the game again and choose option B." I think because I'm not overly competitive with my friends when it comes to games, I'd like to see a system where rewards carry more weight to them.
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08/12/09
I kinda miss cheat codes in games, some of them were fun and they are kind gone now because of achievements and trophies. This BS took a lot of the fun away for me. I like to finish games without cheat codes but they can be fun just to goof around with stuff once in a while, and now they´re also gone, for the most part...
08/12/09
I mean, most of us have multiple PS3 tags - one has become a "main" but don't we all have extras for regions or certain games or (not for me but others) to troll with. They didn't mean much - free, easy to change, new - based on a system where you previously had changed tags for each online title. Trophies and Home are changing that slowly, with the development of PSN, but it takes time.
A nice thoughtful piece, AJ. I like that kotaku is posting more of these essay-ish type posts lately. Very enjoyable reading.
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