Achievement unlocked: Nerdrage!

[DraQ]

Given that Andhaira toned down on his deluge of inane threads, I thought I would contribute:

So, any thoughts beyond on the subject of the retarded achievements and them being a symptom of consolification?

The only game I've played that has non-loathsome "achievements" is STALKER:CoP, but the "achievements" there don't resemble usual consolish crap, but rather earned perks of Fallouts, as they make sense in the context of the gameworld, have consequences within the game and are rather non-trivial.

Whether they are this way by design, or GSC tried to mimic the usual "achievements", but did it wrong by making it horribly right is an open question.

:insert mandatory "Discuss!!" here:

 

[Phelot]

I don't mind things like kills and item counts being tracked although I wouldn't miss them. It gets stupid when you "achieve" something that is inevitable like getting 10 kills or finding a location that you have to go to anyway... unless the game is so bad they have to give you a false sense of reward, then none of this is necessary and I still don't understand the point of them on consoles other then e-peen building.

PS: I loathe the "collecting" achievements the most.

 

[Gerrard]

SHOW THEM ONLINE

Of course things like "Finished chapter 1" are completely retarded and show that the devs are simply lacking imagination (or maybe their game sucks and doesn't offer anything beyond being good for what it is), but games had "achievements" for a long time. Shit like "Finish the arcade mode without using continues (to unlock something)" or "Finish the level using only the stake gun".

The achievements that give you free stuff in CoP are completely broken by the way.

 

[Gragt]

So far I haven't played a game where achievements added something. I was either rewarded for doing something I would have eventually done, like completing a level, or got them for doing stuff I wouldn't have bothered to do, like some completely arbitrary task that has no incidence on the game itself. The former is simply condescending, with the devs thinking that you need some kind of special reward, while the latter asks you to spin the games in ways that just feel unnatural.

A game I found interesting is Batman: Arkham Asylum. While it features proper achievements (which I do not care much about), it also has all the Riddler's puzzles scattered around the island, and those can be fun to hunt. Doing so rewards you with different bonus like unlocking character models or bios but no special ability that would directly change the way the game plays, but you still get experience for each puzzle solved so you can buy new abilities. I'd rather see achievement done in that sort of way, feeling more natural, and rewarding you by unlocking some in-game bonus, though I'd probably loathe something that changes the gameplay. The funny part is that the B:AA puzzles were tied to "proper" achievements.

 

[DraQ]

I don't mind things like kills and item counts being tracked although I wouldn't miss them. It gets stupid when you "achieve" something that is inevitable like getting 10 kills or finding a location that you have to go to anyway... unless the game is so bad they have to give you a false sense of reward, then none of this is necessary and I still don't understand the point of them on consoles other then e-peen building.

You'd have to be pretty damn fucking retarded to build your e-peen with this kind of "achievements", which, as you have noticed, would inevitably came even if the game was played by a chimp with controller stuck in its ass.

There is another infuriating aspect to the achievements - they are counterimmersive, they pull you out of the game. When I play anything that isn't a highly abstract game like Go, I suspend my disbelief and try to treat the in-game events as if they were real on some level. "LOLOLOL Achivement unlocked!!1" message popping out as I'm doing something - possibly tense or dramatic - in game inevitably ruins this state of mind. I'm no longer there, I play some stupid game that tells me I earned some stupid achievement I never cared about.
ensues.

So far I haven't played a game where achievements added something. I was either rewarded for doing something I would have eventually done, like completing a level, or got them for doing stuff I wouldn't have bothered to do, like some completely arbitrary task that has no incidence on the game itself. The former is simply condescending, with the devs thinking that you need some kind of special reward, while the latter asks you to spin the games in ways that just feel unnatural.

At least the latter can be classed as just another type of easter egg and promptly swept under the carpet, as it doesn't affect the game unless you play it with the intent of going easter-egg hunting or doing some weird shit in general.

 

[Armacalypse]

The only thing I can appreciate achevements for is the easter egg-like fun messages you get for doing something absolutely weird or insane in the game. The names of the achievements can be pretty funny in these contexts.

But getting achievements for collection purposes and worse, achievement points? This might very well be what will destroy gaming forever. There are video guides on YouTube for what games you should BUY to get achievement points.

 

[DraQ]

But getting achievements for collection purposes and worse, achievement points? This might very well be what will destroy gaming forever. There are video guides on YouTube for what games you should BUY to get achievement points.

:codexrage:

I so do want to shoot some people with GAU-8/A right now.

 

[Luzur]

i get the feeling its like when they reward dogs with candy for doing something mundane like catching a ball or fetching a stick.

 

[relootz]

Armored Princess has an excellent usage of achievements.

Win 10/25/50 fights without losses : get more leadership.

Burn or Poison X creatures : get extra fire damage.

This is the way achievements should be done, and in the game they are really necessary to obtain.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

"achievements"

Seem like prizes in special olympics.
Shouldn't the actual accomplishment be your reward for reaching your goal, or the content of the 'easter egg'? Why would anyone want to hear a 'good boy' on something completely inconsequential, irrelevant or, often, something even a catatonic retard could do? In a video game.
'Casual' I can dig, but these 'achievements'... Jesus Christ, man, they're beyond my lack of faith in the natural evolution of the human cerebral cortex. I refuse to believe that people who actually take pride in them really exist. Refuse, I tell you.

 

[Boyarpunk]

 

[Admiral jimbob]

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/achi ... gameID=392

best achievements

 

[Darth Roxor]

Achievements that unlock new stuff are retarded.

Achievements that are there just for the hell of it, I don't care, really. It just boils down to 'ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!!!' popping up once in a while and thinking 'I did that? Cool' and continuing playing.

 

[Big Nose George]

Armored Princess has an excellent usage of achievements.

Win 10/25/50 fights without losses : get more leadership.

Burn or Poison X creatures : get extra fire damage.

This is the way achievements should be done, and in the game they are really necessary to obtain.

Neither are they necessary, nor are the excellent. Except for lossless fights they are all lame and amass by just playing.

 

[relootz]

Armored Princess has an excellent usage of achievements.

Win 10/25/50 fights without losses : get more leadership.

Burn or Poison X creatures : get extra fire damage.

This is the way achievements should be done, and in the game they are really necessary to obtain.

Neither are they necessary, nor are the excellent. Except for lossless fights they are all lame and amass by just playing.

They are necessary. As a mage getting the 1000 extra leadership is vital, as is the extra fire damage if you are going for firerain.

I do agree with you that you will eventually get most achievements by just playing the game but really focussing on them gives you an extra advantage.

I agree that they should be made so that you cant obtain them so easily. But the system is fine.

[BTW i can only think that they are vital on impossible (especially the trapsachievement)]

 

[Fens]

apart from the usual 'killed 20 boars'-achievements, risen had this:

battlefield 2 has a purple heart for a k/d of 1/4 or worse in a round

mocking the player seems like a good use for achievements

 

[JarlFrank]

Armored Princess has an excellent usage of achievements.

Win 10/25/50 fights without losses : get more leadership.

Burn or Poison X creatures : get extra fire damage.

This is the way achievements should be done, and in the game they are really necessary to obtain.

Neither are they necessary, nor are the excellent. Except for lossless fights they are all lame and amass by just playing.

They are necessary. As a mage getting the 1000 extra leadership is vital, as is the extra fire damage if you are going for firerain.

I do agree with you that you will eventually get most achievements by just playing the game but really focussing on them gives you an extra advantage.

I agree that they should be made so that you cant obtain them so easily. But the system is fine.

[BTW i can only think that they are vital on impossible (especially the trapsachievement)]

I liked them. Especially the winning combat without losses one. It made me go "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" all the time when I lost even a single unit and didn't have resurrection yet.

 

[DraQ]

apart from the usual 'killed 20 boars'-achievements, risen had this:

battlefield 2 has a purple heart for a k/d of 1/4 or worse in a round

mocking the player seems like a good use for achievements

I approve.

 

[relootz]

apart from the usual 'killed 20 boars'-achievements, risen had this:

battlefield 2 has a purple heart for a k/d of 1/4 or worse in a round

mocking the player seems like a good use for achievements

I approve.

It's the first achievement i got in the game.

 

[Gragt]

The Steam version of Torchlight has some particularly retarded achievements. Die 500 times sounds so much fun.

 

[Fens]

The Steam version of Torchlight has some particularly retarded achievements. Die 500 times sounds so much fun.

how come only about 70% actually seem to have started a game ?

 

[Gerrard]

Are you bad serious enough dude?

how come only about 70% actually seem to have started a game ?

It's the same for most games actually.

 

[Fens]

:shock: explains why there's an achievement for it i guess

 

[Droog White Smile]

It gets stupid when you "achieve" something that is inevitable like getting 10 kills or finding a location that you have to go to anyway...

Yeah, there are even games that give you achievements after completing each level. It's not as stupid as it may seem though. The developers use this data to track the player's progress. Most casual gamers never complete their games, so the developers need to measure how far in the game do most people get, so they don't waste their time creating levels/areas that only a relatively small number of players get to, when developing their next title.

 

[Droog White Smile]

Could You Game Without Achievements?

by Jordan Yates

What would gamers do if achievements suddenly disappeared?

That is a question that, I’m sure, runs through everyone’s head at some point in time. To most 360 gamers now, achievements are an everyday thing. Some people are even addicted to collecting these digital points as if their life depended on it. Others just look at them as a meaningless add-on and play the game they bought, instead of focusing on the size of their number. But what if, one day, the achievements suddenly disappeared? What if Microsoft made an executive decision to permanently delete all achievement points and make it like the old days?

I decided to go out and ask some gamers what they would do, and their thoughts, on if achievements suddenly were done away with in an upcoming patch. One female gamer said, "I would be bummed, but I would still play... Probably not as much, though." The LeBaron, an avid gamer, says otherwise: "I wouldn't care. I don't play games for achievements; I play for fun. I admit, I would be a little sad to see all my achievements go, but I would get over it in a couple of hours." After questioning for a couple of hours, and getting two different types of answers like this, I decided to go to a higher source to see what they thought. It was then I posed my scenario to Dan Amrich, senior editor of Official Xbox Magazine.

He had this to say: "I think it would be insanity, pure and simple. The Achievement and Gamerscore system gives Microsoft added value for literally nothing. How simple was it to implement an arbitrary reward system? There's no payout. You can't use the Gamerscore points to buy anything. They are utterly worthless...and yet everybody places a high value on them. I mean, PS3 introducing Trophies is one thing, but when World of Warcraft arbitrarily adds its own Achievement system, you know you've got a winning idea. So if Microsoft suddenly decided to take it away...the competition would be thrilled, the gamers would be furious, and whoever was responsible would be sacked."

Satisfied with my answers, I finally ended it there. In my opinion, I believe that the spark of 360 gaming would wane. Yes, there are games out there such as Call of Duty: World at War or Gears of War 2 that have stellar multiplayer features that would keep them still running, but what about the other games? Through word-of-mouth alone, I would think that most arcade games (at least, the poorly-made ones) wouldn’t sell very well. Most retail games would probably hang on by a string, but would wane quickly after boredom set in; at least for the Xbox 360 fanboys out there.

http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_63 ... hievements