Raptr is an online community where you interact with other gamers on the games that you play, as well as other news stories, usually game related. Some of the features that they offer are: a personalized news feed, following games or game developers that you like and getting game updates in your feed, sort of like the Facebook news feed.
Another feature is community-curated content, which means you the gamer, can submit content such as news or pictures from conventions. Raptr also features a game suggestion engine to help you discover new games. You provide your Gamer Tags when you sign up. The site tracks the games that you play, and suggests games based on genre or frequency of play. Along with tracking your games, it will also track your Raptr friends and give you a comparison of the games you both played. It also includes a ranking system based on how many hours you play or how many achievements you get in a game. For games that support it, Raptr provides a ranking, from Newbie to Elite. For those who play on PC’s, they offer a client that gives you in-game chat and web browsing.
What is Raptr Rewards?
Raptr Rewards is an incentive Raptr implemented earlier this year. Basically it gives you rewards for the types of games that you play. For instance, I played Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction which, according to Raptr, I played for thirty four hours. This “achievement” earned me a reward to the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Beta, which sadly I have yet to play, but you get the idea. The more hours you put into a game the better your chances at receiving a reward in the same game category.
For example, one of the rewards they are advertising now is a free copy of the Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft. If you play any games that are similar to Minecraft on XBLA or Minecraft itself on the PC and you receive a dedicated ranking on Raptr, you may win a free copy of the Xbox edition! To top it all off it requires you to do something that you will be doing anyway, PLAYING THE GAME! Unlike Xbox Live Rewards, where you are required to spend money or Microsoft Credits in order to get rewards, with Raptr you receive rewards for doing what you love, playing games.
The Verdict!
So is it worth it? I would say so. Considering the amount of time that gamers put into games that they love to play, this is a great way to get some freebies and enjoy doing it. Everyone loves free stuff. How many times have you entered a contest that was “No purchase necessary” hoping to win the prize pack or new car? Raptr gives gamers what they want: rewards, news and a community to talk with other gamers. They even offer SIGs for you forum junkies, like mine here:
