Poll: The Importance of Achievements and You!

[xaszatm]

Yeah, the topic title and poll kind of explains it all: How important are achievements in video games to you? I ask this because I've been in discussion with people on the Wii U and it seems that people are convinced that it is due to no achievement system that Nintendo is selling so poorly. They tell me that Wii U's would fly off the shelves if it would implemented this important feature. I, quite frankly, disagree. Not to say that achievements are inherently bad, of course. Plenty of games such as Kid Icarus: Uprising has shown a fun, robust achievement system, but I've never been a fan of the system wide achievements of the Xbox/PS systems.

I'm curious on what people here think?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I don't care about achievements or trophies, or any of that nonsense. If people like them, great, but I never go out of my way for an achievement, and I rarely even look them up in games to see what they are. The only way that I earn achievements is if they unlock just from the way that I normally play the game, nothing more.

 

[Malbourne]

If achievements are organic or enhance the game, it's fine. Encouraging creative actions on behalf of the player is a good way to increase replayability as well as provide more goals, but they could just as easily be part of the game itself. Relying on achievements to sell a console is also fine, but if they're just milestone-based, then I can't see them doing anything other than trying to sell consoles based on gamer ranks or something else superficial.

 

[Super Cyborg]

Problem is a lot of trophies are for just playing and getting through the games. Having been playing lots of games on the Vita lately, If I get through a certain part of the game, a trophy pops up randomly. It's not a huge deal, but it seems pointless and mostly as a way for the game to say "Good job, you got through that part, now keep on playing!" I've just beaten the 1st Sly Cooper game on the Vita, and it reminds me of the good old times where getting 100% didn't earn you a trophy, but some extra scenes. Of course it can be ridiculous for some of the stuff you need to do to get stuff, but it felt more rewarding going through all the work to get that extra content than just a trophy. Best example is Majora's Mask, where you get an OP mask to use against bosses for 100% collection of masks, and doing all the hide n seek stuff.

Maybe for those who are competitive love the idea of trophies and achievements, since they can show off that they did certain things others may not have. I could care less about it.

 

[Elfgore]

Most of the time, I don't actively go for achievements. I will check and see what they are usually, just to see if they have any cool ones. But I don't pursue them unless I'm bored or just feel like it. The points on an online account don't really interest me.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Achievements are fun things to go for in games that I enjoy immensely. For the most part, though, I just don't care. They are, however, sometimes really nice to see due to the enjoyment of knowing I completed something likely difficult.

However, I don't think a console itself needs an achievement system. Xenoblade Chronicles had maybe hundreds of achievements, but the Wii never actually had an achievement system itself. They were just tracked in the game, and anyone wanting to go after them could easily see all of them, and, at least to me, they offered the same satisfaction as an achievement in an Xbox 360 or Steam game.

 

[Zhukov]

I'll look at the list and I'll go for any that seem doable without going too far out of my way.

They can annoy me from time to time. I'm a bit of a "completionist", I don't like leaving stuff undone, same with sidequests and the like.

I would prefer that achievments completely fucked off, but they seem to be here to stay and people seem to like them, so whatever, I can deal with it.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's fun to treat them as additional challenges and can encourage replayability or just give you something to grind towards if you're bored. The important thing is that there's absolutely no downside to them. Go for them if you want, don't if you don't.

 

[DementedSheep]

Achievements can be used to encourage experimenting with different styles of play and add additional challenge which is great. If they are there and don't require me to do something boring and pointless (like grind an enemy type or ride around in circles for a couple of hours) I like them and will attempt them but I don't actively seek out games with them and don't care for an account wide achievement point system. I very much doubt it's the lack of an achievement system that is holding the Wii U back. I don't think the majority of players are achievement hunters.

 

[Super Cyborg]

Achievements can be used to encourage experimenting with different styles of play and add additional challenge which is great. If they are there and don't require me to do something boring and pointless I like them and will attempt them but I don't actively seek out games with them and don't care for an account wide achievement point system. I very much doubt it's the lack of an achievement system is holding the Wii U back. I don't think the majority of players are achievement hunters.

I think achievements can also help you realize if there are parts of the game you missed. It doesn't happen much, but there have been times where I thought I saw all the game had to offer, but when looking at the trophies I realize there was some stuff I missed out on, whether it is story related or just some extra goodies I might've missed out on. The only other time I've seen it work as a story progression deal is if it makes fun of what happened, or a fourth wall breaking deal. Beyond that, there's not a whole lot more to it. I've never met or heard anyone that actively said that achievements increase the value of a game, and if there are people that do, it is most likely a minority.

 

[Keoul]

I only care about achievements if I have a few of them, if I have like 90% of them already then I'll strive to get the other 10%, otherwise I don't really care for them.

As long as the game is fun then I don't really mind, achievements are just there to track my progress if anything.

 

[Neonsilver]

Achievements are nice to have, sometimes, since they can point out interesting easter eggs that you might not find otherwise, but I think they are pointless in general. A lot of the achievements are handed out simply for playing the game in a normal manner. Other achievements are for pointless grinding, like kill 1000 soldiers, or something. Both examples are pointless achievements that will be fulfilled if the player continues to play and if players only continue to play to complete these achievements the developer has failed in giving us a good game.
That of course doesn't cover all achievements, but the remaining are usually things that the players that really love a game probably try out on their own.

As for an achievement system being necessary to sell a console, I doubt that. I'm not a psychologist but I think that achievements have an effect on keeping the players at the game even when they actually lost interest in the game. So while I don't think it helps in selling a console it would prevent players from stopping to play with it.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

If the game is fun, and more importantly, if the achievements/trophies are fun to get, I'll probably go for them, just for completion's sake (90% of the time I'll have gotten most of them anyway through regular play). Those that I find a pain can go burn in a fire for all I care.

It would be so much better if they offered bonuses in subsequent playthroughs, though (like in Mass Effect).

 

[ChaosBorne]

overall i don't really care about achievements, most games have the most boring achievements imaginable, where you just get one achievement after another for completing mandatory quests and the like, or completing stages/levels etc. these kind of achievements add nothing to the games they are in, but when you award them for fun and creative gameplay they are nice and i enjoy getting them, especially when the developer puts some thought into it and makes a good pun out of the achievement name or makes me smile with the description.

though i guess the crux of it is this, achievements should feel like an accomplishment, they shouldn't feel cheap or easy.
(i guess the only ones i have no problem with is getting achievements for completing the game as far as mandatory quest/stage/level completion go)

 

[Poetic Nova]

I'm really indiffirent about them, although I admit it comes close to finding them useless.I never reached platinum or the like and don't have a drive for it.

 

[King Billi]

I like them fine enough.

As has been said before when replaying a game they can provide an little something extra to shoot for. Personally if I enjoyed a particular game enough to replay it multiple times and I think obtaining all the achievements(trophies) is within my capabilities then I'll totally go for the platinum.

They don't do any harm just being there.

 

[Vegosiux]

There are two types of achievements as far as I'm concerned: For doing something in an unconventional way, and for just wasting a lot of time on stuff you don't really need to do.

I used to be a sucker for both, as in, I had plenty of those crazy reputation titles in WoW, but these days I only go for the "complete your objectives in a non-obvious way" ones.

 

[gonzo20]

I like them mostly cause when i beat a game on the hardest difficulty, i can be like "i did that and no one can disprove me!"

 

[WeepingAngels]

We have locked saves to protect achievement integrity so no, I don't like them. There is nothing more irritating than having multiple consoles and being unable to move a save file.

As far as getting them, I really don't give them a second thought when the notification pops up. I just don't care until I encounter a locked save.

 

[Scarim Coral]

The only time I cared about achivement are the ones in Guild Wars 2 but mainly because there are reward for gathering them. In saying so these days I no longer fully cared about getting them due to the newest way to get them (you have to finish the story first before you can get any achivement in the story) since I have to redo the story again which I can't be bother doing.