Someone explain the appeal of Achievements/Trophies/Gamerscore etc.

[JayDizzle]

If you're buying a game, you're pretty much coming in with the expectation of playing it again in the near future, if not somewhere down the road.

Multiple endings, collectibles, alternative ways to beat a level, unlockables, etc. compound on that mindset.

With trophies/achievements, you're now getting physical/numerical acknowledgement for your efforts.

The downside of that is, trophies/achievements are more important than the actual experience of sitting down and beating the game itself.

IMO, they add replay value and encourage you to put more time into a game versus beating it once and letting it collect dust/trading it in at grossly undervalued credit for another title you'll repeat the same process with.

[SethMode]

Despite the guy's idiotic voice, this is a pretty good video on Achievements:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2758-Achievements

Personally, I guess that I like them well enough. But I only really care when they either pop because you're exploring every inch of the game (like DA or ME) or when they truly are clever and/or funny (Half-Life 2 does some interesting things with that). In either case, the points aren't important to me for the most part, but they are a really nice guide to experiencing everything, and particularly stuff that is clever and wouldn't be thought of. And there are challenges that are interesting enough (like say, in Half-Life 2 Episode 1 on the Orange Box, there is an achievement for beating the episode while only firing a single bullet. It's hard as shit to do, but it's a challenge I never would have taken on in a game that I love, so I was willing to give it a shot. That game has a number of weird/crazy achievements that would only exist because of the achievement system -- another one is where you have to take a garden gnome throughout the entire game). I guess my point is, I don't care so much about the points, but I like when creativity is at the root of them, making you play games in different or more challenging ways.

[Youk]

I used them with GTA IV to try to do different shit with the game.

[FUSE]

It would be awesome, if you could use your gamerscore to unlock games in the marketplace. But of course microsoft wouldnt do that because they make a lot of money off of microsoft points

[PP]

I go cool. when they pop up in the corner. like when i play fifa and I get something that says "wonder strike" or some shit. i don't go to any websites and find out what trophies a game has and try to win them. I think they implemented them to take advantage of people who have hoarding tendencies and try to accumulate everything. People do weird shit. Just look at the guys on OS trying to get NCAA 1 week early. They practically would suck your cock and pay you $100 to have the game. its all about the thrill baby.

[SethMode]

I go cool. when they pop up in the corner. like when i play fifa and I get something that says "wonder strike" or some shit. i don't go to any websites and find out what trophies a game has and try to win them. I think they implemented them to take advantage of people who have hoarding tendencies and try to accumulate everything. People do weird shit. Just look at the guys on OS trying to get NCAA 1 week early. They practically would suck your cock and pay you $100 to have the game. its all about the thrill baby.

I do think that that is part of it...particularly when you look up a fucking youtube video for HOW to get an achievement. That's pretty damn lame if you ask me. But I think the system in general isn't bad and can be used to really enhance a game. Just, most developers don't do it, they do exactly what you said: "Let's just throw shit in there to get them to play the game a lot because most gamers are basically OCD."

[RyanLeaf16]

I'm with the OP. I don't give a shit about trophies. Doesn't mean it's wrong for others to care. It's just not my cup of tea. The trophies I get are simply by accident much like the OP said.

[Twigg4075]

I love em. Gives me something to do. I think it's cool to replay something I wouldn't have before. Some odd little side task I wouldn't do anyway is fun for me.

Yup. I know I'm getting a lot more out of my games these days because of them. Sure I spend a lot of pointless times chasing them but not only do they help me try things in game that I probabky never would've before, the bragging rights are nice too. Mg cousin and I are constantly competing to see who can more cheevos/trophies than the other. If people can love fantasy sports, which I do as well (football at least) I don't understand why it's so difficult to understand why they are so popular.

[Misogi]

Bigger Gamerscore/More Trophies = Bigger epeen. Simple as that. I have a friend who loves to be like "I PLATINUM'D THIS GAME!"

[St. Francisco]

I'm not huge on achievements, but there are a few games I really enjoy getting all of the achievements...mainly on my iPhone. Fruit Ninja, Modern Conflict, Angry Birds, Infinity Blade...these are all games that I enjoy playing a lot, but at some point they become a little stale. Going for those achievements is almost like adding new levels to the game.

[Houston]

I'm not one of those guys that goes to blockbuster and rents NBA Live 06 to get an easy 1000 gamerscore . Believe me there is people that will do this.

People did this with a Ninja Turtle game.

[Twigg4075]

If it's something attainable without me breaking a controller or two I may try for it, and that is ONLY if I actually like the game. I'm not one of those guys that goes to blockbuster and rents NBA Live 06 to get an easy 1000 gamerscore . Believe me there is people that will do this.

Guys like bironm and Wolo were the best at this. I'm actually in the process of luring biron back here, I see wolo online once in awhile.

I've been wondering where Biron has been. I think he is still on my Live friend list. I know Wolo is.

I was actually talking about this with Grif and Medellin the other night. I think Grif said he has all 1000 points from Avatar. LOL.

[Twigg4075]

I had 2 games at a time for gamefly during that time Twigg.

Cool story bro.

Whatever helps you sleep at night.

[leaffan]

The only time I generally care about them is when I'm pretty much done the game and want something to do to waste time.

Fallout 3 was a good example of this. When I completed the game I went back to do a little achievement hunting mainly to just play some of the side quests I had missed. I remember it taking like 2 or 3 days to get the one where you have to kill the behemoths.

[MvP]

I was obsessed with achievements the first year or two that the 360 was out. If there was some way to break down my achievement earnings per year, I would post it. My guess is that at 49810 gamerscore right now with 140 games played, I was at the 35000/100 point by the end of 2007.

Why was I so obsessed with these achievements? I thought there would eventually be some sort of reward for getting them, and me and my cousin used to compete against each other to see who can get all the achievements in a certain game first. Once literally every new game out had 50 achievements, it started to get annoying and I lost interest.