Blizzard to start "gamerscore" system

By Oli Welsh Published 4 August, 2008

WOW Achievements are just the beginning.

World of Warcraft lead designer Jeff Kaplan has let slip the first details of a Blizzard Account system that will track Achievements across all the publisher's games.

Speaking to MTV, Kaplan revealed plans to include Achievements in StarCraft II and Diablo III and allow players to improve their "Blizzard Level".

Blizzard recently announced the inclusion of Achievements in second WOW expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

"Eventually, our plans are for the Achievement system to become an account-based system," Kaplan said.

"It's basically a gamerscore," he continued. "For now, the points are just a WOW character score. As we graduate to that Blizzard Account system, which is right on the horizon, it will switch over to a Blizzard Level... Rather than call it a 'score', we just wanted it to be like you're levelling up on Blizzard games."

Players of the Lich King beta test in the US have been asked to create a Blizzard Account before starting, although the same is not true of the European beta.

Kaplan also revealed a few more details on WOW's Achievement system. Prior to the introduction of the Blizzard Account, it will be tied into character profiles on the WOW Armory website.

He also revealed that the first content patch for Wrath of the Lich King will include Achievements that are account-based, rather than character-based. "Things like, 'I have a Horde and Alliance character at maximum level' or 'I have three max-level characters'," he said.

We'll be very interested to see how Blizzard Accounts develop, and how they tie in to the company's revamped Battle.net online gaming platform, due to launch alongside StarCraft II.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Zomoniac #1 4 years ago

    Been done etc.

    Why is achievements for one game such a big deal?

  • kestral #2 4 years ago

    Eventually they'll have to come up with a way to unite all achievements. At the moment they're all still trying to get their own system to be the standard it seems like.

  • Zomoniac #3 4 years ago

    Well perhaps if more than two games in the GfW list supported them, that'd be a good place to start. I'd buy more PC games, anyway :)

  • miiiguel #4 4 years ago

    "Why is achievements for one game such a big deal? "
    I read an interrestant article by a psychologist that what leads to some kind of addiction are the rewards. And if one gets a standard for those where can be comparred with others the more addictive it gets.

  • muscleblade #5 4 years ago

    Some people even play bad games just to get easy achievements. They are called achievement whores and they actually need help imo. The addiction can end up taking over their lives. I played Avatar for achievements but that only took me 2 mins so thats different. The problems start when people are spending hours doing unfun stuff in games just to get a pointless award.
    Like running around looking for pigeons using a guide in GTA4. That cant be fun for anyone.

  • zuljin #6 4 years ago

    Ugh - sheesh whats the point? Not in the idea of achievements, the idea of retaining them for "Blizzard levels". I buy like one Blizzard game every few years, and though I may be interested in getting some achievements, would anyone really care about their "Blizzard Level"?

  • berelain #7 4 years ago

    Heres an idea: Why don't they link in with Games for Windows Live, since its now gone free? That way Achievements could be tied across platforms and companies...

    Nah, stupid idea, that. Fancy giving the gamer something useful.

  • miiiguel #8 4 years ago

    "The problems start when people are spending hours doing unfun stuff in games just to get a pointless award."

    Look out! It's the "fun police"!

  • muscleblade #9 4 years ago

    "Look out! It's the "fun police"!

    Im not telling whats fun and whats not but i read an article in Level ( a swedish gaming magazine) about people that did play games just for the achievements and they really didnt enjoy themselves one bit while doing it. They where obsessed with getting some pictures with a number for they gamertag. Scary stuff really. I love achievements but only the fun ones.

  • Dark_Era #10 4 years ago

    boy this whole achievement things is kinda getting outter hand now, i bet EA is gonna jump on the wagon soon

  • Zomoniac #11 4 years ago

    Heres an idea: Why don't they link in with Games for Windows Live, since its now gone free? That way Achievements could be tied across platforms and companies...

    They already do, but only two games support it. I have about 500G on Halo 2 for Windows. Gears has them too, but nothing else.

  • miiiguel #12 4 years ago

    ^

    There are more: Viva Piņata, Juiced; Universe at War and The Club.

  • berelain #13 4 years ago

    ^ I meant why don't Blizzard tie thier achievements in with gfWL / gamertags ^^

  • Ranger101 #14 4 years ago

    I heard about a particular UK-based games dev that 'encourages' their staff to meet certain gamerscore targets each month with an 'incentive' of not getting a disciplinary/bad review for failing to do so. In their spare time when they're not working.

    The name of this company, allegedly, isn't "LodeFasters" either.

    Allegedly. On the grapevine. Unconfirmed. Not verified. Rumour and Hearsay.

  • stallion185 #15 4 years ago

    What's wrong with having acheivements? Its not like we are forced to go for them. As far as I'm concerned they just add an extra edge to a game. I know that the acheivement system in TF2 has made the game ,ore interesting for me. So I'm guessing the WOW acheivements will have a similar effect.