We’re addicted to achievements. We can’t get enough of trophies. We love to rack up high gamerscores and show off our gaming highlights to anyone who is willing (or forced) to see them. Whether it’s through the XBox 360’s Live network, or via PSN or Steam, or even through the Wii’s tracking of game play time, we need to show off our accomplishments.
While there are already several game-related methods of tracking accomplishments, there are quite a few that can be found outside of the gaming world as well. In this article we’ll take a look at two of them: Foursquare and LoseIt!
Foursquare
I’m sure you’ve seen the tweets: “I’m having lunch at Panera (426 Squire Rd).”
I’m you’ve also thought, “I don’t care where you are eating lunch.” That hasn’t stopped people from constantly disclosing their locations over social networks on a regular basis. Foursquare is self-described as “a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things.” It really came of at over the past year, when notable Twitterati began to use it. The biggest draw may not be so much the social networking as it is the inherent “game” that is its backbone.
Foursquare functions like this: Go out to a bar, club, restaurant (or any place, really) and “check in” through the mobile app on your phone of choice. Each check in earns points. Leaderboards between you and your friends (or regionally) track these points. Earn medals based on numbers of check-ins, times of the day checked in, or whenever some task is achieved.
If it seems similar to XBox Live, it’s because Foursquare’s evolution over time has adapted it into something that works and is familiar to its users… what Microsoft’s network has done in the past.
Not only am I competing to get points based on my daily travels, but I’m also being exposed to new venues. You see, by seeing that some place has been visited several times by friends I can assume that the locale might be interesting enough to try for myself. Or if I am a couple points shy before the Monday leaderboard reset I might be inclined to leave the house and check in to a few locations to catch up. Visit a place enough times and you are awarded “Mayorship” and can stake your claim as the champ of said location… until someone out-visits you there, at least. Mayorship has its advantages, too, as some businesses offer discounts and freebies to Foursquare mayors (although I haven’t run into any yet). “Keeping up with the Joneses” never felt so competitive, at least from a social level.
There are issues with Foursquare, though. The leaderboards are temporary, and the lack of history-tracking keeps people focused on what points are earned within the week instead of what has happened over a set time frame. Cheating is incredibly easy, too — just sit in your car and check into every location that appears around you. The security issues arise as well, as now potential stalkers know where you are, and potential burglars know when you are not home.
But even after all of this Foursquare remains an increasingly easy-to-use and fun way of tracking your daily travels and competing with friends.
Lose It!
A similar achievement-tracker, but with a completely different focus, is Lose It! LI! is the free calorie-counting app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows users to track their daily caloric intake in hopes to help lose or maintain weight. Calorie-counting seems to be all the rage these days, as folks work to achieve the typical New Year’s Resolution by March, after when they also typically abandon it. Calorie-counting isn’t a rocket science and has been available on the web and on computers for decades, but with the all-in-one feature phones that we currently carry the applications are all that much more accessible.
The interface to LoseIt is pretty similar to other calorie apps, like Tap ‘N Track or the ones included in WiiFit Plus and EA Sports Active. You first select a weight goal, then the amount of weeks to that goal and your starting weight. LoseIt! works out the required amount of calories per day, equating to a specific amount of weight loss per week. Exercising subtracts from the daily total, allowing you to tune your day based on your activities. Eat more? Jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes.
While the app isn’t necessarily a typical achievement system like those on Steam or even Foursquare, the accomplishments are based on daily/weekly goal achievement. The app includes things called “motivators” – status updates on the user’s Facebook or Twitter account. Though optional, these motivators publicly update the user’s weight loss or gains, for the ultimate embarrassing kick in the ass. Yes, it’s the ultimate embarrassing method of motivating people.
In Conclusion
These real-world methods of accounting for accomplishments and achievements may not mean much to the typical gamer, yet provide a way to dangle a carrot in the face of those who don’t frequent the Lives or PSNs of the day. The achievements are based more on improving the lifestyle of the user as opposed to counting how many kills in a multiplayer Modern Warfare 2 match. They won’t replace my Live account, but do a decent job of allowing me to remain slightly competitive while outside of my living room and feed my addiction for attaining a score for just about anything I do.
This influx of achievements in apps and software adds to the growing “gamerization” of the general public. The question now is that if there are so many variations of the achievement process, which one is winning out? Certainly XBox Live is at the top of the list, but the more that these methods seep into the things we do every day, the more that the value of achievements starts to go down.
Either way it’s a fun time to be a competitive person, whether in “real life” or in the virtual sphere.
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