Poll: Achievements, why are they there?!

[JPH330]

You know how a lot of games throughout the past, even back to the SNES, have had percentages next to each save file to show you how much of the game you've completed? Well, achievements are like that, except all your percentages for all your games are linked to one account that you can use to compare with other people's accounts. If you don't care for that sort of thing, just don't bother.

But there's no need to get irritated by the people who do care about it. That would be like someone saying "Why do you play video games?! I don't see the point, they don't do anything for you or mean anything!" It's for its own sake.

 

[migo]

How come you don't actually have a poll?

Easy reason is Microsoft saw it as an easy, zero cost way of making the 360 more appealing, so they included it.

 

[Tenkage]

I like Achievements to make people see my Resume of games, I mean it is forever within me. I can also use them to see what kind of gamer a person is as well.

What I do like is trying to see if I can get that really though achievement or that fun one that I really got to think about. I think its like getting a Trophy for any sporting event. yeah like that

 

[scnj]

I completed Red Dead Redemption to 100%, then lost the saved game. The achievement is still there as a record that I did it. Before, I'd have had to do it again to show people, whereas now I have irrefutable proof. That's the point of achievements.

 

[Flying-Emu]

I find them amusing, especially the joke ones. Like TF2's "Consolation Prize: Get Backstabbed 5 times by Enemy Spies"

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

I really don't get this complaint. I'm sorry, but last time I checked, games that don't have achievements are not any more rewarding then games that have them. People who ask "What's the point of getting achievements?" might as well ask "Why play the game at all?" Seriously. People say that achievements offer no tangible reward, well....What tangible reward do you get for just playing the game?

OK, so maybe you don't care about your gamerscore, and that would make sense. It's pretty goddamn worthless. But at the very least, achievements don't take away from the experience, and are no more pointless then the games themselves, so what's the point of complaining about them?

 

[The Warden]

To let you know you did a good job
OR
For the sake of extra challange.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

I really don't give a shit about achievements unless its something I know I can get without spending dozens of hours. I will try to find all the audio logs in the game for an achievement, but I'm not going to go find all the orbs in a open world game like Prototype or Crackdown. I have no patience for that.

They are there for people who want to have 100% completion with a game, to lengthen a game for people who only buy one or two games at a time, to give people a challenge. They are pretty much useless, but they are made with good intention.

 

[LWS666]

i try for them because i feel warm inside when i get a reward.

don't like em? then don't go out of your way. you have to admit it IS rewarding to hunt down all those pigeons, all those stunt jumps and do all missions to get that 100G achievement.