Poll: Achievements and Trophies. Do you even care?

[IrateDonnie]

I like achievements, I wouldn't have had half as much fun playing some games if I wasn't trying to get an odd achievement. "Freerunner" from Crackdown comes to mind or the gnome achievement from HL ep2. I don't like games that pretty much give you achievements,I don't feel like it's an achievement to beat the first level of any game. I don't like games that make you invest massive amounts of time either for achievements(EDF anyone?)

 

[The_Waspman]

I really shouldn't like them, considering the amount of extra hours I've poured into some of them beyond real enjoyment (I'm looking at YOU, treasure hunter in FF 13!), but I am a total trophy whore.

Like others have said, some trophies I think are good for the challenge, and I have quite a few plats because I've gone after the trophy for hardest difficulty, which I wouldn't do otherwise. I think about games like Bayonetta where the complete trophy set does feel like a genuine achievement, but then I've also slummed it with games just for easy plats (Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands springs to mind, though that is quite fun - but platted it in 2 days).

So yeah. I also like some of the really weird achievements that are just thrown in. In kingdoms of Amalur for example, theres that trophy for...

Spoiler

Speaking to someone whilst not wearing any clothes - which is actually the first trophy I got in the game (shamefully)

What I don't like is that sometimes (oftentimes) they can kinda suck the fun out of a game, such as when they become the only reason to play a game. I would like to go back to a time when not every single game had them, because some trophy sets/acheivement lists are really obviously thrown in with no thought put into them.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I like achievements that are actually worth getting. Something like in GTA 'On a motorbike fall at least 1000 ft before landing on someone'. The ones like 'Complete a part of the game you were going to do anyway' suck.

 

[RevRaptor]

Really couldn't care less, I've got the odd achievement or two that actually has earned me something. sometimes they unlock avatar gear or in game items but if it doesn't get me anything buy unlocking it, then why should I try.
Pointless points are pointless.

 

[PatrickXD]

I'm not bothered by gamerscore, it's more a judge of how many games you have played as opposed to skill in such games.
I do like achievements though. With little harm to the game, they provide an incentive to explore everything the game has to offer.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

I kind of use them as a "hm, I haven't tried THAT yet" barometer. Usually for things like playing on a higher difficulty or doing a quest I never bothered to do or maybe using an ally I never bothered to try out.

 

[skyojedi]

Not a fan of achievements at all. As some have already mentioned, they have taken away cool options we used to have, like cheat codes/devices, and they've forced our saves to be locked.

I also find "bragging rights" to be one of the single lamest, emptiest reasons for anything. Why must people be so obsessed with stroking their egos and inflicting them on others?

From my perspective, achievements are basically the developer flipping me the bird because I'm not ego-obsessed or OCD. I play games for simple enjoyment, and to meet interesting characters and experience an interesting story. Once I've beaten a game, I don't replay it until I have forgotten the details of the story so I can experience it again, so achievements don't add any replay 'inspiration' for me at all.

On the other hand, I do understand that there are many people who like them. I just wish developers could find a way to implement them for those who do like them without punishing and taking away things from those of us who don't. If they could do that, then I would have no complaints about achievements.

 

[FinalFreak16]

I used to. I liked the idea of using them as a sort of all-games, world-spanning high score board. Then I realized that adding in achievements took away cheat codes and, it seems, split screen. I would much rather have kept the cheats and while I know split-screen is still around, it isn't nearly as prominent as it used to be. When you do try playing split-screen it almost seems like you get punished for doing so, same with the cheats.

Xbox Live Gamerscore and its achievement system inparticular has been compared to the likes of an MMO in the way it works. Collecting achievements is like a meta-game that everyone is playing. The Gamerscore itself is simply the high-score table of which to compare each others progress.

Obviously this is an opinion/theory some people have made but I think, what with the social aspects of the system, that there is definitily some validity to it.

 

[Roofstone]

I am not gonna vote the poll sadly. As you only have the extremes, in truth I don't care about getting all of it. But I am quite fond of achievements as a little reminder that "Yes, you did quite well there.".

 

[FinalFreak16]

Really couldn't care less, I've got the odd achievement or two that actually has earned me something. sometimes they unlock avatar gear or in game items but if it doesn't get me anything buy unlocking it, then why should I try.
Pointless points are pointless.

I remember explaining to a lecturer at my campus what Achievement systems actually were (he hadn't touched video games for years) and after discussing it with him he couldnt understand why players were not awarded actual tangible benifits for collecting Achievements.

Interestingly he made the comment that the Achievement system sounded similar in some ways to a store loyalty program which offers rewards for continued use. Surely players should be rewarded some kind of discount on their next purchase for having reached 10,000 Gamerscore?

We as Gamers understand that these systems can be hacked or abused fairly easily but I think it brings up a valid point.

 

[JSDodd]

I'm not a huge fan of the achievements you get over the course of normal play. I do quite like the achievements you get for changing your playstyle, (i.e. 5* Boss fight achievements in FF13-2 or pacificist achievements in stealth games) it helps keep things fresh in my opinion.

 

[lord.jeff]

I tend to never look at trophies or in the case of Skyrim several hours into gameplay but I do like them they can add an extra few hours to a game that I enjoy, I don't care much about the high score aspect of it just the extra challenge. My favorite type of achievements are ones that ask for a unique challenge, one of my favorites was from Brutal Legend, I can't remember the name but it asked you to ride a Razor Boar(the hardest animal to control in the game) from one end of the map to the other, it was a fun challenge that I wouldn't have thought of trying myself.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

They're fun little extras that can extend a game's life. The problem is when they're taken too seriously. For example on GFWL, saves are encrypted to prevent achievement hacking. This means that a new computer or a new OS means you've lost your saves all because MS seems to think that gamerscore is the most important thing in the world.

 

[suitepee7]

i won't repeat what i said, because i already clicked enter and didn't copy/paste. i wrote a fair bit in the comments section about how certain types of achievements are good/bad. hope it helps.

in short, i like the majority because it can provide you with an incentive to get the most out of your game by playing it in different ways.

 

[Radoh]

Kinda iffy on the subject.
For one, they provide absolutely nothing to the gameplay, but they can help to make the experience enriched.
Good evidence of this is when I get the challenge in the questlog for Fallout: NV 'Talk about getting owned' where I need to kill Benny with his own gun. Poetic justice staring down a barrel. The XP boost was all around next to worthless, but the feeling was wonderful.
Screw you, Benny, I don't like you.

 

[Epona]

I only care if they provide tangible benefits, like the achievements in Mass Effect or Fallout: NV.

Can you detail what these particular benefits were? Was is specific to that particular game or was it a certain type of achievement? Thanks!

I can't remember the exact details, but it went something like, kill 600 enemies with X weapon, recieve permanent +5% damage with X weapon.
Ah, I just found a Mass Effect wikia:
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Achievements

Since Achievements are permanent and not repeatable, how would that work on subsequent playthoughs.

The bonuses are account-wide (or install-wide on PC) - so any bonuses earned through achievements apply to all your characters.

So once the achievement is gained and you start a new game, you get the bonus from the beginning? Can it be turned off?

 

[Hezz]

I'll add that achievements should be an addition to the game, not an afterthought. As people have said there's too many cases where developers just make their game then slap on some "Kill this boss" or "Complete this level" achievements because they feel obligated to do so. It's ok to have SOME of them, but at least keep the ratio of obligatory achievements and good, thoughtful achievements at a 1:1 ratio, at least.

The BEST achievements are ones where the devs put some thought into it, whether it be weird gimmicks you could do or outright challenges. HL2 and WoW have some fine examples, though obviously they also both have the obligatory "Complete Ravenholm" and "Reach Level 85" achievements. Trying to throw Dog's ball into the hoop with the Gravity Gun in HL2 is an example of a weird gimmick achievement, and "Keep off the sand" for a challenge.

In WoW, you had things like /love various critters for one achievement, or achievements to kill a boss while doing something weird and tricky or just outright stupid. Such as getting Svala Sorrowgrave to kill an abomination with her sacrifice. Abominations aren't even a part of the boss fight, you literally have to go and pull one of the nearby Abominations, weaken it to about 10% health without killing it, then cause Svala to start her Sacrifice attack, and lure the Abomination underneath the sword and let it sit there until it hits and kills it.

THOSE are the kinds of achievements that I love most. They basically either challenge you, whether it be platforming skills like stay off the sand, or a gear / tactic challenge like you see in WoW, and often make you think outside of the box.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

I like achivment points if nothing else because its like a high score that carries across all my games. achivments also give me an incentive (how ever arbitrary) to some times attempt a challening game mode or play in a way i normally would never would, extending the play life of a game in the process. The best part is that its completly optional so you don't have to worry about it if you don't want to.

I will say i do like the idea though of games like Mass Effect where your achivments unlock in game bonuses like damage or experince bonuses but i understand why it isn't done more offten.

 

[verdant monkai]

My Xbox gamer score is over 3000 or something, I get no satisfaction from it, it just makes me wish I had spent more tome outside. It isn't like I hunted those achievements all down I got them mainly from playing through the story mode of a game once.

When you get an achievement you do get a little buzz, but at the end of the day they are completely pointless, I find the people who do complex and long boring procedures to get achievements sad because they are essentially merely wasting their time.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Heh I love getting them, getting all of the Skyrim ones felt so good.