Achievements In Video Games

[PulsatingBrain]

Makes me wonder if any achievements have ever been directly linked to micro-transactions. Sounds like the kind of experiment EA or the like would perform

There are track and car packs linked to achievements in every recent EA driving game I've played. I assume they do the same shit with their sports titles.

 

[Nutmeg]

Achievements are a poor, tacked on substitute for actual scoring or ranking systems.

 

[Alienman]

I see it as the encroachment of the corporate, to-do list, busywork mentality on videogames. Obviously millennials are to blame.

This is an interesting perspective.

I'm sure some devs include difficult to obtain achievements to maximise 'engagement' with their game. It's an interesting thought for sure.

Makes me wonder if any achievements have ever been directly linked to micro-transactions. Sounds like the kind of experiment EA or the like would perform, just to see if it would generate some extra sales (and if they could get away with it).

I don't think achievements come from that same evil place. From what I remember, MS introduced them on their console, and to me, it just seems like an extra thing to differentiate themselves from the competition. Which the competition added down the line in the form of trophies.

 

[Alienman]

I think that was only in the beginning and both Microsoft and Sony quickly removed that when they realized many people would hunt that shit obsessively no matter what.

The Ubisoft launcher has an achievement kind of thing now, that has a monetary value. For 100 of those points, you can get a 20% discount on whatever you buy.

 

[Frank Capicoli]

I like achievements in games that give a sort of insight into different play styles or objectives to explore that aren't entirely obvious. For example Shogun 2 historical battles have some achievements that shake up the way you might approach the battle or make it more challenging to pursue. Things like giving achievements for pressing play or completing the tutorial are stupid wastes or just put in for information gathering though.

 

[Modron]

In game unlockables, fun cheats, and bonus features are much superior to bing bing wahoo popup achievements.

The more linear game is the more I tend to hate achievements. Oh you didn't look at this discarded trash wrapper in chapter 3? Too bad you missed an achievement.

RPGs tend to have the most bearable of achievements and tend to be devoid of ones that wouldn't happen organically while just playing a game.

 

[Alienman]

In game unlockables, fun cheats, and bonus features are much superior to bing bing wahoo popup achievements.

The more linear game is the more I tend to hate achievements. Oh you didn't look at this discarded trash wrapper in chapter 3? Too bad you missed an achievement.

RPGs tend to have the most bearable of achievements and tend to be devoid of ones that wouldn't happen organically while just playing a game.

Just saying, one thing does not have to exclude the other. But I think the gradual removal of unlockables is directly linked to in-game stores.

 

[Yuber]

Used to care about them in PS3 era, but then I realised no one else cares what trophies you have so I stopped completely and disabled them.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

I pirate games just to remove automatic achievements.

 

[Zlaja]

You may be a loser in life, but at least you're a high achiever on Steam.

 

[Modron]

snip

I don't think it's possible for you to be anymore of a little snivelling passive aggressive loser.

 

[Darkozric]

okily dokily trannyhead

 

[Ezekiel]

Achievements are a poor, tacked on substitute for actual scoring or ranking systems.

2024? Ranking will be online, whether you like it on not, and full of cheaters. You beat the level in three minutes? Look at this guy who beat it in five seconds.

 

[Ezekiel]

Oh, and legit online ranking also sucks because almost everyone with the highest scores just looks at what the rest of the community does to cut time and play better. They don't even have to figure the secrets out for themselves, they can discover them on YouTube and Twitch.

 

[Nutmeg]

Achievements are a poor, tacked on substitute for actual scoring or ranking systems.

2024? Ranking will be online, whether you like it on not, and full of cheaters. You beat the level in three minutes? Look at this guy who beat it in five seconds.

Should have input recording for replays (already standard) and AI to detect if inputs are humanly possible with hand cam video bypass of said AI.

 

[luj1]

How important are achievements to you?

Not important at all.

"Achievements" are one of these second-tier gameplay features invented in the lack of real gameplay. I talked about this years and years ago.

 

[ds]

How important are achievements to you?

Not at all. Achievements are just yet another degenerate game design trend that everyone copies because it's a cheap engagement hack. They are also an attempt to add social bullshit to single-player video games or to spy on player's behaviors. Just a bunch of negatives for a cheap dopamine hit - no thanks.

If a game has achievements, is that game only finished when 100% of the achievements are acquired?

No, a game is finished when I'm done with it.

Are achievements a console mindset?

Absolutely. That that mindset has also infected Steam and other PC platforms does not make it less consoleshit.

Do you make sure a game doesn't have broken achievements before purchasing?

No.

Are there any achievements that you are proud of?

No, if you are actually proud of grabbing the stick dangled in front of your nose than you better be a dog.

Do achievements have an effect on how you approach playing a game, such as looking up guides?

If I cared about achievements they might have which is exactly why they are to be ignored.

P.S. On a separate line of argument, I'm well aware that devs can use various Achievements as in-built telemetrics that don't require any special privacy consent from the customer's side, it can be convenient for them as well as for various third-party statisticians to evaluate product performance.

Would be interesting to see non opt-in achievements challenged under GDPR or similar privacy laws. Even if developers only get aggregate statistics, Steam itself permanently stores exactly when you got which achievement, tied to your account.

 

[Modron]

On a separate line of argument, I'm well aware that devs can use various Achievements as in-built telemetrics that don't require any special privacy consent from the customer's side, it can be convenient for them as well as for various third-party statisticians to evaluate product performance.

This is the most insidious facet of achievements big developers and publishers can and do use them to justify the axing of content, oh only 3% players completed all of these side objectives we can just get rid of that in our future games, oh only 5% of players played through the game twice in the last 2 years we don't need to focuse on making games replayable or having branching plotlines/different quest outcomes, et cetera.

 

[VerSacrum]

I associate cheevos with the mid-2000's decline.

 

[Alienman]

A game with good achievements is Battle Brothers. Most of them are hard and can work as set goals, especially in an Ironman playthrough.

 

[Silverfish]

How important are achievements to you?

Not very, but I'll occasionally go out of my way to get something if it leads to playing the game in an unusual or interesting way (playing without powers in Arkane games for instance).

Are achievements a console mindset?

Autism isn't limited to any platform.

Are there any achievements that you are proud of?

Fully aware that it's embarrassing and gay, getting the trophy for completing the Inferno 4 track in Trials Fusion was immensely rewarding.

Do achievements have an effect on how you approach playing a game, such as looking up guides?

Yes, but only in extremely rare cases. The miniscule number of games that still offer cheat codes usually warn you that activating any cheats will disable achievements. I do so and then save ASAP so I don't have to acknowledge them or look at the popups during the game.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

There was a guy at work that would loan and loop buy/return games and download savegames to unlock achievements; would literaly not play them. Really puts that sense of wonder back into life ya know.

 

[Falksi]

Just playing through the OK-but-grossly-overrated Batman Arkham City, and I truly pity the poor cunts who were dumb enough to do the absolute plethora of mundane tasks in hand here.

It's also really highlighting one of the main issues with achievements and such filler tasks, that being how little use they are in-game, and how little connectivity they usually have with actually playing the game.

If I want to 1CC or no-death run Hellfire, all the skills which the game teaches me in it's earlier levels need to be honed and mastered for it's later ones. Contrast that to B:AC, and here I'm learning all this fancy bullshit...such as taking enemies down with slides, cloths-lining them mid-fight via a Bat-Grapple, electro-stunning them etc....and absolutely none of it's required to progress, you can just button-bash, dodge and counter against most enemies for melee. Heck, you're usually better off using the simpler approach, trying to squeeze in all the fancier stuff in is just what gets you killed.

Now some may say "but that's the challenge...the challenge is to add that fancy stuff in, and thus get a higher score....", but even though that's true it's still fucking bollocks game design. Because the primary goal should always be to survive and conquer, it's what our instincts are built on, so challenges should be built around that first and foremost, not style. If they wanted to add challenge, the rewards should have been to take down as many gangs as possible without dying, not with the most gadget use.

And the amount of tasks in this game is just stupid anyway. 400 fucking Riddler tasks to sort....for experience points in a game which you can just button-bash, dodge and counter through anyway....fuck that.

Honestly, some of the most stupid, contradictory design going. Arkham Asylum got the balance FAR better, the extras there served as a distraction like salad does with a steak. Here they bury the steak under a fucking garden.

 

[Zlaja]

 

[Late Bloomer]

Remember this guy? He completed 100% of 1200 Playstation games.