Origin of the Score
Beating a high score is one of the oldest objectives in videogames. In fact, it’s the oldest objective. Whether it’s Pong and Space Invaders or more recent score-chasers like Geometry Wars and Pac-Man Championship Edition, hunting after an elusive and often exorbitantly high number that represents one’s performance, ability, and general gaming-worth is a concept that is both timeless and extremely addicting.
With that said, high-score games have in recent times come to represent a bygone era. Games where you go after high scores are usually smaller, or more casual. Maybe they’re found more commonly on phones and tablets. And even when they are hardcore, brutally challenging gaming encounters, they’re usually not the latest blockbuster; they’re just souped up Pac-Man. Like it or not, immersion and score-shattering seem to grow further apart with each passing day.
It makes sense as a general idea – I can’t really imagine anything that would pull me out of, say, Red Dead Redemption more than than a big glowing number at the top of the screen. “You pickpocketed that shop owner, good job! Ten points!” At the same time, the game does streamline this into a more logical system – depending on how good or evil you are, your public reputation adjusts accordingly. Though only a few degrees away from a regular score system, it’s not the same thing in the purest sense. That’s isn’t necessarily bad, either – it’s just the way things are.
