A Realization about Trophies and Achievements

Written by Christopher Quach

Editor's note: Christopher experienced an epiphany about achievements: They're not about bragging rights but adapting the way you play. I've never been a big fan of achievements, but Christopher's realization has had an effect on me as well. How do you view achievements? -Jason

My mates and I were in the pub when the debate over which game would be the best to purchase early next year shifted to the value of trophies and achievements. My stance was that I always perceived this aspect of gaming as bragging rights. My friends begged to differ.

I've never been a true trophy/achievement hunter, and the first time I came across this concept, I really didn’t understand the appeal.

I do enjoy earning a trophy for achieving a stunt/special move/kill streak in a game, but I wouldn’t be hell-bent on acquiring all of a game's achievements.

By the end of the night, I found myself agreeing to embark on a journey to gain my first Platinum Trophy as proof that trophies and achievements don’t represent any value at all to the gamer or the game.

As I opened the Trophy list on my system and actually spent time looking at what you needed to do to earn these achievements, I came to a dawning realization that I may have interpreted the trophy/achievement concept incorrectly.

I thought it was a feat that would be easily achieved -- how hard could it be? Reach the goals and you get the trophy.

For some trophies it's as simple as that. But for others, it’s about investing time to discover everything the game has to offer (Grand Theft Auto 4) or attempting to play the game with a different approach (Fallout 3).

I’m currently attempting to earn all of the trophies in Fallout 3.

I haven’t even finished Fallout 3. I felt, however, that there was enough scope to bring me back for more, to try things in differently. I was keen to try this in GTA4 as well, but the online trophies put me off.

Is anyone even playing GTA4 online anymore?

What I’ve discovered is that to earn all of the achievements, you need to invest a lot of time and keep your eye out for little details or opportunities.

I discovered that by attempting to gain all of the trophies, the process itself has given me a new perspective on the games I own.

It’s often enough for me to finish a game and move on -- but to have an extra challenge (or “dare,” as some might choose to describe them) adds a level of challenge and replay value. It’s also bloody difficult to earn them all.

By looking into the purpose of achievements/trophies, I realized that it’s not about having the stamina to play the same game over and over until you’re awesome at it, but rather, it's about adapting the way you would normally play. In some ways, achievements and trophies help the player try things they would not normally think of and therefore possibly taking their gaming experience to a different level.

So it seems that it isn’t about bragging rights alone -- it's about asking yourself how many ways can you skin a cat? And from what I’ve discovered, the answer is “loads of ways.”

To those who have achieved the "impossible" and explored all that a game has to offer, I salute you!

Comments (19)

Achievements can be pure evil but also have a silver lining. I think it is up to the game developers to use them in intelligent ways in order to add enjoyment to their titles.

Derek Lavigne , December 02, 2009

I didn't like Achievements and Trophies until I played a PC game, King's Bounty: Armored Princess. With each "achievement" you earn, you get a stat boost. And each achievement has a different level, so you can pump up that stat boost. I find myself using spells and gunning for certain enemy armies just to build up the achievements.

Jason Wilson , December 02, 2009

I used to love all types or trophies and achievements. However now, ANY game that has multiplayer trophies/achievements is the bane of my gaming existence.

David Matos , December 02, 2009

I enjoy the achievements that encourage you to perform a specific action in a game or visit a specific location over ones that merely ask you to collect 100 doodads. I feel the collectathon ones are unrealistic -- I don't have that much time to devote to a game, and scouring FAQs to find them all isn't my idea of fun.

Brett Bates , December 02, 2009

I think they are a negative overall, or at least for me they are.

I am rarely the sort to attempt at 100%-ing a game. So luckily they were unlikely to grab me with all the flashy pictures and text boxes in the first place. I do think playing games for the purpose of bragging about how high the arbitrary number next to your name is silly. I find myself losing respect for people who have 100% completion in Avatar or Hannah Montana, for example.

The reason I personally dislike them is because I am simply not that kind of gamer, and the people who place value on their gamer score frustrate me to no end. I have literally been told on PSN that I am not as good a player as ____ because I am level 9 and he is level 11. Really? Is that how you judge it? I am the sort of person who has so many games that I simply can't play games to 100% them, or even complete them.

I have about 60 PS3 games, and right now I am in between Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed II, Ratchet and Clank Future 2, Way of the Samurai 3, Borderlands, and playing Uncharted 2 online. No, I am not going to go back and collect all of Nathan Drake's treasures. I helped him find Shambala, and that is enough for me. Now I just have to frag a bunch of people between trying to find a king for Orzammar in Dragon Age...

That is my little rant on achievements. As a quick side note, I have to say I do like when developers have fun with them. If they make me laugh or are a clever pun, I don't mind so much. I am NOT collecting all your doohickeys, though.

Alex Gagne , December 03, 2009

Achievements definitely give you a great way to experience aspects of a game you would not have otherwise tried. Don't worry about trying to get Platinum or 1000 points for each game though. It'll drive you insane!

Carlos Macias , December 03, 2009

To some degree I see your point for the full function of Achievements in most games (i say achievements because I don't own a PS3). But, unfortunately, some games are all about the bragging rights. I know it's an earlier title, so it might not be applicable, but if you look at Call of Duty 2, ALL of the achievements require beating the levels on Veteran difficulty. Or Gears of War/2, and the 10,000/100,000 kills achievements, which would be obtained by grinding.

I think it may be more safe to say that there's an equal balance between bragging rights and variability of playing style. Some of the Achievements are just to obvious to identify for either argument.

Jon McInturff , December 03, 2009

I'm definitely grateful for achievements pushing me to explore my games.

Chris Whitehead , December 03, 2009

I'm a big fan of trophies/achievements that require you to get off the beaten path, and maybe try some things you wouldn't have to normally. When most of the achievements are from doing all of the normal, required tasks, what's the achievement? You're just doing what everyone else is doing.

Timothy Nellett , December 03, 2009

I made the decision a while back to get 100% of the achievements in 3 games I already own before going out and buying a new title. At first I was very skeptical at how well this would work out (it was before Borderlands, MW2, L4D2 came out) because I hadn't really tried to get the difficult ones. Collectathons and multiplayer achievement feel like a chore until I realized that I was going out of my way to see everything a game had to offer.

I have over 22 completed retail games on my list and I feel like I actually get the most bang for my buck. Would I have played SF4 online as much as I did had I not been achievement hunting? No, but then I wouldn't have been getting better at the game either. MW2 is still the fastest 100% I've ever done but that's largely due to Veteran difficulty not being all that hard this time.

All in all I think it goes both ways. If you see that a friend has more achievements in a certain game you could consider it a challenge to step it up a bit. It definitely helps make me feel like I spent $60 on something I got a good chunk of time out of.

Tom Heistuman , December 03, 2009

I look at achievements like experience points. Being a player of D&D;, each time I reach a new big number I feel like I've gained a level. When I surpassed 30,000 gamerscore this week I felt like a king, and now I've achieved 31,000. But the next big number will probably be 35,000.

Now that I've been able to play more games again I'm also competing with a friend that has 33,000 right now. Previously I was always roughly 1,000 behind, and it was fun fighting to keep up. However, that died for a while and I wasn't able to keep up with him. I'm slowly catching up, though. So while it's not so much bragging rights, it's a friendly competition that creates a goal for each of us.

Most of all, achievements simply give me extra play value. Not everyone is going to get it, but it helped me get my money's worth out of Dead Space (as well as proving to me that, after playing through three times in a row and still having a blast, it was my favorite game of last year).

I could care less about how large the gamerscore is compared to my other friends. I have one friend who is around 80,000+ and I'll never catch up to, while most of my other friends are slightly above or below 10,000. All it shows is that I play a shit ton of games. But I still like looking at it as experience points.

Chris Cesarano , December 03, 2009

For me achievements and trophies have allowed me a lot of replay value for games that I would have placed on the shelf after beating. During the summer or times of few new releases I go back to old games and see if I can pick up some new achievements. I still play Half-Life 2 to pick up new achievements from time to time and most recently I went back and played some COD 2 to see if I could get some of those Veteran level achievements. So for me personally I am happy for the achievements and trophies of this generation. Hope to see them stay around for a while.

Bart Dorsch , December 03, 2009

Here's another perspective...

My father is a retired submarine worker. He and have played games all the time when I was a kid, but he didn't pick it back up until around maybe 3 years ago. He lives in the mountains outside of Bremerton, WA, and he gets NO high-speed internet, but he still has an Xbox360, Wii, and just got a PS3 a couple months ago for his birthday (the lucky bastard). He buys his games used, and for good reason. When he plays a game, he literally plays the shit out of it. He plays these games SO MUCH, that he logged over 100+ hours on Twilight Princess. He's played Halo - Halo 3 on every difficulty. But he never aims to get his gamerscore higher. He never cares about it, because he can't show it off to anybody anyways.

Sometimes the achievements aren't needed to enjoy the game to it's full extent. Some people just play the game to enjoy it.

Jon McInturff , December 03, 2009

thank you for providing such a broad range of insights and views! I really appreciate the comments.
I don't know how far I'll get with the the quest for the elusive trophy but it'll be an interesting journey.
I'll let you all know how I fare with the process smilies/cheesy.gif

Christopher Quach , December 03, 2009

I never play games for achievements. I'm sure I would of ate that aspect up as a child, but as an adult the only thing really worth collecting is money.

Joshua Garcia , December 03, 2009

The way I personally look at achievements is I'll go for them if they seem doable (because sometimes they are fun, and they do add more substance to the game), but as soon as getting achievement becomes more tedious than enjoyable, I abandon it. I don't feel like I am giving up -- I feel like attempting the achievement is going beyond what's required to complete the game -- and I'm not going to bang my head against a wall for something that's not necessary to completing the game.

That said, here's another perspective. A friend of mine is working on getting all the achievements for Fallout 3. During that time, I got Borderlands and asked him repeatedly to get it too so we could play through the game together. He said he'd like to, but he really wanted to finish up Fallout 3. In the end, I completed Borderlands before he finished maxing out Fallout 3, and by the time he did finished, he had no interest in Borderlands anymore because he was "burned out" and wanted a break. In this instance, achievements potentially cost the sale of a new game to a customer who would have most likely purchased it otherwise. This is just one example, but it's enough to make me wonder how achievements have affected new game sales.

Sure, achievements help prolong the length of the games you own, but if a gamer is still accomplishing goals with a several-month-old game, he doesn't have the motivation to replace it with a newer product. That seems counterproductive to the industry as a whole.

Ira Humphrey , December 03, 2009

@ Bart Dorsch: I agree 100%. Going back for Achievements have made several games last a lot longer then they would have without. I just earned 100% Complete on Burnout Paradise, and there is almost two years between the date of my first Achievement and my last. They also encourage expanding your play style. Interestingly I think Halo: Waypoint has really tapped into this in a good way. I find myself having more fun with the games than I otherwise would without the basic prodding of the Achievements.

Sam Dominguez , December 03, 2009

I don't really care for them. There is only one game I've every gotten all of them and that was Oblivion and if you play the game long enough you will get all of them.

By biggest complaint is why would I want to spend time that could take me out of a game if it is one of those kind like in this level hit 100 goblins when I only need to whack a few to get through all for points that really don't do anything.

I am happy that certain developers are adding others things along with them like Mass Effect giving you added benefits in the game if you get them or L4D2 with getting avatar awards.

Cody Hewitt , December 03, 2009

I like to get achievements, though I rarely go after all of them. Recently I got all of them in Assassin's Creed II but you get many of those just for finishing the game. Sometimes I read ahead to see what achievements a game has even though getting one by surprise is more enjoyable. When an achievement requires a set number of kills with each weapon that does cause me to try more weapons. Multi-player achievements are usually a bad idea, especially in team-based games. Bad Company has one where you have to jump out of a helicopter and not use a parachute. Obviously, you are hurting your team and possibly irritating another player (if there is a gunner in your chopper who doesn't notice you bailed). I did get that achievement

Jonathan Sutyak , December 04, 2009