Notch Pondering Achievements for Minecraft

[Tom Goldman]

Notch Pondering Achievements for Minecraft

A future version of Minecraft may include quests in the form of achievements.

Though over one million people [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106890-Minecraft-Sells-1-000-000-Copies-in-Beta] are already enjoying Minecraft, creator Marcus "Notch" Persson and Mojang are still adding the game's final features. In an interview with Gamasutra, Persson said that one of those features could be an achievement system.

The basic idea behind Persson's system would be to try to get players to do more in the world than build stuff [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106510-MineCraft-Player-Destroys-Giant-Monster-With-Lava-and-Chickens]. The achievement system he has in mind would basically send players on quests throughout the world.

"I know a lot of people don't [like achievements], but I like them," Persson said. "I've had the idea to make achievements kind of like the in-game questing. So you'd be able to see the first achievement in a tree of achievements, and you have to unlock the top ones first before you can unlock the ones further down."

These achievements might first be awarded for killing a chicken, chopping down a tree, or mining a material. The end of the tree would be a much larger task, like "killing a dragon," Persson added, which could also be used to provide a form of narrative. For clarification, achievements would require Mojang to run its own servers to prevent cheating.

If the system is added, Persson hopes that players would want to acquire achievements, and not feel forced into them. As described, it sounds like the way achievements work in Lego Universe [http://www.amazon.com/Lego-Universe-Pc/dp/B002I0HL2A], which are basically everywhere in the game and make the world fun to explore. I think we're getting to the point where Minecraft definitely has a lot of potential, but I'd like to start seeing some of these larger features actually implemented. Patience.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/33220/Interview_Markus_Persson_On_Bringing_Achievements_to_Minecraft.php]

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[AndrewC]

I think it seems like an alright idea, if you want them then go for them: and if you don't like achievements then all you have to do is ignore them.

Preferably I'd like to see more substantial content added first, like other npcs and monsters.

 

[qbanknight]

I like the idea better than creating an adventure game. This way, the sandbox nature of the world is retained and people can get around to doing quests when they feel like it

 

[Hungry Donner]

Fall over 100 blocks!

I don't generally follow achievements but I can see how they'd work well in a game like Minecraft.

 

[Woodsey]

I dislike the idea myself.

Whilst you have the option to ignore them, they you're still pulling away from the "point" of the game.

As soon as there's a developer-created objective to be fulfilled you're directing people, even if they can still go off and do whatever.

Also: Why are we still using the shitty Captcha? Apart from the fact that I have nearly 10,000 posts on record, which should make it clear that I'm not about to start spamming, it would at least be nice to have the spam checks that have legible writing.

 

[OniaPL]

If Bulletstorm devs honored Yahtzee with a Flaming tits gun, Notch should add an achievement for building a golden cock.

Edit:

 

[Space Jawa]

I'm not keen on this, personally, especially if it would require the game would then have to be played using dedicated Mojang servers.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I dislike the idea myself.

Whilst you have the option to ignore them, they you're still pulling away from the "point" of the game.

As soon as there's a developer-created objective to be fulfilled you're directing people, even if they can still go off and do whatever.

Also: Why are we still using the shitty Captcha? Apart from the fact that I have nearly 10,000 posts on record, which should make it clear that I'm not about to start spamming, it would at least be nice to have the spam checks that have legible writing.

Yeah I pretty much agree with all this (including the part about the captcha :3)

Achievements are great and I love having them, but for Minecraft unless I had an option to completely disable them from sight then they'd create a kind of pull and that would distract me from doing nothing at all.

 

[Blitzkrieg64]

I thought Minecraft was 100% Dragon-free.

I like the idea, really do. Could add more fun to an already awesome game.

 

[Irridium]

Eh, whatever floats his boat. His game and all.

I just hope there aren't any of those damn grind-heavy achievements. Like "Mine 1000 stone" and crap like that.

 

[Circusfreak]

if there should be quests in form of achievements there should be a source of them. dont have achievements just pop up on the interface. have something of substance that gives you quests rather than just have a window pop up saying "go kill ten spiders" make it a part of this "overarching story" that you keep talking about.

 

[HellspawnCandy]

That may be fun, but I'd rather do them in multiplayer than be alone. But that is if multiplayer decides to ever work again.

 

[TerranReaper]

Inb4 needless citations from Extra Credits. Because I know it will happen.

Anyways, Notch can put in the most useless achievements, such as kill x spiders or swim for x amount of seconds or whatever. You can just ignore if you don't care about them, and frankly, I don't care that much myself. Although I wish Notch would stop going at a snail's pace with updates and bug fixes.

 

[default]

I do love the idea of a non-intrusive quest system, but would there be rewards for doing such? And would they be regular grind-tastic quests like in WoW or Oblivion? Do try to make them interesting, Notch, please!!

 

[josemlopes]

I think that they are becoming a bit sloppy. I watched the documentary about them at Gametrailers and I didnt liked the fact that they only put stuff the they think up. I thought that Minecraft was supposed to be around the endless possibylities of the game and now they are limiting the content because of some ideology.

 

[Nurb]

Notch is going to get a little revolt from the "hardcore" gamers if he does it.

 

[Exile714]

I started playing Minecraft and it sucked the time out of my life. Seriously, I started playing at 9PM and only ended when I realized it was 4AM...

Then I got sick of always fighting monsters and losing stuff, so I contemplated quitting. Instead, I turned off monsters and kept having a good time.

Then I got sick of searching for things in the underground instead of building, so I contemplated quitting. Then I realized you could cheat and copy things instead of mining for them. I made a ton of TNT and had a blast destroying my buildings, then reverting to an older save and making more cool stuff.

Then I got bored again. I stopped cheating with cloned stuff and started playing with monsters. I got bored in less than an hour. So I quit.

Achievements won't bring me back to this game. Once you get to that point, the point of being done with the game, then nothing can bring you back.

And then I got an idea for an underwater glass tunnel... hmmmmmmm

(Captcha: surearRi Book)

 

[TheGhostOfSin]

Inb4 needless citations from Extra Credits. Because I know it will happen.

Anyways, Notch can put in the most useless achievements, such as kill x spiders or swim for x amount of seconds or whatever. You can just ignore if you don't care about them, and frankly, I don't care that much myself. Although I wish Notch would stop going at a snail's pace with updates and bug fixes.

Yup, Multiple updates a month since May 09. Snails pace indeed...