The Society of Xbox Live: Competitive, Often Polite, but Sometimes Merciless

Xbox Live has recently evolved into a community, with the onset of Xbox 360. It started as a place where people could play games and sometimes make friends, but it was minimal. Now that the new Xbox is out, people are able to communicate better and want to communicate more all to the new addition of achievements.

Achievements are granted when people play games a certain way. Some of the achievements are really hard and some are really easy. If you are skilled enough to achieve one of the harder ones, you will be praised and envied by every other person that wants the achievement. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows who the person is, with the most achievements. He is the king of this monarchy. Everyone praises him and sends him messages. He even got an interview with Xbox magazine. I can't even begin to imagine how many messages he gets everyday. The amount of achievements are one way to achieve popularity, but I have taken a different route altogether.

Xbox live arcade has leaderboards and retro games that have very hard achievements. I wouldn't even dare to enter the arena for the top spot for amount of achievements, but I have settled into my own market, so to speak. Recently I was at the top of the leaderboard in Smash TV. I had the most points out of everyone in the world that played the game. It's a very satisfying feeling. There are probably 100,000 people that have the game. I would get messages of praise everyday and people asking very politely if I would help them with their achievements.

I often wondered if I could someone turn it into a way to make money, but I haven't found out how yet. I would receive about 10 messages a day. I was a semi celebrity and soon became addicted to the praise. It was the first thing I would check when I would wake up in the morning. I wouldn't call myself a king, but maybe one of the many dukes that reside on Xbox. The rules of karma still exist on xbox though, be warned.

If you're rude or obnoxious you will be quickly labeled as such. People will shun you and your flow of email praise will soon be extinguished. I know someone that is really skilled at games and is a prince of xbox live. I talked to him once and he was extremely rude and pushy. I never talked to him again. I don't spread garbage, but I'm sure he's getting his fill of it from other people. Another person was also a pro, but was obnoxious. A good story was when I was approached with a politeness unheard of in this century. A poor soul needed help with a notoriously hard achievement. I am yet to help him achieve it, but I won't forget his plea.

The competition is merciless. People are so obsessed with achievements that they are willing to pay more skilled people to help them with acquiring them. They know that if they don't have certain achievements they won't receive the glory. Microsoft has ingeniously made the Xbox so competitive that if you don't have a certain game, you are considered unworthy, out of the loop, proverbially homeless. The people at the top of any game are showered with praise. They are the elite, they are envied and are even more important than a celebrity that might be on Xbox. It is the nation of Xbox, where is your place?