Poll: Achievements, why are they there?!

[Zanaxal]

I seriously don't see what the deal with achievements is. So i want to see what people think of them.

Please elaborate on where they come from and how they affect you.

 

[MellowFellow]

I see them as a challenge to try and achieve after you have beat a game or are just bored and need something to do. Some games don't really need achievements, when they only give you achievements for progressing through the story. Also multiplayer achievements are the ones that can be the most troublesome to get when no one plays a certain game online.

 

[Cabisco]

Because they are FUN! Okay, maybe not for everyon but hell I like having a little badge of honour saying i've completed one of my favorite games on the hardest setting, or just a show of accomplishment. I think they really help games have a longer life, you have something to go and do once you've completed it, for me it gave me a little more insentive to try and do things in an interesting/different way.

 

[hawkeye52]

i see them as a cheap little reward to make people feel all warm and fuzzy inside and keep them playing and so therefore adds nothing to the game experience

 

[Sephychu]

You want 'em, fine. You don't, don't get them.

The fact that it bothers you is far more interesting. Some people like to get them, some people don't care for them. Both sides have good arguments.

 

[Crops]

They're there to add replay value to your games.

Either by forcing you to go back and grind for an achievement so you can show off your gamerscore/trophies/achievement points.
Or -in case you couldn't care less about your score- they give you different ways of playing the game or fun little sidesteps.

For me, it's the second option, I don't really care for points and I usually don't feel like grinding X number of Y just to get an achievement popup. I do like taking a little time to do some of the more creative achievements.

As long as the achievement is fun to do, I'll enjoy it. Once it becomes some arbitrary timesink, I skip it.

 

[zehydra]

They arise from developers getting lazy and thinking, "What else can we throw in the game without actually having to create more content?". They actually became really popular, and it seems like everyone started implementing them since it didn't actually require much effort on the developers part.

 

[Mister Awesome]

as simple as achievments are, they actually give a lot of replay value in a game

 

[WaNNaBJusTLiKeU]

Achievements are fun to do, and provide challenges that you usually wouldn't think about doing in a game, of course the more skilled challenges look more impressive and can now actually be visible evidence that someone has completed something on "insane" mode, rather than just telling you.

 

[Egobrain]

its there to turn my gaming into an insidious thankless job.
I sold my 360 and bought a ps3 not knowing they also had acheivments.
My competitive streak means i take one look at my friends gamer scores and NEED to have the top of those I know. which means getting every acheivement i can. which is tear stained, sweat and blood excruciating effort sometimes.
I got every single ass creed 2 in like 3 days. so i have a platinum award. NONE of my friends have a platinum award and im still 2nd of all my friends. Its driving me nuts.
I hate acheivements. they are ruining games for me. haha

 

[ICortezI]

I just like it when the achievment pops up at the bottom of the screen,that is, as long as it's for something awesome, instead of just beating a chapter. Then I have acknowledgement that I am awesome, and as an egotist I very much enjoy that. (ICortezI is not acually an egotist, this was actually a clever joke that in hind sight wasn't all that clever.)

I also like competing with my friends to see who can get the hardest achievment or who has the most points, it's not all that important, but it's a nice, fun, pointless tack on, which video games are full of, and not all of them are nice or fun, so I think they're alright.

 

[Rakkana]

To give people like us a meaning to live.

 

[Alpha1Niner]

Just like the Pokemon line, Gotta catch them all, I've got to have them all. They are obstacles that I must overcome, so I can get that little badge to say that I did it.

 

[rt052192]

well being the achievement whore that I am it makes me replay games I normally wouldn't(which can be good or bad), it gives me a goal to work towards, it provides new perspectives within the gameplay. On the otherhand, it's a nuisance trying to earn them all, takes away from the gameplay sometimes, and some are just utterly ridiculous(this one is aimed at seriously 2.0!!)

 

[Tharwen]

They work in the same way that animal training does. Without meaning to belittle anyone who actively seeks achievements (and I'm one of them), I simply mean that they appeal to our sense of reward-based motivation and keep us playing for longer while we try to unlock them.

 

[Freedomario]

I'm thinking for bragging rights, and for a challenge in Single-Player games/campains.

 

[Dyme]

Sometimes Achievement can encourage you to try new strategies/ways to play.
Most often they'll enable some kind of progress for you, even after you beat the game.
Achieving stuff makes you feel like you did not waste your time.

 

[Berserker119]

They are there just to inspire threads such as this. Or to give people something to strive for. Either one works.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Personally, I really, really like them. It's like a permanent public record that states "been there, done that, bitches. I'm just that good." Plus, it makes me feel like I actually got something out of beating a game on hard mode, since I'm not the bragging sort, and unnecessary difficulty isn't my cup of tea since I'm generally a content tourist.

Oh, and it gives me an excuse to replay a game I really love multiple times, without feeling like an idiot.