Video game achievements may seem like they were born with the Xbox, but they’ve actually been around since 1982. Of course, back then it was a bit complicated, as you could take a photo of your high score and send it to Activision, and they would send you a patch in return to dress you up and brag about being a joystick guru. Now it’s a lot easier, and although you can’t brag on the street, you can instead check out your achievement list in the comfort of your own home, using just your console and controller. Gone is the magic, in comes convenience.
Hooray!
Of course, it’s not always easy. In fact, some achievements are directly impossible, like the “Rayman Raving Rabbids” achievement, which activates when you reach 174,000 points. The trick? The limit is 173,000, and the game remains incomplete forever. Great for people with gaming OCD. However, not all achievements you can earn are easy.
For example, Max Payne 3 has one achievement that only unlocks if you complete the game in one go without dying or running out of time. And if you die, you have to start over. If you have the skill and free time to do that, congratulations! But there’s an achievement that goes even further – one that only 0.1% of players have achieved.
It was called “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter,” a title that’s hard to even pronounce. To earn the title of World Champion, you literally had to be the best in the world against other players. Only a handful of players have managed to achieve this, and the vast majority did so without cheating.
Yes, technically you could create different accounts and play the game over and over again, always achieving a perfect score, but it would take months of cheating to reach #1. It’s up to you to decide whether cheating is worth it rather than achieving the achievement in a more satisfying way. Wanna try? For your own sake, I hope the answer is “absolutely not.”
