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I did that

Just got back from two hours watching a film starring a special effect purporting to be Orlando Bloom and a charismatic dragon who just wants to be left in peace to enjoy his bling. So yet another startling day of zero gaming accomplishment you could say.

Well you could, could be wrong mind but you could. I say zero accomplishment when what I mean to say is I accomplished the gold trophy for a 12 kill kill streak in Hotline Miami. Yes after countless yonks of trying I finally managed to kill 12 bad guys in rapid sequence earning me a reward of nebulous at best value.

Trophies, achievements, insert name here for the reward recognition system of your choice. Complete tasks of non-existent or mind bending difficulty and you get a pleasant ding sound as that reward is forever associated with your gaming ID. The more you ding the more you the player level up in some bizarre game that is life itself.

Imagine a progress bar filling up over and over again to higher and higher levels. A never ending loading bar ticking away towards what? Is there a pinnacle? A climax? A final level beyond which there is only death?  Who knows? It wouldn't be a thing except accomplishment is defined in insultingly simple terms in some games with some awarding you for practically being able to draw breath.

Then there are the others that make you work for it, the ones that fizz away at your sanity until you're brought to the brink of your own personal ruin. Inevitably you rise again in the last moment to achieve that all-important all-meaningful personal milestone in your gaming habit. A victory that probably doesn't mean a whole lot outside the bubble of interconnected socially networked gaming.

Perhaps gaming accomplishments are no more or less important than they used to be, its just that we give them names and values and an online profile to show them off on now. Overall I'd like to think its a positive development but then I would judging by the last few hundred words. Back in the day after spending an age collecting all the secret packages in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City I would have metaphorically killed for some form of recognition of this momentous feat, something set in stone that says 'I did that'.

Essentially its a case of wanting something that records those sweet moments in my gaming experience which doesn't elevate it out of all proportion at the same time. But then maybe its just me making something non-trivial out of something trivial. Probably me then, case closed.
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