Poll Results - Wrong to play Avatar for the points?

Okay here's the results for the last poll.

Is it wrong to play Avatar: The Burning Earth for the easy achievement points?

Yes = 1 vote
No = 3 votes

I wonder who voted yes. Probably my brother dain. Anyhoo! I have to say I'm really torn about this one. On one had, if I could up my gamer score by 1,000 points in 10 minutes or so that would be great. On the other hand, I like playing games for the experience. Throwing the achievements in adds to that, but would I continue to play the game if I've already earned all the achievements especially if that was all I was playing it for? And on the other hand, I do wonder a little bit about what people would think if they saw this game on my list. (Achievement whore!) I get enough grief sometimes from people that I don't need to add that to the mix. On the other hand, I don't really care who sees what in my profile because I play games to have fun. And on the other hand, would I have fun if I just played a game for the points? Ugh! I'm starting to feel like the Hindu Goddess Lakshnu.

I might put in a game every now and then to play specifically to get an achievement (only because I'm close to getting it anyway) but I haven't yet bought/borrowed/rented a game to play solely for the points I could get out of it. I play games for the experience. That's why I've started Legend of Dragoon and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance over again even after I've finished the game. Do I expect to unlock an achievement I didn't get the first time? No. I just liked the game play and the story. Besides, those games don't have achievements.

Right now I'm really getting into playing BioShock. But not too long ago I photocopied the pages in the guide where all the journals are listed so that I could cross them off my list and make sure I got all of them. But I soon found myself picking up journals but not bothering to check the list for ones I might have missed. Every now and then I go to the menu and check off the ones I've got but I'm not making any real effect to make sure I get them all this time through. Why? Because right now the story matters more to me than picking up journals. Yes, I know there's an achievement for getting them all but I'm concentrating more on what I need to do in the story and how I'm going to defeat the next Big Daddy that comes along.

With the exception of one or two achievements (I'll talk about those in another post) I've earned every gamer point I've gotten. Some were easier than others. And some came close to me chucking my controller through the TV screen. But I remember a lot of them. The joys of finally hearing that melodic beep and seeing that oblong blip on a corner of the screen is euphoric. It means something. Would a quick 10 minutes of work for 1,000 points mean the same? Probably not.

That doesn't mean I'm knocking any of my friends for playing this game and getting the points. Some day I might change my mind and play it myself. But for right now I want to earn what I get. If it takes me a couple of weeks, months or years to get all the achievements for a game I'm okay with that. Just think of all the memories I'll have for those 1,000 points. Avatar: The Burning Earth might be worth 1,000 points now, but memories from my other games will last me a lifetime.

New Poll - Is it wrong to play Avatar: Burning Earth for quick achievement points?

So my brother and I are locked into a gamer score battle. With no end in sight. You see we're both competitive people and neither one of use can stand that the other one might have a higher gamer score than the other. His score currently stands at 5,010 and I'm at 4,967. Now if I could just stop playing Call of Duty 4 online I'm sure I could make up the difference.

We have a lot of the same friends in common and now they're starting to get in on the competition. They help us out when we're stuck trying to get an achievement. They've offered to "distract" the other one into playing something (that won't get them achievements) so one of us can work on achievements in peace. I've even had one of my friends offer to play a game for me to earn the points while I could play something else. And then there's the suggestion, from just about everyone, to play Avatar: The Burning Earth.

The game only has five achievements and if you watch the YouTube video you'll see that it only takes about 10 minutes to get all those achievements. Instant 1,000 points. As appealing and tempting as this is there's a downside to having those 1,000 points in your gamer score. It doesn't matter what game forum you go to but everyone looks down on those that have played the game for the points. You're scum. You're slim. You're an achievement whore.

That may be, but it’s 1,000 points! That would mean I would be 5,967 and my brother would still be 5,010. I'd be ahead of him by a large margin. Of course there's nothing to stop him from renting the game and getting those 1,000 points himself. Which would mean he be ahead of me again.

So I guess it comes down to whether I want to beat my brother's gamer score (yes) and look like scum on game forums (like I care what they think anyway) or play and EARN achievements for games that I actually like (yes, yes, and oh . . . yes). Vote in the poll and tell me what you think.