Serious achievement/trophy discussion inside

[Meggiepants]

[small]I search barred this, and although there are more than a few threads on achievements, I had a specific query in mind that didn't seem to come up in the last couple of months.[/small]

[HEADING=1]I will hug them and kiss them and call them George
[small]or Do we love achievements too much?[/small][/HEADING]​

I was reading the most recent Game Informer recently (I now can't wait for Escape From New York Batman Arkham City!) and the opinion piece from the Senior Editor was actually pretty interesting.

Matt Helgeson (the editor) wrote about how he dumped his old XBL account, along with all his achievements, and started fresh. In the article, he mentioned that there are gamerscores higher than 650,000. I was shocked by this number. Do these people play every game that has ever been released?

Yes, before you say it, I realize some of these scores are from hacking, and some by playing awful games but to that I respond:

[ul]
[li]You can't tell if they are hacking, so saying so kind of sounds like sour grapes since some of those people are probably legit.[/li]
[li]Even if they are playing My Little Pony to get that score, it doesn't matter. I consider playing through My Little Pony just as much of a grind as trying to beat Mass Effect on Insanity.[/li]
[/ul]

But it did get me thinking. I've never really cared that much about my gamerscore. I always just played games to have fun. The GI editor says this is why he dumped his old account. He didn't want to be tempted to try to have a high score anymore. He just wanted to have fun.

So I wonder, why do people still try to get so many trophies or achievements? I would think it would take years to surpass some of those high achievement/trophy title holders. And even then, those people would have to stop playing for you to catch up.

So, my questions for discussion are:
[ul][li]What is your motivation for collecting these things?[/li]

[li]Do you think you would enjoy games as much if there were no trophies/achievements?[/li]

[li] Would you ever consider dropping your old account and starting fresh?[/li][/ul]

My answer to the second question would have to be yes. I've been gaming for a long time, and I know for a fact, that even though I don't really care about game scores, I have caught myself doing something stupid in a game just to get an achievement. I never did that before the whole gamer score thing. And, it isn't often, but I have made a vow to stop doing it. I think I did have more fun before gamer scores were invented, because I was never tempted to try to get them.

At the same time, I would be sad to lose Easter Egg type achievements, like the Irony achievement in Bioshock. These are funny little comments by the developers that I would miss.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

So, my questions for discussion are:

What is your motivation for collecting these things?

I have no idea... they just appeal to me. I like completing things 100% and achievements factor into that completion. I also think they're a nice way to spruce up your Gamertag.

Do you think you would enjoy games as much if there were no trophies/achievements?

Well I did for years and years before achievements existed. And I still occasionally enjoy achievement-less PS2 or PC games. So if they were suddenly dropped I don't see why not.

Would you ever consider dropping your old account and starting fresh?

I have before. But it quickly got squashed. My Gamertag is a digital representation of me. It contains everything I have achieved, every game I have played and it displays them for everyone to see. Even the dreaded Avatar game... but I will keep it as it is mine and I have invested a lot of time in it.

(None of these are about Steam achievements... they're just not the same so I don't care about them)

EDIT: Screwed up the quoting -.- brb fixing
EDIT 2: Removed all coding, redone. Fix'd.

Yes, before you say it, I realize some of these scores are from hacking, and some by playing awful games but to that I respond:

Just a bit of interesting news... there is a guy with legitimate 478,403 gamerscore.

http://www.trueachievements.com/Stallion83.htm

 

[Drexlor]

I like trophies because they give me something to strive for, a goal. I also like the sense of accomplishment I get when I earn a particularly difficult one. I try to get as many as I can but I don't obsess over getting them all.

I always enjoyed games before and I am still playing MGS3 on PS2 so I would get along fine without them,but they are nice to have and they enhance the experience. Speaking of which, where are the MGS4, Assassin's Creed, and Oblivion trophies?

I would never drop my PSN account. I am proud of each and every one of my 820+ trophies.

 

[Jasper Jeffs]

I used to like getting achievements, but like that article guy I've grown tired of them. I haven't started a new account, I just don't try and get them any more. I find, the higher my GS gets, the less I care. It's sitting at around 56k now, I stopped caring at 20k, which was fucking ages ago. I play PC games mainly, and I like how there are no achievements, and even if there are they don't take as big a role as the achievements on the Xbox or the trophies on the PS3, unless you're playing TF2 and trying to unlock the fucking weapons.

I wouldn't drop my account, because I have 6 months of gold left, but even if I didn't I wouldn't anyway. I don't see the point, I can still have 56k GS and not care about achievements. I've lost the urge to "achieve", which is untrue really I just don't spend 10 hours collecting every fucking collectable for virtual gratification.

 

[martin's a madman]

I don't particularly care about achievements in games.

 

[Necator15]

What is your motivation for collecting these things?
There really isn't a motivation. Sometimes I try to get them just because I hadn't thought to play the game that way, or do a certain thing a certain way. (Like Akimbo assassin on Left 4 Dead.)

Do you think you would enjoy games as much if there were no trophies/achievements?
Yup

Would you ever consider dropping your old account and starting fresh?
I could, but I rather like my gamertag's name. I've gotten used to it, and some people will identify me by it.

 

[Daveman]

I'm not a big achievements person. I will play whatever takes my fancy. I like to try higher difficulty levels when it makes it more interesting/challenging and therefore more fun. I did it in MW2 to the highest difficulty because I could. As for special challenges, I've never gone out of my way to get them. In TF2 there are many achievements but I haven't ever farmed them and most can occur naturally. Like I once got both the achievement for revealing cloaked spies and the OGMWTFBBQ achievement because I knew there was a spy there and I realised he hadn't noticed me. Similarly I found the Rocket Man achievement for half life 2 ep2 interesting because it didn't really change the game difficulty so much as added an interesting layer on top. I DID NOT try the Neighbourhood Watch achievement, because it was just clearly too much for me and would have required numerous restarts to the point where it's not a challenge so much as a continuous grind until I get lucky.

In short: No I don't give a shit about scores accompanying achievements, but some of them are fun and ADD to the actual game.

 

[Geekosaurus]

What is your motivation for collecting these things?
Do you think you would enjoy games as much if there were no trophies/achievements?
Would you ever consider dropping your old account and starting fresh?

It gives you a real sense of achievement when you get one for completing a particularly difficult section of the game. No, I've always said that achievements enhance gaming experience. And no, I wouldn't like to start again because I like having a record of all my... well, achievements.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

I see achievements as the same sort of thing as online multiplayer: my PS2 had neither, and I got both with my xbox360. More to the point, both of them added a lot of replay value to the games I already loved, and gave me a little bit of incentive to continue games I didn't like very much. Still, though, the only game I got all the achievements for was Halo ODST, and that's only because I'm demi-godlike at that game when compared to my peers. That, and the achievements were very easy. I got most of them wwithout trying too hard. The trick is to get Good Samaritan in your first playthrough, then just go kill ten engineers whenever you feel like it.

 

[Meggiepants]

Yes, before you say it, I realize some of these scores are from hacking, and some by playing awful games but to that I respond:

Just a bit of interesting news... there is a guy with legitimate 478,403 gamerscore.

http://www.trueachievements.com/Stallion83.htm

That's a really interesting site! Thanks for sharing.

It's intriguing how they get their "True Achievement" score. That guy you mention looks like he's trying to get to a million. And it says he's played 643 games! That's like 2 full time jobs right there! Crazy!

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

That's a really interesting site! Thanks for sharing.

It's intriguing how they get their "True Achievement" score. That guy you mention looks like he's trying to get to a million. And it says he's played 643 games! That's like 2 full time jobs right there! Crazy!

The 'True Achievement' score unfortunately isn't that impressive.

It's just calculated by the amount of registered players who don't have it.

And yeah Stallion is aiming for 1,000,000 Gamerscore legitimately.

He has a website somewhere...

 

[Megacherv]

In TF2 it's to unlock the weapons, or it's something really obscure and hard to do. Everything else I just happen to get by playing the game.

 

[MetalDooley]

What is your motivation for collecting these things?

I don't know.I just enjoy unlocking them especially if they require me to do something cool/fun/unexpected to get them.

However while I do enjoy unlocking achievements I really don't care about the size of my gamerscore

Do you think you would enjoy games as much if there were no trophies/achievements?

Yes.I own a Wii which I use regularly.The vast majority of Wii games don't have achievements(The Conduit and Metroid Prime Trilogy are the only ones that spring to mind that do have them)and frankly I barely notice the absence

Would you ever consider dropping your old account and starting fresh?

No I wouldn't see the point of it.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

I don't have any motivation to collect the things, other than as little extras to the game - I treat all achievements as 'easter eggs', drawing my eye to things I wouldn't normally notice around the game, or a way to add a little replay value to the game. I'll only hunt them down if playing the game has left me very close to having all the achievements.
So I guess I'd be just as happy if they were gone, although I like the little noise they make when I get them. Also, for a lot of games with story progression achievements, they're a good way to work out where your friends are in the game, so you know how much of it/which bits you can talk about.

And I have no intention of restarting my account! I like my username, and my saved games, both of which would be gone if I started again.

 

[Haunted Serenity]

Question 1.
Not really any. I get achievements for doing stuff I would normally do in the game. Exception being gnome chompski in Left 4 Dead 2 because my friend was wondering what the hell he was so we grabbed him and ran. Sometimes I try to get certian ones to unlock armour(Halo 3).

Question 2.
Yes.

Question 3.
No I have grown fond of my name.

 

[Talon_Skywarp]

What is your motivation for collecting these things?

They are there. No other reason really. I don't really try for them. They just happen. Like teenager pregnancy.

Do you think you would enjoy games as much if there were no trophies/achievements?

I cope for many years without them. Just now, every now and then I get a message that says I did something. Not really bothered..

Would you ever consider dropping your old account and starting fresh?

Why would I?

 

[Baldry]

I love getting my Trophies, they make me feel special and more badass and sometimes I just get them accidentally but I am prone to get all the trophies I can

I would enjoy the games if they didn't have trophies and sometimes getting trophies ruins the gameplay for me making me grind but sometimes makes me do some stuff I would never do.

No. Because I don't want to lose all my friends or my trophies and I like my name!

 

[Proteus214]

What is your motivation for collecting these things?
Mostly because I can or because of competition amongst friends or gaming community members.

Do you think you would enjoy games as much if there were no trophies/achievements?
I enjoyed games before they existed, I enjoy current games that don't have them, I would certainly still enjoy games if they didn't have them.

Would you ever consider dropping your old account and starting fresh?
Not really. I consider my trophy collection to be a kind of scrapbook of how I played certain games. For example, if you've ever played through Heavy Rain and you look at the trophy list of someone else who has played through the game once, you essentially get a snapshot of what their playthrough was like. The same goes for Starcraft 2.

 

[lazyslothboy]

What is your motivation for collecting these things?

I would say that my motivation is to just make my number bigger. I won't do it just for the sake of doing it, the game has to be good after all. And the feeling after getting that achievement that you have been playing for (I'm looking at you top of the scrap heap!) is rewarding in my opinion.

Do you think you would enjoy games as much if there were no trophies/achievements?

I don't think I would go to the same lengths that I do to get collectibles, online ranks and difficulty levels completed unless there was some sort of ingame reason to do so other that to just do it. Otherwise, I believe the campaign and the multiplayer would be just as fun without those achievements.

Would you ever consider dropping your old account and starting fresh?

And lose all my progress?! Never!

 

[Scobie]

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