I got a 360 recently to play an arcade scrolling shooter port. Microsoft requires game publishers to have a certain minimum number of those popup achievements in the game before they approve it for production. Cynically, the publisher (a medium-sized Japanese company) created achievements for it like "Cleared level 1" "Shot an enemy" "Cleared level 2" "Died" "Defeated a boss" "Touched a power-up" "Score was a multipl…
Achievement Porn
21–30 of 122 posts
Re: Achievement Porn
#22That's why I literally love capitalism. The market does not give a heck about your little silly titles. You might be a God of the Universe, but if you cannot bring a profit, you're out.
And the corollary: you may be a master of the universe, and bring in lots of profit, yet not actually add substantial value. As the article says, moneymaking is its own treadmill, its own fake achievement.
By this rational everything is a fake achievement, so just off yourself and save us this boring shit from being on the HN front page.
The majority of our life is doing useless, thankless tasks. Simply by spending 15 minutes in the shower every day I will have wasted an entire year of my life in the shower. By sleeping in 1 hour on Sunday I wasted 1/2 a year of my life, equally anyone spending an hour in church also wasted a year of their life (unless on the off chance god exists, then they only probably wasted a year of their life worshipping the wrong god). Those two teeth cleaning's my insurance company covers per year, assuming I'm only in the average of an hour, I just wasted almost 7 days of my life despite no medical evidence the procedure does anything, but if I get the maximum done yearly, well that's 12 days.
Why should I brush my teeth the 2 minutes morning and evening recommended by my dentist? that wastes 81 days of my life. Just doing 1 minute morning and night only wastes 40 days. Why should I sleep the recommended 8 hours a night when just getting 6 hours has no appreciable difference on longevity or health? That's a whole 6 1/2 years saved if I just sleep 6 hours.
Re: Achievement Porn
#23He may just be upset because he's no good at video games.
Re: Achievement Porn
#24Rule of thumb: Any organization that allows you to level up is out to fuck you, take your money, or both.
Examples: School, corporations, scientology, military, world of warcraft, etc.
Re: Achievement Porn
#25Trying to define what should be meaningful for other people is pretty arrogant and an insular perspective on life. My personal take on reality is that the whole shebang is a "meaningless treadmill", but I'm willing to accept that it might not be true for the next guy.
The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever. Because this is just a ride."
-- Bill Hicks
Re: Achievement Porn
#26I got a 360 recently to play an arcade scrolling shooter port. Microsoft requires game publishers to have a certain minimum number of those popup achievements in the game before they approve it for production. Cynically, the publisher (a medium-sized Japanese company) created achievements for it like "Cleared level 1" "Shot an enemy" "Cleared level 2" "Died" "Defeated a boss" "Touched a power-up" "Score was a multipl…
That's actually what most of the arcade game achievements are like, in my experience: stuff you would never do during the game, but is weird enough to warrant the game noticing, like in Geometry Wars, doing a certain (difficult) thing in the game without firing a single shot.
One game, Chime, has an achievement just for buying the game. Since all the proceeds go to charity, I guess they felt you deserved a few points for buying it.
Re: Achievement Porn
#27I strongly agree with the proposed existence of the Achievment treadmills. However, I think the difference between "fake" and "real" achievement treadmills are completely arbitrary, created by a societal average and either accepted or rejected by the individual. If society as a whole started valuing number of facebook friends over net income, then facebook would no longer be a a "fake" treadmill.
I think it's still a good article because it could be interpreted as advocating narrowing in on what achievment treadmills you feel are "real", and avoiding distracting achievement treadmills you consider are "fake".
Really it all comes down to avoiding cognitive dissonance, when you observe yourself acting in a manner that is contrary to your beliefs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
Re: Achievement Porn
#28Trying to define what should be meaningful for other people is pretty arrogant and an insular perspective on life. My personal take on reality is that the whole shebang is a "meaningless treadmill", but I'm willing to accept that it might not be true for the next guy.
The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other…
Isn't that just Zen Buddhism? Was Hicks a Buddhist?
Re: Achievement Porn
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a good question. Does building muscle mass by lifting weights count as a real achievment? Being fit makes that person's life better (and possibly others, since wellness travels along social networks). Repeated problem solving is cognitive exercise, so perhaps it can also be "real". The trick would be to be honest about the benefits of said exercise. Imagine someone who only worked their biceps, but deluded the…
I make a distinction between exercise and work. The things you do repeatedly, all else being equal, are the things you get better at. Do actual physical labour, and you'll get stronger; do fake physical labour in a gym, and you'll also get stronger. But modern life doesn't need much in the way of actual physical labour. FWIW, I've never been in a gym in my life, and view the religion of the church of the gym with som…
> But modern life doesn't need much in the way of actual physical labour.
Ha! Come work my job. Did you ever wonder how houses were built, or how shelves are stocked in supermarkets, or how trucks are loaded . . . just because you work in a cubicle doesn't mean everyone in the western world does. Despite a recession, the construction sector in the majority of the world is still rapidly growing, in parts it stayed well within the double figures.
BTW BMI in its present form and fitness have nothing whatsoever to do with each other. It was designed to study muscle development amongst soldiers, and more over it was designed to show muscle development on an individual basis over military training. IE where they started vs where they ended. In its original iteration it had nothing in it whatsoever to do with measuring obesity, because it was literally the heavier the better.
Re: Achievement Porn
#30Rule of thumb: Any organization that allows you to level up is out to fuck you, take your money, or both. Examples: School, corporations, scientology, military, world of warcraft, etc.
What's the difference between "leveling up" and rising in a meritocracy? Ideally in any organization those talented enough to run it will rise to the top and "level up". If education and training help you achieve that, what's the problem?