Are People Overly Against Achievements?

[BrainWalker]

I was actually not aware that you could turn achievements off. I guess it's because I enjoy them and never saw a reason to look for such an option. I'm really glad it's there, though, for those people who are bothered by them.

I've gotten a lot of chuckles from particularly clever/fun achievements, but I've also seen a lot of really lame progress-based achievements, too. Really, the value of achievements depends on the amount of effort the developers put into them. The achievements in BlazBlue and Shadow Complex are pretty awesome, but many of the ones in Lost Odyssey and Prince of Persia are embarassingly bland.

If I had to find something wrong with achievements, it would be that some people take them WAY too seriously. If you're bitching about a particularly hardcore achievement being too hardcore, you're missing the point. They're a pat on the back for achieving something cool/creative. Nobody ever said they had to, or even should be, easy.

My point is that there really isn't a reason to hate them, because people just do that kind of stuff anyway.

This is pretty much how I look at achievements.

I dunno. I just think that if games are ever to reach the same level of artistic depth as films and books, we need to move past shallow, meaningless rewards for purely arbitrary achievements. And besides, it is pretty distracting whenever that little text box pops up, especially if something particularly emotional is happening on screen. Can you imagine how crap it would be if books and films had little text boxes appearing everywhere.

This is an interesting point that I hadn't really considered before. I mean, in a game like Batman: Arkham Asylum or Castle Crashers, or even Braid or Portal, I don't mind achievements, but I'm not sure how I'd feel about a trophy interrupting the experience of playing something like Heavy Rain.

 

[happysock]

I'm against achievements I just see them as a poin tless venture, I mean I have nothing against people getting them , but like I have said on another thread I have a friend that only plays for achievements, will get as many achievements as he can muster from it then dispose of the game not really caring much for story and gameplay, I'm just like what a waste of money, it's funny as he denies that he is an achievement "whore" and as soon as he starts up a game will flick to the achievement page and start planing how he can go through the campaign mode getting as many achievements in one playthrough.

Sorry about the small rant I just personally feel they ruin games, i'm all for the ones that have to do with main story and the secret ones as you just sort of unlock them without realising.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

I like it, but you know what I really want? For you to spend money on games with Gamerscore. That'd be pretty cool. There'd be an incentive to playing every game, and if you get 1000 out of a 1000 that'd be like getting 60 bucks to spend. And for all the new DLC for that game, that's bonus currency and achievements.

 

[zahr]

Achievements tend to go hand in hand with interfering systems like GFWL and Steam. When I run a game, the game itself damn well better be the only application that starts up. I don't need another program around.

 

[Spaghetti]

I don't really mind achievments that much. There is one thing though that annoys me. Half way through a level it goes *Ping* "Achivment Unlocked: You Have Ooja booja boo". And I'm sitting their thinking "what the microsoft does that mean?!? What did I do?!?"

Also, I tend to have my own list of achivments such as: How many times can you annoy the Metro Cop with the empty can at the beggining of HL2 without aversley affecting gameplay. Hilarious

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

I dunno. I just think that if games are ever to reach the same level of artistic depth as films and books, we need to move past shallow, meaningless rewards for purely arbitrary achievements. And besides, it is pretty distracting whenever that little text box pops up, especially if something particularly emotional is happening on screen. Can you imagine how crap it would be if books and films had little text boxes appearing everywhere.

So, you think that in the future, games should be pretentious?

I dunno, man, I think I like my games to be fun.

 

[KaZZaP]

If they just had an option to hide when you get them all the problems would be solved.

 

[obliterate]

Well I like only some...because achievements in MMOs are just to make you grind and grind and grind

 

[Lekonua]

I like the ones that are challenging, but doable.

"Badass Achievement - Finish the game on Super Hard mode with the weakest weapon available."

Ones you get just for finishing parts of the game irritate me a bit.

"My First Achievement - Finish level 1."

And then there's the ones you get for playing the game for 3 months straight.

"Get A Life - Kill one million billion kazillion enemies!"

 

[theSovietConnection]

I like achievements/trophies, but I do think the little alert window letting you know you've unlocked one should blend with the game you're playing (like an art deco themed window for Bioshock)

 

[Fangface74]

I love achievements for other people's attitudes towards them. It's like a free, built in asshat detector. If your playing online with some strangers, they all seem ok but all of a sudden, one of them mentions an achievement he's got, is trying to get, or can't get. If he mentions achievements more than 3 times in a minute...well, rejecting a friend request never felt so sweet.

 

[ChurchV50]

The Darkness (360, PS3) has a couple of emotional scenes... but the achievements and trophies don't pop up during them.

As for immersion breaking, one could always do something totally nuts like disable notifications...

 

[Ace of Spades]

Achievements (Trophies for me) are nice to have, especially when I unlock one without meaning to, but there should never just be one for each chapter and one for the boss fight, but rather a little reward for doing something cool, skillful, or just plain weird. I once hit a curb at just the right angle in GTA IV to make the slightly battered cop car I was driving break dance by spinning and flipping around the same spot before landing right side up. That's the kind of thing that would be awesome to have an achievement for.

 

[Supreme Unleaded]

I will answer your question with this, and mods, this ISN'T ADVERTISMENT, or atleast I'm not trying to advertise this. but anyway.


That pretty much explains it i think.

 

[MetaKnight19]

I quite like the achievement/trophy thing. I will put a bit of time into getting some of the more tricky ones, but usually I just get the story driven ones or find a secret one by accident.

But with the achievements/trophies come the whores. The people who will spend all day and night trying to get every one of them. I haven't got a problem with that, if they have the time to waste, then good luck to them. For example one of my XBL friends has a friend who has a gamerscore of something like 150,000.

 

[DrDeath3191]

I enjoy some form of recognition of when I do something awesome (like beat the game on Easy. HARDCORE!). I like achievements, but they shouldn't interrupt a cutscene, or worse give out the story when you check the achievement list.