In Defense of Boosting

Booster. It's a dirty word on the internet, right up there alongside Achievement Whore. But really, where is the problem? The object of a game is to have fun, and when you think about it, the hunting of Achievements is just another game outside the game itself. It's not unlike a scavenger hunt or a game of hide and seek, and given the right mindset, that can be a hell of a lot of fun.

 When a person gets stuck on the latest edition of the New York Times crossword puzzle, it's not uncommon for him to ask for help from friends. Sure there's an element of pride at being able to say you completed it without outside help, but in the grand scheme of things, who is it hurting to enlist a little aid from your peers?

 Boosting is just that. Getting a little help to gain something that for all intents and purposes has no outside value other than what it's worth to the individual. Can I trade my Gamerscore for cash? No. Will it give me an unfair advantage in a job interview over somebody else? Likely, no. And if it does, there's probably one heck of a good reason for it. My Gamerscore is my New York Times crossword.

Call me a hypocrite, but while I'm not a fan of people who hack and mod in order to raise their gamerscore, sharing secrets and exposing exploits or loopholes that were built into the game is fair play. And I'll tell you something else, the community of boosters on Xbox LIVE is generally better at displaying sportsmanship than the core group of competitive gamers.

 I've both arranged and joined gaming sessions through the help of an Achievement-dedicated website and have encountered a far better play experience than the average game of Halo 3 or Call of Duty X. Not once in a boosting session have I been spawn-camped without my consent, sworn at maliciously, or peppered with racial slurs. I've added 17 people to my friends list that I've encountered through boosting sessions. By contrast, I've not added a single person who I've been paired up with through random play. And I've gone back and played several games with these new acquaintances for pure fun later, and had a great time doing so.

 Boosting sessions often let you get to know the stranger on the other end more than in a competitive match. I've had conversations with people I've never met in person, yet I know how their wedding plans are coming along, felt the pain of them losing a bidding war on a house, wished them well in upcoming surgery, and compared Schwarzenegger impressions. As much or as little, true or false, that people are willing to share, it's a lot more fun, and feels much more like being a part of a community. And as those of us who have outgrown our friends and focused more on family and career sit alone on the couch, isn't a little community just what we're looking for?

I'm not a huge fan of online achievements, especially in games that I don't really care for the online modes in, so usually I'll boost those just to get them out of the way. Like the Versus achievements in RE5. I didn't want to play that game long enough online to get ANY of those normally.

Who hates boosting?

*Slow Clap* Well put sir.

Their called achievements for a reason, you have to earn it.

That being said if you are going to boost do it in a private match

Sounds good, achievements don't quite have the sway to me that they apparently do to you.  I think this has potentially something to do with your introduction into gaming happening alongside achievements being a thing and mine happening way before achievements.

That being said, I have on multiple occasions had regular competitive games ruined by someone (who unfortunately sounds 15) demanding everyone cooperate with him to get a certain achievement and then RUINING THE GAME.  So as long you play your little 'game within a game' without messing other people trying to play the primary game up, that's cool. 
So things that upset me:
not playing the first game in attempt to get achievements
complaining when people playing the game get in the way of your achievements
begging people to help

You manage to steer clear of those things- its all good and we can coexist.

I met up with a few cool dudes to boost for NBA 2K11 achievements a while ago. I support boosting. There's nothing wrong with it.

I remember when I used to care about achievements.....a dark time.

 if you are going to boost do it in a private match "

The first thing I did when I got a 360 was to turn off notifications. Achivements are for babymen

It's the non-participation that has always bothered me about boosting.  It degrades the experience of people actually trying to play the game mode.  My friends and I have lost matches of Domination in MW2 because somebody on our team sat in a corner and let their buddy shoot them in the head twenty-five times in a row so they could nuke us. How is that loophole fair play? I found two medics in Bad Company 2 running out of bounds and rezzing each other to boost their XP.  They could have been out in the field helping us. The same goes for exploits too. They aren't built into the game, it's an oversight because of the complexities of making a video game. It's incredibly frustrating to know one side of a map is essentially closed off to you because someone has cliipped their way into some geometry so you can't see them.

I understand how horrible Xbox live can be and your want of a community of like minded gamers does strike a cord with me.  The only aspect of Homefront I like was the "auto-mute everyone" option which should tell you what I think of pubbies, but please, I have my own community too.  We like to play the game modes and boosting makes the experience worse for us. 

If you keep this to private lobbies and don't ruin anyone elses experience, fine, I have no problem with that. But if you do this in public games, remember, the object of the game is NOT to have fun.  You're supposed to have fun while completing the object.        

I don't care if people Boost in matches that aren't filled with people who are actually trying to play the game. But, for instance in Call of Duty, if I see a teammate of mine boosting in a corner of the level with a guy on the other team, I go out of my way to mess it up for them. Nuke boosters helped ruin MW2 for me.

" I'm not a huge fan of online achievements, especially in games that I don't really care for the online modes in, so usually I'll boost those just to get them out of the way. Like the Versus achievements in RE5. I didn't want to play that game long enough online to get ANY of those normally. "

" I don't care if people Boost in matches that aren't filled with people who are actually trying to play the game. But, for instance in Call of Duty, if I see a teammate of mine boosting in a corner of the level with a guy on the other team, I go out of my way to mess it up for them. Nuke boosters helped ruin MW2 for me. "

To be clear, I consider boosting to be setting up a private match for the express purpose of whoring Achievements. The fun of one should never take away from the fun of many (in the case of the corner-huddling medics in a public match).

To mfpantst, my introduction to gaming came far from alongside the emergence of Achievements. My first gaming experience was with the Coleco Telstar in 1977, and my first console was Mattel Electronics' Intellivision (a machine that still has a welcome place in my collection). I think my interest in Achievements is more deeply rooted to my complete immersion in games from a young age right through my professional adult life. And my data addiction.