Sometime in 2015, 26-year-old Xbox Live user Stallion83, otherwise known as Raymond, expects he'll achieve the goal he set out for in 2006: earning an Xbox Live gamerscore of 1,000,000.
According to achievement tracking website TrueAchievements, it's currently possible to unlock 733,835 achievement points across every Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade game. Microsoft was unable to verify this statistic or provide their own achievement numbers for me. It sounds about right.
Raymond, who declined to reveal his last name to me due to legitimate fears of someone hacking his account, has currently accumulated a monstrous gamerscore totaling 384,155 points.
(Note: It's very likely that number will change by the time you read this story.)
According to TrueAchievements, Raymond has the most achievements point of anyone on Xbox Live. He's closely followed by Zakke Wylde with 351,090 points. Raymond says that's been true for years. Raymond told me Microsoft has never contacted him about cheating, but plenty of players illegitimately chasing after scores higher than his own have been caught gaming the system since he started.
Unsurprisingly, he's been playing games since he was 3-years-old and followed games ever since, especially shooters like Halo and Counter-Strike. He didn't become a self-proclaimed "achievement whore," however, until early 2006.
His first Xbox 360 red-ringed the day he bought it.
"I've gotten the coffin from Microsoft 10 times," he said. "I had to get a couple of them fixed multiple times. Out of 4 systems I bought brand new, only one of them has never red ringed. One time I got the 360 back from repair and it worked for only two weeks. The system that broke on me launch day was a kick in the pants. It was kind of weird calling tech support for a system that I just waited hours to get. The good news is, I unlocked a few achievements before it kicked the bucket."
I have friends who are obsessed with achievements (my former boss, Dan "Shoe" Hsu, spent over six hours unlocking Modern Warfare
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's end credits mission achievement), but Raymond takes the cake. He's aiming for 400,000 by the end of 2009. He was hoping to achieve 100,000 points per year, but in order to keep his progress on track, he's been forced to alter his road to a million.
"That won't cut it with more and more games being released each year," he explained. "I plan on getting an achievement in every state in the USA before I hit 1,000,000. So, I guess you could say my road map to 1,000,000 is to mix things up."
Many gamers describe a tangible sense of accomplishment when an achievement is unlocked in a game, especially the difficult ones, the achievements designed to be out of reach. But doesn't that hurt the reason many of us play games in the first place...you know, to have fun?
"Sometimes it feels that way but I wouldn't want it any other way," said Raymond. "Instead of playing a single game all the time, I get to play everything. It’s an acquired taste for sure and I don’t think I’ll ever change my ways.
When asked, Raymond isn't able to remember the hardest achievement in his quest for a million ("after you unlock around 15,000 achievements, you kind of forget where you have been"), but he can recall the easiest one along the path: earning 5 points for just pressing start in The Simpsons Game
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"I don’t have any regrets about embarking on my journey to 1,000,000"
According to TrueAchievement's data, which only pulls from users from their database and not from all Xbox Live users (Microsoft keeps that data private), the most commonly unlocked achievement is "Landfall" ("Completed the first mission of the Campaign") from Halo 3
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Almost four years into his million gamerscore journey, Raymond isn't looking back.
"I don’t have any regrets about embarking on my journey to 1,000,000," he said. "It has been an interesting ride so far. The crazy thing about this is, when I’m at 700,000, I’ll feel like I’m getting close. At that point, I will still be around 3 years away."
For the record, my gamerscore is 18,469 points. The only game I've "finished" is King Kong
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You can follow Raymond's quest to a million at his blog, 1 Million Gamerscore.
[image credit: flickr / the gentlemen's game]
Have something to share? Have a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Comments
Displaying 1–20 of 117
1234562
jahlov420 ShowHide(2 Replies)
jahlov420's comment is abusive and has been removed.
mksystem74
He can collect achievements and still have a life outside of gaming, it's not that hard.
Patrick Klepek
Please be mindful of your comments. I will be watching them.
bigolkev ShowHide(5 Replies)
To get 1,000,000 gamer points means he has way too much time on his hands to be so dedicated to gaming!! I have 12,000 gamer points but it took me three years to do that!! Hopes he reach that goal soon so he can run out and get a girlfriend, cuz he sure do needs one!!LOL
collinE
this guy should get sponsered by somebody.
ZyloWolfBane ShowHide(5 Replies)
I dont know which is more sad, the fact that hes proud of this or that hes had that many 360s die on him and he still supports microsoft because of a totally insignificant number under his screenname.
I mean mine was just over 100,000 when I quit replacing my systems and bought a PS3 but that was pretty casual, I just played that many different games (Most rented for free from where I worked) and hardly any of them were finished 100% except like a few games, DoA,Bioshock,Halo 3,and Enchanted arms.
I do notice theres no mention of what he does for money or anyone hes dating since its obvious only his other friends that are the same as him actually support what hes doing.
So that means hes likely a basement dweller at his parents place and the only sunlight he sees is when he goes to drop off his coffins.
To each his own, if this were someone who was disabled or retired I would understand...but hes 26 and doesnt appear to be freakishly huge so it just strikes me as sad, he should get out more.
Grats though, musta played alot of crappy games on purpose to be such an achievement grabber....but I do feel sorry for him.
Shockwave562
If I get to 100,000 by 2015 I'll be impressed with myself. I thought I did a decent amount of gaming.
Just think about how many god awful games you'd have to play
Ernesto Moreno
wow this is unbelievable I wonder if he can do it before the next gen systems come out.
Juicelee ShowHide(4 Replies)
I wonder, when he does reach 1 million points what will he be playing? further more, what exactly will 1 million points net him outside of bragging rights and an inability to get laid by any other girl besides a gamer chick with bad hygene/acne?
NeroIV
Just because he has that many gamer points doesn't make him a virgin or that he couldn't have a girlfriend. Maybe he is just very good at playing all genre of games. So don't just assume things about people. And just in case any body didn't get the memo, playing video games is cool now.
Wozman23
Man, I had been feeling pretty accomplished with my 1200+ PS3 trophies. Way to go and me take the wind out of my sails, Mr. Stalpwnious Maximous.
ganjasaurus_rex
Microsoft should give this guy some major SWAG for staying loyal and putting up with their inept call center staff so many times.
ZyloWolfBane
Pfft, for just sending back his system that many times for the score he has microsoft should just start sending him backup systems in advance.
pumathehero
how can he afford it? even if he had a gamefly account, there's no guarantee he'll get a decent game to get gamerscore points. now a days, every game coming out has MP points which arent easy to get. why do movie games need mp?!
M0dSquad
I envy him. I wish i had that much free time in my life to do such thing.
But perhaps at the end, he might be in the world record books, video game edition
Redd75
"I don t have any regrets about embarking on my journey to 1,000,000"
Of course he doesn't have any regrets now. He's only 20. He's just a kid. For his sake, I hope he thinks differently about that statement when he's 26. If not, then I'd say his life needs some re-prioritizing. Also, again for his sake, I hope he's as ambitious about other aspects of his life as he seems to be about gaming.
ImpurestCrowd ShowHide(3 Replies)
This guy should get a PS3 and try and get the trophies in PAIN if he wants a real challenge.
thechamp1985
That is too many points to not have Microsoft do something for this guy. Put him in a commercial or something. He's loyal. Reward him.
Boogie1188
That's sad. If I had that much free time I'd be more productive. I only envy him in that he's played a crapload more games than I have on the 360.
morbo1993
I love getting Trophies on my PS3, but i try my best to get many platinum trophies. I regularly go through the campaign once, get the trophies i get, and then play again to get the rest. It's fun, and it makes me play my games longer
Displaying 1–20 of 117
1234562
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