Carrot on a Stick

Achieving Azeroth

Even better, WoW gives you a place to show them off. If you have all of the Scout items in Team Fortress 2, people might recognize that while you're playing - but once you log out, they won't care. Unless you're a server regular, they won't even remember who you are. But when I go AFK outside of Dalaran on my flying albino drake, people see that I've been able to acquire a hefty 50 mounts.

MMOGs like WoW are successful in part because they cater to a wide range of play-styles - and achievements demonstrate your play-style to the world. In-game rewards tell everyone else what sort of things you like to do in the game, not just how good you are at them. Even if you've never once spoken with my friend Jovis, the moment you see her running around town with her little fawn companion in tow, you know she's snagged a whopping 75 pets.

Run into somebody with "The Flawless Victor" title in a Battleground or an Arena? You're about to get stomped. The tank and healer in your Heroic Halls of Lightning group have "The Immortal" title? You're in good hands. See somebody with the "Salty" title chilling by the fountain in Dalaran? That means they're patient enough to fish up the rarest catches in the game.

On Xbox Live, you have to manually inspect someone to check his Gamerscore, and you have to go even deeper to peruse his individual achievements. Maybe he has 10,000 more points than you do, but is that because he plays a lot of games, or because he's very good at a select few? Your opponent in Street Fighter IV might have topped the rankings in Halo 3, but I'd never know unless I took the time to look.

Perhaps that's what it all comes down to: For me, it was never enough to just get points or trophies. It's like buying cosmetic DLC for single-player games - if you can't proudly parade your Oblivion horse around Altdorf or Orgrimmar or Jeuno, what's the point? No one will know you have it, and that kind of spoils the fun.

We never did defeat that boss in the Nexus that night. Instead, we went on to knock off some of the other achievements that stood between us and virtual glory. Sooner or later, we'll be back with some fresh new strategies to try, and it won't be long before you see me flying around Shattrath on my shiny red proto-drake. Then the world will finally know how awesome I am.

John Funk (The Undying) has 5240 achievement points and climbing.