Achievments... why?

[ethaninja]

So, when achievments first came out I was like, what are these? Oh you do a certain amount of something and you get a nice little message. Now they are some HUGE hype thing.

Apparently they are huge especially in the console world, but I'm just not seeing what the big deal is?

Am I missing something? Or is it simply just a good feeling you get when you see those nice little messages?

 

[Armored Prayer]

Why not?

Achievements gives players a sense of accomplishment and they make games more repayable.

 

[OneBig Man]

They pretty much were made to give games replay value. What is a better way for a company to keep you playing their game then making you do tedious tasks to make your number bigger than your friends?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Because they're better than bragging rights. They're bragging rights with clearly visibly proof.

 

[Best of the 3]

Yeah, to me it's basicly that nice feeling you get if you do one that was particularly challenging. Also I think that they are ok as they can help you to get as much fun out of a game by challenging you to do certain things that you would not normally do. Good for playing the game when you think that you have done everything in it. Not saying that games should rely on achievements to make it longer though.

 

[GBlair88]

Replay value/sense of accomplishment/epeen extension. That is all.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

They give you a good feeling.

They give you additional challenges and incentive to play your games.

That's all I ever need them to be.

 

[Krantos]

It the case of gamer waving their e-pe.... um, junk around. If you think about it, this sort of thing exists pretty much everywhere. Sports people compete over who can have the most rushing yards or free throws, etc. Table-top gamers talk about what level their character is at. It goes on.

You also have to remember that this sort of benchmarking has been around since the days of arcades. High score lists anyone. The difference is that many people don't play the same games so a (supposedly) standardized method for measuring accomplishments (syn - achievements) was developed.

Personally, I don't care about them. I think some of them are kind of fun, and the devs use them to get a lot of references in (Like all of Borderlands Monty Python references). Mostly, I don't think about them, and people who are obsessed with them kind of annoy me (some of my friends, tbh), but I understand why they exist.

 

[DaDrum]

adds a lot of replayability for the completionists out there

why they seem to hold some kind of prestige, would be the community's fault

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

Its a nice little metagame that gives you additional goals to achieve, and can even make the game last longer. Obviously there not for everyone, but they're a dream for completionists.

 

[twistedheat15]

It makes your online penis massive and that's all that matters. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF MY PENIS!!

 

[Spinozaad]

Instead of giving you extra, real replayability, developers play into the human desire to hoard irrelevant things.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

So, when achievments first came out I was like, what are these? Oh you do a certain amount of something and you get a nice little message. Now they are some HUGE hype thing.

Apparently they are huge especially in the console world, but I'm just not seeing what the big deal is?

Am I missing something? Or is it simply just a good feeling you get when you see those nice little messages?

It's a sense of ego stroke "Hey look, I killed twenty enemies with a pistol and only five bullets!" It gives you a sense of accomplishment and also shows you how far people have gotten in games.

 

[darthzew]

I actually was surprised by achievements. I didn't care about them much when they came out, but as I played games, I found myself wanting them. For instance, I probably never would have tried to beat Bioshock on hard without Vita-Chambers if it wasn't for the "Brass Balls" achievement.

Or I would never try to do Mile High Club in CoD4 on Expert without the achievement involved. Never did get that one, though.

 

[Estocavio]

adds a lot of replayability for the completionists out there

why they seem to hold some kind of prestige, would be the community's fault

Basically, this.
Its also for the people who assume that the first thing you do when you meet someone (Or someone meets them for they are idols of high score and win, obviously) is check their achievements, and marvel over them for hours on end.

They may be fewer than the completionists, but they exist.

 

[Woodsey]

They add replayability, but they're considered way too important for what they actually are.

The fact that achievement lists are released before the games are and can give away some pretty big spoilers is hugely annoying.

 

[freedomweasel]

Most games no longer have "score" so you can't get the high score. Achievements/trophies replaced that.

 

[Danzaivar]

We all play games for the psychological feeling that we achieved something. This just quanitifies that and let's you show it to other people.

Other people don't really care, but that's by the by.