With the increasing online component of many games, it comes as no surprise that achievements and points have become a measure of gamer status. Instead of just beating a game, you can now prove how much effort you invested in optional aspects of the game, such as sidequests or special types of kills. You can instantly compare the achievements you unlocked to the achievements of your friends.

I haven’t been able to sink my teeth into an Xbox 360 game since my brief fling with Eternal Sonata. I grew tired of the disproportionate percentage of time spent in repetitive battles so my 360 began gathering dust. Fortunately, a friend gave me Mass Effect. I began playing it at his house and was blown away by the first hour. Unsure of the ability to transfer saves off my memory card, I didn’t play more until I was back home.

When I got home, I was excited to learn that I could transfer my save and soon jumped back into Mass Effect. I was excited about the idea of getting achievements, as my gamerscore was quite low and I wanted to prove that I was a real gamer. Five hours into Mass Effect, I became a spectre. This achievement is essential to the progression of the game and I had read online that it would unlock an Xbox achievement. When my achievement pop-up didn’t appear, I was a little concerned but decided to wait in case it was tied into a later event. One hour later, no achievement had appeared. After some research online, I discovered that I was a good distance past the spectre achievement and I had somehow missed it.

I called Xbox help and explained how I had transferred the save from a different profile on a memory card. Unfortunately, the two representatives I talked to did not mention the most important detail: you can’t unlock achievements from a save that was not created on your profile. I was torn. Was it worth re-playing five hours of a game I would likely spend 25-30 hours playing? I was very thorough the first time and hated to lose my progress. However, this was likely one of the only games I would be motivated to finish on the 360, and it would be sad to lose those points.

Part of me was frustrated with myself for caring so much about Xbox achievements. After all, weren’t they just a device to feed my ego and spur competition? People have played games for years and still do without worrying about being rewarded outside the game. Have measures of success become more than just a motivational tool? Have rewards for the game become more important than the game itself?

After careful deliberation, I decided to play Mass Effect again from the beginning. Even if achievements didn’t exist for older games, the achievements are available for Mass Effect and I wanted to show off the effort I put into the game. While I should focus on enjoying the game for what it is, it’s still nice to have a little ego boost by periodically earning a few points. The best part about playing those five hours again was that I didn’t mind diving into such a beautiful and well-crafted story after just playing it. Mass Effect is so compelling that it is worth playing again.