Achievements have ruined my gaming.

[dukethepcdr]

I also play Xbox 360 games, but I pretty much ignore the achievements. If I get one, that's just fine. I don't go out of my way to try to get them though. I somewhat agree with you that they "ruin" the games in that they sometimes take away from the immersivenes of the experience. When you are playing a game where you are supposed to "become" the main character and inhabit some fantasy/sci fi/ alt. reality world, your suspension of disbelief is nearly knocked out of the sky by those little icons that pop up to let you know you've gotten some weird "achievement" or other. I also don't like it when the icon pops up to let you know someone on your friend list is now online and playing some other game at those times. It's like someone coming over to you and tapping you on the shoulder to ask you a question or something while you are trying to concentrate on the game.

I suppose those notices are handy when you are hoping some friend will come online so you can invite them to play with you or join a game they are in, but otherwise, it's annoying.

 

[thiosk]

Some achievements i like. others seem forced.
ill use l4d achievements. i mostly game on pc so i only get l4d and mass effect.

i like in l4d that if you whack a hunter with your rifle butt, you get an achievement. its fun when doing random things you get a funny credit for.

i hate that in l4d theres "give 10 pills to 10 people" achievements. now its not a random thing, its something that you have to grind out to get the achievement.

I make these two as examples of things i like and dont like in achievements, not as examples of things you should or shoouldn't do in l4d

 

[hippo24]

Getting a reward while playing a fun game can never be bad no matter how hard said award is...Unless you have "Obsessive Compulsive" tendencies...and are really bad at games....and have no time to play them.

The only exception to this rule is when developers make bad design choices with achievements.

-the most common of these flaws appears in Multi-player games where the achievements are based around kills or doing something unrelated, or independent of the games normal objective. The most recent of these that i can think of is the "Beat the meat Flag achievement in GOW2. This achievement requires YOU specifically to return capture the flag (actually its a person hence the meat part). This may sound decent enough on paper, but what it amounts to is 2 or 3 people on your team doing anything they possibly can to get the flag, and since this game mode is based on team work it quickly becomes a dysfunctional game mode.

to counter the last instance I will give you an example of a good multiplayer achievement. An example of a recent one is in L4D, the achievement "Dead Reckoning" which is based on an infected boss player doing an allotted amount of damage to the opposing team. This achievement forces people to work together, because in order to do any form of damage you must work with your teammates, to defeat the powerful survivor team (you also get points for assisting teammates so that helps as well). This achievement compliments the gameplay nicely, and makes the experience more enjoyable rather then less.

In my opinions the only achievements that should be in a Multiplayer modes, are ones that deal with rank and achieving your teams objectives, everything else distracts from the game.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Only thing I have a problem with is the *blipbloop*, followed by a stupid announcement that won't go away for 5 seconds. It ruined my immersion in quite some games. e.g. in Dead Space, wehere I was hastily cutting off limbs off of aliens so they wouldn't maul me, only to be pulled right out of my fantasy world by the announcement that I killed 50 enemies with the Ripper.

You can turn that off, y'know. The downside is that you don't get any other notifications either, so you won't see when you get messages, but it does keep your solo play pop-up free. (Especially important if you've got a full Friends list, and folks are logging in and out every few minutes.)

-- Steve

 

[MintyFreshBreathGuy]

Personally I try and ignore the achievements but I do hate to walk around a game store and see people talk about how many more achievements they have. Makes me feel like gaming as devolved. Then there's some guy I hate but won't leave me a lone do to the fact he thinks we are friends even when I tell him to shove off, and he says that if you get enough achievements to get a high enough gamerscore thing you get a free game. If this is true try and see the obvious developer trap in this and I'll be give a free game.

 

[Tjebbe]

I love achievements. I don't 'go for them' as I am really not a 100%-done player (who on earth wants to spend their time looking for all those friggin doves in GTA4? I still have several games I haven't even played yet), but it can give people an extended play time should they wish to do more than just finish the storyline of any game.

Now of course there are games that have bad achievements. But there are also games that have great ones.

Just the other day a friend came over to try out The Force Unleashed. He was happily sludging away through the first level when suddenly an achievement pop-up appeared. I explained what achievements were (he has no 360 and is thinking about buying one), and that he apparently succeeded in getting one that I was unable to in my playthrough of the entire game.

It was 'Worst Day-Shift Manager Ever': Kill 12 Stormtroopers as Vader during the Prologue.

Also, it can generate some really nice brag-competition between friends. Did you get the Wax Off achievement in Geometry Wars Evolved2?

 

[roblikestoskate]

If you made an achievement that required 1,000,000 bullets fired then you have a created a game where people will login just to unload full clips of bullets into the air.

Interesting you should say that actually- There is an achieve in TF2 for the heavy that is known as something like "spending spree". You have to fire $1,000,000,000 worth of ammunition without spinning down your barrel. Now, by your reckoning, the heavies would stand in a corner emptying clips. In reality, defensive heavies (known as "PT's" or "portable turrets") lurking near to a dispenser can easily reach this in 1-2 waves of an attack.

Clearly the achievement isn't excessive and set within the limits of expected gameplay meaning that there would be no need for people to grind it out by firing ecessive rounds.

This was the necessary observation that was missing from this discussion.

And there is definitely a distinction to be made in terms of how well an achievement suits a style of game. Some games, like Geometry Wars are so simple that having a few extra goals to reach for is fun.

My favorite achievements are those that force you to isolate and focus on refining particular skills in the game. Surviving X minutes without shooting in Geometry Wars is a good example. It forced me to work on my maneuvering without worrying about firing. This same type of achievement would probably not be as welcome in an online multiplayer game where an achievement may distract from the intended goals of gameplay.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I tend to like achievements, but only the ones that actually have you do something, rather than being about the lack of doing something. For example (I'm lumping Cod4 challenges in), the flawless challenge in Cod4 (not dying an entire match) is bad, because most people sit in a back corner the entire match to get it.

Other ones that are bad are the ones that are basically "collect 50 thingamajigs," as no skill is involved.