are achievements overrated?

[GonzoGamer]

They give me a sense of accomplishement and something shiny to look at.
What more could you want?

How about relevant rewards you can actually use in the game. That's what gamers were rewarded with as recently as last generation.

Using gta as an example: gta3 rewarded you with things you could actually use in the game; doing vigilante missions improved your armor and stealing all the cars on the list got you all those cars whenever you wanted. In gta4 doing vigilante missions only gets you an achievement trophy, same with the car collection.

Achievement trophies aren't bad in and of themselves but if I had to choose between them and the in-game rewards of yesteryear, I'll go with the in-game rewards. I might feel differently if the achievement trophies weren't completely worthless.

 

[RandV80]

I could care less about achievements, but rather than dislike them I just recognize it as a demography thing. Personally I don't have the time nor desire anymore to play through games multiple times while tediously tracking down every little thing. For me now with the time I have to play games it's one & done then onto the next one, making achievements pretty pointless. But I can remember being a kid/teenager, and the few years before I finally got myself into college, when I did tediously play through games and probably would've loved achievements. So as far as I'm concerned, the whole achievement system is for kids, teenagers, and maybe college guys, which is a significant portion of the gaming crowd so I can't really complain.

 

[mannaroth]

Hell yes they are! I don't give a shhh damn about them they are pointless.

 

[coldshadow]

I dont like acheavment points (idiots say they are better cause they have more). it would be awsome if they combined the idea of difrent ranked trophies with the points. like gold points, and bronze points.

 

[Broken Orange]

Yes they are overrated, but I am still addicted to them. It is like a game within a game, a meta-game (Is this the right context?). Plus extra kudos for games that have rewards for achievements like mass effect. We need more bonus for achievements, or a least make them say something funny or clever. sorry, can't think of any examples right now.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Well, they give us something to do. I don't hunt them down, but it's still something to do. The only game with "useful" achievements thus far was Mass Effect I think.

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

is it fun to spend hours of work for something, only to let the game tell you "congratulations , you got no life at all! let's reward that with a shiny achievement!"

Isn't that what happens after you beat a game?
"Congratz! You just beat -insert game here-"
Why do you play games then? They don't have a real reward.
.
.

 

[Scibble Shyft]

Achievement unlocked: Discovering the purpose of achievements (sexy bleep-bloop)

 

[Kermi]

They're only overrated because people keep asking if they're overrated. If everyone just accepted the fact they exist and stopped making a big deal out of it, there wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Miles Tormani]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_196/5942-A-Break-in-Immersion#at

Okay, so... the popup showing that you, say, beat a Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus would pull you from the immersion, but a popup saying "Mr. Face wants to play Halo with you"... isn't. Yeah, I'll believe that as soon as it suddenly becomes okay for people to talk on the phone in the movie theater.

(Edit: Before you even think of trying to say that wasn't the point, the article complains about how you can't remove achievement notifications unless you disable all notifications, including those of invites to parties or games. Implying that the achievement popup is bad for immersion, but the so-called phone call isn't.)

Regardless, I find nothing wrong with achievements. Achievement whores are annoying, but it's a nice little incentive to try everything, something in game rewards don't always do. Someone brought up GTA3, but I'll use Vice City as my example. Sure, you get the attack chopper for finding all 100 hidden packages, but you can also just... enter a cheat code. Most games disable achievements the instant you enter something like up up down down left right left right...

 

[Rooster893]

It's all bragging rights. What would we do without bragging rights?

 

[ae86gamer]

They are overrated, but I still try and get all of them. :]

 

[redjarman]

To me, achievements give a game more replayability. Back when I had a Wii, I would get a game, beat it, and sell/trade for a new one. Eventually, I ran out of stuff that I wanted to play. With achievements though, even after I beat a game, there are so many more things for me to go back and do.

 

[squid5580]

Some people like them. Do they affect you personally? Can they not exist even though you don't like them? Is this type of new age thinking not allowed? Seriously it is a big world with alot of people out there. Is it not possible to ignore these types of things that have no impact on you?

 

[Jedamethis]

They give me a sense of accomplishement and something shiny to look at.
What more could you want?

How about relevant rewards you can actually use in the game. That's what gamers were rewarded with as recently as last generation.

Using gta as an example: gta3 rewarded you with things you could actually use in the game; doing vigilante missions improved your armor and stealing all the cars on the list got you all those cars whenever you wanted. In gta4 doing vigilante missions only gets you an achievement trophy, same with the car collection.

Achievement trophies aren't bad in and of themselves but if I had to choose between them and the in-game rewards of yesteryear, I'll go with the in-game rewards. I might feel differently if the achievement trophies weren't completely worthless.

I knew I'd forgotten an important point in there, thanks.

And I can't help but chuckle that Gonzo Gamer has Gone Gonzo!

 

[Satin6T]

man I really don't care,I'm just waitin for nintendo to add achievements to their games

 

[Beatrix]

Yes they are overrated, but also by me. I can't help hunting them.
It's like doing a sidequest that you know won't actually do anything, except friends can see you did these as well. It was a very very good move to introduce them from a marketing perspective.

 

[Hippobatman]

Why do old men buy sports cars? They need penis enlargers.

Same goes for the achievements. They're the e-penis enlargers.

So, hell yes they're necessary.

 

[The Cheezy One]

meh, if they were the specific achievements, maybe, but all the points merge together, and you see someone with about 1,000,000 points and think "what the -"

 

[Chipperz]

I see a couple of people here have never had the satisfaction of walking into a room full of people who know what they're talking about, raising their arms in glorious triumph and yelling "I GOT MILE HIGH!"

Yeah, it's a pretty special feeling. Nothing like proving superiority to friends and loved ones.