Where did the expression "achievement unlocked" come from?

Achievement unlocked originated in computer games and spread to other applications such as Foursquare, via gamification, the process of encouraging ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Wheredidtheexpression"achievementunlocked"comefrom? AskQuestion Asked 8years,2monthsago Active 8years,2monthsago Viewed 15ktimes 5 Whyachievementisunlocked?Achievementisnotalock,doororsafe.Youdon'tgetanythingafterunlocking. Ihaveanassumptionthatitcamefromgaminghistory,word"unlocked"justtransferredfromsecretstoachievementsbysimilarityoftheirconcept.Myhypothesisisbasedonthiswikiarticle.Therewere ...secrets,whichtraditionallyprovidedsomekindofdirectbenefittotheplayer... etymologyverbsexpressionscollocation Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedOct16'13at7:31 RegDwigнt♦ 94.9k3737goldbadges304304silverbadges396396bronzebadges askedOct15'13at17:04 andrybakandrybak 27922goldbadges33silverbadges99bronzebadges 10 1 You'reonlylookingatonedefinitionofunlocking.Itcanalsojustmeanreleasedsuchasin"thecampaignhashelpedusunlockrichreservesoftalentamongouremployees".ThisisthedefinitionIwouldreadtoalongsideachievement. – agweber Oct15'13at17:13 3 Thisquestionappearstobeoff-topicbecauseitisaboutatermspecificallynotedinthesourcetobe"videogamingparlance".Termsofartpeculiartospecificdisciplinesandactivitiesaretomymindoff-topichere. – StoneyBonhiatus Oct15'13at17:15 2 @StoneyBThetermoriginatedingaming,butithasescapedintothewildasgeneralslangroughlymeaning,“Ihavecheckedoffsomethingonmybucketlist”(althoughit'susedmorewhimsicallythanthat). – BraddSzonye Oct16'13at0:08 1 Andrey,thankyouforaskingthisquestion.Themismatchbetweenthenormalusageof"unlock"anditsmeaninginregardtoachievementsconfusedmeforalongtime,andstillbothersme.Itseemstomethateveninvideogames(exceptforachievements),"unlocking"somethingmeansthatitbecomesreadytobeopenedoraccessed.Ialwayswondered,"Ifthesearemyunlockedachievements,whatdoIneedtodonowtoachievethem?Andwhyaretheotherslocked?"Maybemyquestionismorespecificthanyours:whydoesgamingusethewordunlockforachievinganachievement? – LarsH Jul17'14at9:47 1 @LarsHYourcommentimprovesandexpandsmyquestion.ItisexactlytheissuethatItriedtodisclose. – andrybak Jul24'14at16:13  |  Show5morecomments 2Answers 2 Active Oldest Votes 2 AchievementunlockedoriginatedincomputergamesandspreadtootherapplicationssuchasFoursquare,viagamification,theprocessofencouragingparticipationthroughturningsomethingthat'snotagameintoagame(forexample,StackExchangegamifiesaskingandansweringquestionswithreppointsandbadges).Fromthere,itwasusedasonsitessuchasTwittereitherasamockingjokeonwhenachievingsomethingunimportantorfunny,orjustdoingsomethingslightlynoteworthy. Computergames Wikipediasays: Invideogamingparlance,anachievement,alsosometimesknownasatrophy,badge,award,stamp,medalorchallenge,isameta-goaldefinedoutsideofagame'sparameters.Unlikethesystemsofquestsorlevelsthatusuallydefinethegoalsofavideogameandhaveadirecteffectonfurthergameplay,themanagementofachievementsusuallytakesplaceoutsidetheconfinesofthegameenvironmentandarchitecture. ... Someplayerspursuetheunlockingofachievementsasagoalinitself,withoutespeciallyseekingtoenjoythegamethatawardsthem. Xbox360 Thewording"achievementunlocked"wasusedintheXbox360(releasedNovember2005).Here'sexamplesfromearly2006:2nd,10th,17thand21stJanuaryand22ndFebruary.ThelastisonthewebsiteXbox360AchievementswhichliststheachievementsavailableinXbox360games. Foursquare Thelocation-based,socialnetworkingwebsiteFoursquareawardspeoplewith"unlockedbadges"whenyoucheckintoplaces.Forexample,yougettheLocalbadgeforcheckingintothesameplacethreetimesinasingleweek.PeopleoftenposttheseachievementstoTwitter,orrather,they'reautomaticallyposted. Twitter Youcanfind"achievementunlocked"onTwitter,sometimesasahashtag.Somerecentexamples: KleverKevin: Achievementunlocked:NotfallingasleepinMrs.Peterson'sclass ws: Achievementunlocked:Wrote500linesofcodewithoutexecutingitonce. Justranit,works100%. MegaRan: 3songstocompletethisweekandthenI'llhavefinished3EP'sinonemonth.#AchievementUnlocked Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJun15'20at7:40 CommunityBot 1 answeredOct16'13at5:02 HugoHugo 64.9k1717goldbadges193193silverbadges302302bronzebadges Addacomment  |  2 UrbanDictionarysuggeststhattheslangtermoriginatedinthecomedyseries“TheGuild.”Theoriginalsenseisthatyouhavecompletedanotabletaskinavideogame;manygameshaveamechanicof“unlocking”hiddencontentorotherrewards.Theslangtermmerelyappliesthisideametaphoricallytotherealworld,akintocheckingsomethingoffyourbucketlist. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedOct16'13at0:18 answeredOct16'13at0:13 BraddSzonyeBraddSzonye 14.8k66goldbadges3939silverbadges8686bronzebadges Addacomment  |  YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoEnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchange!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. Draftsaved Draftdiscarded Signuporlogin SignupusingGoogle SignupusingFacebook SignupusingEmailandPassword Submit Postasaguest Name Email Required,butnevershown PostYourAnswer Discard Byclicking“PostYourAnswer”,youagreetoourtermsofservice,privacypolicyandcookiepolicy Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedetymologyverbsexpressionscollocationoraskyourownquestion. TheOverflowBlog HowoftendopeopleactuallycopyandpastefromStackOverflow?Nowweknow. 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