Nintendo Belittles Achievements As "Mythical Rewards"

[KEM10]

They got it right. The only thing I like about Achievements is that sometimes they're cleverly named (see Press X for Jason), but otherwise it's just dumb, and I'd rather have the option to turn them off, or not even have them (especially since they take up space on my PS3's hard drive).

Delete the game and you get all that space back, and more. However, to replay it you will need to install it again.

OT: The only thing I enjoy about the achievements are the names of some of them. Like the ones on TF2, they are hilarious. Besides that, I am going to agree with the sentiment of an achievement for every level or major checkpoint completed is patting you on the head for remembering to lift the lid on the toilet before using it.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

They got it right. The only thing I like about Achievements is that sometimes they're cleverly named (see Press X for Jason), but otherwise it's just dumb, and I'd rather have the option to turn them off, or not even have them (especially since they take up space on my PS3's hard drive).

Delete the game and you get all that space back, and more. However, to replay it you will need to install it again.

I actually tried that. For some reason, the trophies stay on there (I'm open to the idea that I did it wrong...)

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

I can't believe people can be annoyed by achievements. They're completely optional, even more so than most in game challenges. How can it possibly be frustating to you that occasionally a little message will pop up and inform you you got an achievement? Heck, you can turn those messages off.

Does it anger you just to know that someone out there is enjoying them?

Never cared for achievements either. If I want to do something in a game, I'll do it how I want to.

Because achievements stop you doing that...

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Yes, unlike completing challenges, which are totally real and awesome.

Well, of course, getting the millions of publishers who make showelware for your console to put additional work into it and balancing the system is immensely hard, so I understand, Nintendo.

Oh, right, wait, to implement achievements you'd also need a system to implement them in. But, hey, who needs that, friend codes are totally the way to go in the future.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

On the other hand, achievements encourage you to try things that you wouldn't have done otherwise. There's usually a lot of multiplayer modes that I'll never touch, but when they have their own achievements, I'm willing to try them, and almost always have a good time.

 

[Racthoh]

Replaying games on harder difficulties or attempting strange feats that are otherwise unnecessary seems like less of a waste of time when there's something to achieve - even if that is just a pat on the back in the form of a "beeboop" noise and a brief popup.

Because heaven forbid people play a game because they actually enjoy it right? It really says something about this generation when they won't do something unless there is some meager reward tied to it. Achievements are a lazy way for developers to artificially lengthen the pathetic amounts of content they actually put into the game with minimal effort.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

They got it right. The only thing I like about Achievements is that sometimes they're cleverly named (see Press X for Jason), but otherwise it's just dumb, and I'd rather have the option to turn them off, or not even have them (especially since they take up space on my PS3's hard drive).

Delete the game and you get all that space back, and more. However, to replay it you will need to install it again.

I actually tried that. For some reason, the trophies stay on there (I'm open to the idea that I did it wrong...)

I don't know about PS3, but for the 360 the achievements are actually recorded online if you earnt them while connected to Xbox Live. I assume Sony has a similar system.

And just out of curiosity, how much space are the trophies actually taking up.

 

[Baldr]

I don't see Achievements as Rewards. Most of them are guides and player history. If you see Achievements as rewards, then there is something wrong.

If done right:

1. Let you try something different that you wouldn't have done without achievements.
These things help the player become more skilled at certain aspects of the game and possibly a better player. If your not willing to be a better player, go ahead and stand in the fire, but your never going to be in my party.

2. Track your place in the game.
Most Achievements are track-able by other players. I ask my friends all the time for help when I get stuck or having trouble, it nice to look up where they got in the game and if they completed that part do they have any suggestions.

There is a really good post on Achievement design Gamasutra that I like:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/GregMcClanahan/20091202/3709/Achievement_Design_101.php

 

[supermariner]

well they're wrong
achievements aren't mythical
they exist, i've seen 'em

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

Replaying games on harder difficulties or attempting strange feats that are otherwise unnecessary seems like less of a waste of time when there's something to achieve - even if that is just a pat on the back in the form of a "beeboop" noise and a brief popup.

Because heaven forbid people play a game because they actually enjoy it right? It really says something about this generation when they won't do something unless there is some meager reward tied to it. Achievements are a lazy way for developers to artificially lengthen the pathetic amounts of content they actually put into the game with minimal effort.

It's not like the two are mutually exclusive. "It really says something about this generation when they won't do something unless there is some meager reward tied to it." Oh I'm sorry, did 'your' generation spend a lot of time undertaking tasks with no payoff? Your generation sounds kind of stupid...

 

[Quiet Stranger]

That's bullshit, Nintendo loves achievements, especially back in the super nintendo days when it kept track of the percentage of the game you played. Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3!! And other games of course.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

And just out of curiosity, how much space are the trophies actually taking up.

Not sure, actually. Probably not much, but space on my system's pretty limited since the games I play tend to take up 5 Gigs, and I have the 40 gig model.

 

[Antidrall]

Couldn't agree more, Nintendo.

 

[Xanthious]

Now lord knows I rarely agree with Nintendo on much of anything. I think the Wii is a gimmicky piece of decade old hardware with shitty controls. I think the 3DS is a poor excuse to remake games paste a bad gimmick onto them and charge the sheep that make up the consuming public out the ass. However, for once, Nintendo and myself agree. Achievements are nothing more than some imaginary score that add no real value to games. Good for you Nintendo, good for you!

 

[Soxafloppin]

I like going for the Plat when I play games but I don't do it if grindy/boring/too difficult, i think it just adds replay value.

My bad I guess.

 

[SimuLord]

The big thing I have against achievements is that the kind of player who strives for them is having his play directed by an outside influence---playing the game to reach some arbitrary point set by a developer (or, heaven forbid, XBox Live's dick-fencing "gamerscore") instead of just playing the game.

Some games I have a fair few achievements in (notably New Vegas) but you'll notice right away that I don't have any achievements that would require me to depart radically from my preferred play style. If I were to do that just to get an "achievement", I'm not having fun anymore.

So I'm with Nintendo. Arbitrary, mythical, and they take more off the table than they bring to it.

 

[Xanadu84]

Psst...Nintendo...Video games on the WHOLE are mythical, artificial rewards.

If Achievements don't fit your design, then do what you gotta do, but lets get real here.