Raising Your Gamerscore By PowerLeveling

Joystiq is reporting on a new outfit claiming they'll powerlevel your gamerscore for cash. For $300, they say, they'll raise your Xbox Live gamerscore by 3000 points. Ozymandias, a member of the 360 Launch Team, has commentary on the situation. From his post: "The thing that struck me as most interesting about this is that Achievements (and the Gamerscore associated with them) have become a currency... one just as valuable as virtual currency in MMOs, and one some people might be willing to pay real dollars for. I certainly don't condone it, but it does support my belief that competitors will need to have their own Achievements/Gamerscore system in the future as it's definitely a tipping aspect for some folks. (For the record, I now believe the rumor of PS3 'Entitlements' to be false; however, I fully expect a similar solution within the next year or so once the online service has launched.)"

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Re:Does not compute

[SScorpio]

Each 360 game has achievements which you complete by doing things in a game, (beating the game, kill a boss, doing this side quest, etc). Some of them are hard, some are easy. By completing an achievement you get points added to your gamer score which show are l33t you are. The achievement system is a good way to get people to keep playing games and unlocking things they normally won't bother with a 2nd or 3rd play through. But the whole gamer score thing is really just an e-penis.

Re:Ha ha how pathetic.

[tlhIngan]

People engaging in this type of activity...definitely a desperate cry for attention and recognition by inescure people that in doing so are among the darker side of the online gaming world. Not to mention, dishonest. I would hope Microsoft (or whoever) finds a way to kabosh this sort of thing.

The question I have is... WHY?

Gamerscore doesn't mean crap. Seriously. It's just an arbitrary number that some game developer uses. That's why there was an article a while back about how to get an easy 3000 points by renting a few games in a few hours (basically just going for the easiest achievements). Earning an achievement has absolutely no relation to how hard you worked to get that achievement. Some games require you to do many things to get 10 measly points after 30 hours of work, while others, you get achievements just by sitting on your ass and loading the game.

It's not a real currency that can be spent, like Microsoft Points, it doesn't unlock anything in Xbox Live, it's just an arbitrary number.

And there are various save game hacks you can do to load up someone else's save game and get those achievements credited to your account. $300 for 3000 points? Honestly, that number is just for bragging. There are no prizes, no awards, nothing.

Microsoft Points are currency. Gamerscore is a lousy number that means zilch to Microsoft, and only gives you the ability to brag. But hey, if someone's willing to pay $300 for this, more power to them (it's how the market's supposed to work).