Over the years, Halo has evolved. With each passing title, new things have been introduced into the sires. Sandbox and mechanics aside, the addition of a ranking system in Halo 2, unlock-able armor and achievements in Halo 3, commendations in Reach, and unlock-able weapons, weapon skins, loadouts, and a huge amount of un-lockable's through the completion of commendations. Unlocking new things is a lot of fun, and it rewards players that play the game on a regular basis. Some item require a higher level of skill to unlock, so the more skilled players can distinguish themselves above those of lesser skill. It's great to be able to unlock things that distinguish yourself as a skilled, or experienced player based on your play-style. Or if you simply like a specific appearance. But when the things you unlock change the way the game plays (specializations), a whole new breed of player is borne. When there are game-altering (anything that changes the way the game is played in any way, shape, or form, is game-altering) tools and or weapons that require you to unlock in order to use on the battlefield, people will naturally focus their attention on unlocking them to gain an advantage any way they can. Understandable. But at that point, why are you playing the game? To have fun? Or to unlock the next tool? I agree it's both fun and rewarding to have the advantage, but when you encounter someone with better tools because he unlocked them first, you are at the disadvantage. Now, if you can find a way to defeat that player, kudos to you. But I'm pretty sure you would be slightly irritated if you loose because the other player had an advantage you had no control over. So you will keep playing to get every advantage you can so this won't happen. But at the end of the day, if you didn't have things to unlock, would you still play? If you were on a level playing field with every player out there, and the only thing that makes you different, is your name, and how you perform on the field, would you still play Halo? I know many players wouldn't, because after all, if you can't unlock any more cool stuff, why play? I guess the real question is, do you enjoy the game enough to play it just because it's fun? So many players these days only play to unlock the next rank, or the next cool looking piece of armor, or the next tool to give them an advantage so they can unlock stuff faster. And when they have it all, they enjoy it for a while, but it becomes old because they aren't getting anything new, and defeating the average player becomes a simple repetitive task aided by the things that were unlocked. If the game is going in a specific direction, you can simply select the tool that gives you an advantage in that area. Now, ask yourself, what did people play the older Halos for if there weren't things to unlock? Well that's simple, people played for fun. You didn't have all the raging people that had to get so many kills to get the next piece of armor, or weapon skin, or what ever. You simply had players that enjoyed playing the game. And because the only people that played the game, were playing for enjoyment, all kinds of great things came of it. People always ask me why I liked Halo: CE and Halo 2 so much. It wasn't because of the sandbox, it wasn't because of the maps (entirely, I loved Halo 2's maps!), it was because of the community. People played together because it was fun. And I really miss those times. Over the last 11 years, the reason we play Halo has changed a lot. Improvements have been made to the game, but the fan-base has been fractured. Just taking a quick peek at the forums will tell you that. Thousands of people arguing over armor, maps, weapons, bloom, AAs, everything. For competition, balance is needed, and of course, everyone has their opinion of what balance should be. But in the end, how many people don't care about winning? Or unlocking armor? Or achievements? Very few. Unfortunately, I have become one of those players who play just to unlock cool stuff, and that is the only reason I keep coming back. The truth is, I don't enjoy simply playing the game... Do you? I think because of this very thing, the reason we play games hasn't been getting better. Sure, the graphics of the games are more detailed. They may play more smoothly. They may have more and more toys, but the games wouldn't mean one thing without the players. And the reason for playing the games has turned from recreation. I personally don't care what game I play, I just enjoy playing with friends, and that is the whole reason I liked Halo so much, because people played for fun, because there wasn't anything to unlock. But as people keep getting consumed in unlocking new things, and all of the goals in the game, they don't want to play custom games because they don't get enough XP, even if they like playing custom games better. The games haven't changed nearly as much as the community, but the games can change the community, and they have.