It had to happen sooner or later. As of last night, Ray Cox IV, also known as Stallion83 on Xbox Live, became the certified Guardian Spirit of Achievements after hitting exactly 1,000,000 points worth of Gamerscore. People watched it happen live on Twitch, bearing witness to the realization of a goal Cox set for himself eight years ago. And while I'm in awe of his personal achievement, I'm fascinated by what kind of existential crisis Cox could be going through right now.
Unless, that is, Cox devotes even more of his life to staying ahead in the struggle for Gamerscore dominance--user smrnov is hot on his heels with 938,395 points. This would be, objectively, a most depressing waste of a human existence. Where does one stop? Two million Gamerscore? Fifty million? One billion? In that instance, Cox would've sold his soul to the Xbox brand, forced to unendingly dedicate himself to Xbox consoles and games until the day he died a sad, unfulfilled death.
I'm excited to see what's next for the Stallion83 account, because it feels like anything can happen. Cox--and the very concept of Gamerscore that he now stands for--can either ride proudly into the sunset that is retirement, or stagger on like a slave to an all-but-meaningless number. Or perhaps Cox will achieve Internet fame, his Achievement achievement commemorated and his account immortalized through some kind of promotion. When most people take eight years to do something, they have a Master's Degree or a PhD and a stable future to show for it. At the moment, Cox's path forward following his eight year ordeal is enthrallingly unclear.
