Let's talk about achievements!

[Jonathan Wingo]

As the title says: Let's talk about achievements! Specifically what's wrong with them.

So I'm getting frustrated because I can't pry my friend away from borderlands, who she's beaten but hasn't gotten all achievements for, so that she can play some other games because she only discovered the wide world of gaming recently. I have a level of respect for the desire to fully complete something, but most of these achievements you get in games are so pointless.

Getting them only lets you brag to your friends that you wasted your life on a few video games. They don't enhance your experience in the least bit and keep you sitting there on you ass playing the same game over and over until you can say "Well, I've finished this game completely and there is finally nothing left for me to do."

Now, there's nothing wrong with giving a game replay value, but when the only replay value is a higher gamer score, that's just pointless. Sure, you can rub it in the faces of all of your friends; who prefer to just play games for the game part alone; that you have a higher gamerscore than them, but that doesn't say you're any better, it just says you spent more time playing one game, while your friends were off playing a plethora of other games.

So what do you, the escapist community, think could be done to satisfy the achievement hoarders without wasting their lives with one game.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

No offense but maybe she enjoys playing it? Once she gets bored with it she will move on to something else.

I'm not being nasty but you're being kind of controlling towards her.

As for achivements they are kind of a fun thing that can give alot more lifetime to a game than it otherwise has. It's kind of sad to just do it for more gamerscore but for a game that you enjoy it can be a good laugh to try and get them.

Perhaps ask her if you can play something else when you spend time together then when she has time to herself she can go achivement hunting?

 

[Danceofmasks]

It's the difference between playing a game, and "gotta catch 'em all."

As soon as it tips over from being fun, to feeling like work .. well .. actually .. you can get more achievement points by picking up the next game.

So there's nothing wrong with achievements, yo.

 

[Jonathan Wingo]

I might be a little bit controlling, but she really is obsessed. It's kind of like how I was when I played World of Warcraft... I refused to play anything but that, even when I was so angry I wanted to smash my expensive keyboard.

I suppose the achievements can be a kind of fun thing and give it longer life, but so many of them just seem so pointless and only keep you doing repetitive things over and over to get them, rather than giving you a reward for something outstanding you did. Well, their either long repetitive grinds, or just your typical "Hooray, you beat Level 1!"

 

[Jonathan Wingo]

It's the difference between playing a game, and "gotta catch 'em all."

As soon as it tips over from being fun, to feeling like work .. well .. actually .. you can get more achievement points by picking up the next game.

So there's nothing wrong with achievements, yo.

That's all well and good, but when it gets to the point that you feel like you can't play any other game until you've gotten every achievement in one game. That just gets to me...

 

[Danceofmasks]

"You get 20 points for this one, and you're taking an hour to do it? You could have 400 more points if you play a different game, by now."

 

[MercurySteam]

There's nothing wrong with them it just depends on how much they achievement hoarder wants them. And I gave up on getting all of Borderlands' achievements ahwile ago.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

As a dedicated achievement hoarder my advice is to stop bothering your friend and let her enjoy Borderlands as long as she wants to.

Does she enjoy what she's doing? She'd stop if she didn't.

 

[TheSaw]

Well done, OP. You got an achievement! But anyway, I just say leave your friend to get her achievements, it's harmless fun. If she's really obsessed, she'll get all the achievements soon.

 

[ScoopMeister]

Just because you think that they can be pointless, doesn't mean that others do to. Maybe she genuinely feels that collecting all the achievements will enhance her gaming experience, and who are you to deny her that?

Maybe you can convince her to play other games with you for a bit, and then she can go back to Borderlands later.

 

[Death God]

As an achievement-hog myself I can say that even I myself, don't know why I want to collect them. I see something I can get by preforming a an action and I must do it to say I did it.

 

[Jonathan Wingo]

Eh... Maybe I am being a bit too hard, it just seems frustrating to be dealing with someone who completely ignores so many games just so the achievement page is completely cleared.

 

[Inkidu]

Their are good achievements and bad ones, Borderlands had a few bad, tedious ones, but it was geared more toward multiplayer so salt it as needed. I think Batman: Arkham Asylum had a good set, and Dead Space 1 did too. Dead Space 2's hardcore mode can go jump in an oven.

 

[Skops]

"You get 20 points for this one, and you're taking an hour to do it? You could have 400 more points if you play a different game, by now."

Sometimes, in my case anyway, it's not about the achievement being 10,20,30 GS (Bronze/Silver/Gold trophies) it's about overall 'completion'. You could say to me "dude you could have like 10 more trophies bronze silver and gold" and I'd just look at you and say "Sure, but it's not helping me 100% this game."

EDIT: I would show you a checklist from my trophy card, but apperently I can't do that now at PS3trophies.org anymore. lame.

 

[Danceofmasks]

"You get 20 points for this one, and you're taking an hour to do it? You could have 400 more points if you play a different game, by now."

Sometimes, in my case anyway, it's not about the achievement being 10,20,30 GS (Bronze/Silver/Gold trophies) it's about overall 'completion'. You could say to me "dude you could have like 10 more trophies bronze silver and gold" and I'd just look at you and say "Sure, but it's not helping me 100% this game."

EDIT: I would show you a checklist from my trophy card, but apperently I can't do that now at PS3trophies.org anymore. lame.

Well, the question here is, why?
Why do you have to 100% a game? Does it actually give you something?
Would be nice if getting 100% in a game gets you a 5% discount on sequels or something.

Personally, I don't bother with 'cheevos at all, 'cos I'm confident in the fact that I'm one of the most highly skilled gamers on the planet ... and while there's a point to stuff like the point system in street fighter or starcraft helping me find opponents, but by and large they're just annoying popups.

 

[austin9993]

Eh... Maybe I am being a bit too hard, it just seems frustrating to be dealing with someone who completely ignores so many games just so the achievement page is completely cleared.

You are trying too hard. If getting achievements in that game is so important, than let her go nuts. Either one of two things are going to inevitably happen: She gets every achievement or she burns herself out of it.
The only thing that matters is that she's having fun, not whether or not you approve of her gaming habits. If this were the case, what's the point of playing games? Aren't they just a waste of time anyway? Who is anybody to say that she's wasting her time wrong, or anybody for that matter?

 

[frjiolefrito]

Okay NOTHING you do in a video game means anything. So why nock someone enjoying a game well past the alloted time expected for it. If you can play one game forever and love it... winnning?

 

[Jonathan Wingo]

Well, the question here is, why?
Why do you have to 100% a game? Does it actually give you something?
Would be nice if getting 100% in a game gets you a 5% discount on sequels or something.

Personally, I don't bother with 'cheevos at all, 'cos I'm confident in the fact that I'm one of the most highly skilled gamers on the planet ... and while there's a point to stuff like the point system in street fighter or starcraft helping me find opponents, but by and large they're just annoying popups.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[Skops]

"You get 20 points for this one, and you're taking an hour to do it? You could have 400 more points if you play a different game, by now."

Sometimes, in my case anyway, it's not about the achievement being 10,20,30 GS (Bronze/Silver/Gold trophies) it's about overall 'completion'. You could say to me "dude you could have like 10 more trophies bronze silver and gold" and I'd just look at you and say "Sure, but it's not helping me 100% this game."

EDIT: I would show you a checklist from my trophy card, but apperently I can't do that now at PS3trophies.org anymore. lame.

Well, the question here is, why?
Why do you have to 100% a game? Does it actually give you something?
Would be nice if getting 100% in a game gets you a 5% discount on sequels or something.

Personally, I don't bother with 'cheevos at all, 'cos I'm confident in the fact that I'm one of the most highly skilled gamers on the planet ... and while there's a point to stuff like the point system in street fighter or starcraft helping me find opponents, but by and large they're just annoying popups.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.. Perfectionism.. Call it what you will, it's like that for me. I like having things completed 100%.