Confessions of an Achievement Hunter

Digibytes: Achievements have changed the way certain gamers look at video games. Some people love them while others despise them. This is a look at one gamer's addiction with achievements and how it changed his perception of video games.

[aquamala]

I don't get it myself, I would never play and replay games I don't even like just to get achievements, glad I can finally turn off only trophy notifications now on PS3.

[Cam977]

I do it to add value to games and prolong their lifespan, not to look good.

AC:Brotherhood is my exception. I did that to complete my AC trophy collection, despite the painstakingly frustrating MP trophies (with one particularly hard example). For that one I had to gather a team of boosters to help all of us get it.

[Saints94]

Shame really. Any game that I have that has most or all achievement points is because of games that I like to play over and over again.

There are a lot of things I'll be more proud of then just some points.

I also know a guy who tries to buy games only for achievements. He think people always look at his gamerscore and he thinks people will think he is awesome for it which shows that he cares about some random people who think about him. Funny thing though, he is still trying to get achievement points even though he is switching to PS4. <_<

[VersaVulture89]

I used to be like that. Games like Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider and State of Decay still have me going for achievements because of the overall respect and fun I have for those games.

People were telling me that I should go back and complete all the achievements from games that I don't play anymore before switching to the Xbox One. This way, I'll have a true completion list of achievements.

I'm looking forward to the future. I'm not going to subject myself to horrible games like I wrote in the article. The only times all achievements should be attained if they have ridiculous requirements are for games you love.

Just like you said, I agree 100%

[sentury111]

I agree it's lame to get easy games just for achievements. But for games that you enjoy and complete it's a great indicator of your taste in games and shows your dedication certain types of games and helps you make you new friends you can play with for future games.
Of course you have to get along with the people, but at least it shows you have similar taste.

[Corpser]

People like that must think other people care or are looking at their achievements , many achievements just take ridiculous amount of time, not skill , I mean who actually spend hundreds of hours in la noir to find the 50 film wheels? They just look up a guide

[abcde12345]

"Hundreds of hours in la noir to find the 50 film wheels".

Yeah, no. It doesn't take that long and It's reels not wheels btw.

As for this article, I try to get as many achievements and trophies in games that I like as possible. If I buy a game and I end up not liking it I'm not going to try to get all of the achievements/trophies. I don't buy crappy games just for achievements/trophies either. If the achievements/trophies are overly frustrating or time consuming I won't try to get them. I absolutely hate multiplayer luck based ones.

I think achievements and trophies are nice when done right, but I don't let them stop me from enjoying a game. I'm glad they are carrying over to next gen with PS4 and XB1 with our accounts.

I saw that Microsoft is giving achievements for pre-ordering the XB1 and for watching TV. Now those types of achievements are stupid imo.

[sentury111]

I think achievements in games are great. I use trueachievement.com and for coop games this keeps the community alive for old games. You can create a session and find others that want to play that game with you.

The best ones for me at least are the hardest ones to attain. Like completing a level without dying, time based ones, hard play through etc.

If you look at my gamercard you would see which games I enjoy and have completed.

The people that buy easy games to just artificially inflate their score are just trying to impress by the number, but the true indicator is completion of games that are great like Batman AA, AC, RDR, GTA4, Halo games, GoW, FC3, Bioshock series and so on. If you are just playing crap games to get you score up that's lame, but if you are working on completing games that have merit and are worth the time then great.

Overall I enjoy the hardest achievements that others on my friends list can't get. It's the modern day leaderboards.

Edit: also MS said they are not going to give people achievements for watching TV. That would be dumb, I agree.

[VersaVulture89]

Definitely. That's my feeling on this now. I'm actually tempted to just make a new Gamertag just so I can have legit a legit Gamerscore that's not filled with TMNT and Avatar type achievements.

I like challenging achievements, but the only type of achievements I don't like are grinding ones. Killing all the zombies in Dead Rising was a personal annoyance of mine.

[swerve121]

Im sorry I love achievements and trophies.
I think Nintendo screwed up by not adding a rewards system.

[Rhomiel]

I love achievements and trophies but now developpers have to handle trophies to not screw up a game. I think The Last of Us did really well with the trophies by not adding stuff like kill 200 clickers with this or that, I enjoyed every bit of this game but I don't wanna be thinking how I'm gonna play the game depending on trophies. Trophies should add replayability and reward you for having skills not make you grind boring stuff for hours.

I'm playing AC:Liberation right now and one of them is climbing 8883 meters and after completing the game I have 3000m WTF king of achievement is that, I'm suppose to grind climbing walls for 3 hours? ( Oh and that game is crap btw )

[VersaVulture89]

What The Last Of Us did so well with the trophies was that they didn't make them pop up progressively for getting to a certain part of the game.

Most of the trophies required multiple playthroughs. It gave the gamer time to just enjoy the amazing story and the game itself.

[Rhomiel]

Exactly. I wasn't bodering at all about trophies during the game, I was just trying to find pills and parts and trying to stay alive :)

[mydyingparadiselost]

I tend to only get what I come across through just playing the game. I've never cared about achievements because I play for fun, for stories and for relaxation. If achievements are what adds to the longevity of a game that just means the game wasn't good enough on its own to make you want to keep playing.

[Welcome2Die]

Trophies are better, theres nothing better than to getthat platinum trophy pop up.