The Xbox 720 Shouldn't Have Achievements
Surely this tired mechanic should be put to bed soon?
Like the Pavlovian dogs that we are, for five years we’ve had our obsessive urges quenched by that familiar ‘Achievement Unlocked’ ping, providing reward for play that would previously have been its own.
It seems legitimate to ask, though, if anyone out there is really all that bothered about the system any longer, and whether Microsoft should consign it to history upon the release of their next Xbox.Here’s why:
- It forces you to do terrible things – Where once we’d have played for the sheer joy, countless hours are now lost to chasing irrelevant goals that shouldn’t really exist. Worse still, who here has thrown countless hours of their lives away chasing criteria they never quite reached. Hello, Ridge Racer 6!
- It breeds hate in your fellow gamer - There can be no system that will more surely bring about hostility between groups of people that assigning them numbers based upon an abstract ability. It’s like a five-year-long psychology experiment set loose. Its removal would surely usher in an age of harmony on Xbox Live.
- It’s going to become even more elitist – As gaming lumbers increasingly towards an online-only future, more Achievements would surely be awarded for various forms of victory against fellow players, allowing those with skill to disappear far into the distance, behind dedicated newcomers. Isn’t Kinect meant to have ushered in an age of inclusive gaming?
- It meddles with sales figures - Previous to this generation, a terrible videogame would have sunk to the bottom of the pile like Mario without a frog suit on. Now said titles tempt gamers in with a banquet of tasty GamerPoints, causing them to concede that yes, Rango: The Videogame isn’t all that bad. When it definitely is.
- It allows developers to get away with murder – Not literally of course, but consider this. Prior to 2005, the creation of an expansive, open world environment filled with collectibles would have been deemed lazy. With an Achievement attached to the collection thereof, it’s now technically gameplay. This cannot be allowed to continue, for the sake of the average gamer’s sanity. Collecting things is no more entertaining in videogame form than it would be in a park, with a metal detector. That’s why all the people you see doing it smell and have no friends. Fact.
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Bad Article.
1. If you hate Achievements why would you do terrible things to get them? Multiplayer achievements should be gotten rid of however, unless they don’t affect the natural gameplay.
2. If someone has a go at your achievements then you wouldn’t want to be friends with them anyway, just mute them. I don’t get abuse for gamerscore online, I understand that other people may but nowadays you’re able to block these people, besides, most people are in parties anyway these days, so you’re normally only talking to your friends.
3. This is just an extension of number 2, if no-one abuses you about it, then there is no point worrying about what your gamerscore is.
4. Most people rent if they are going for achievements, the fact that bad videogames reach number 1 are because of parents and children who want the game because it’s based off a movie etc
5. I agree with this, collectibles are annoying and pointless, if they add GOOD gameplay to it then I would accept it, but half the time it’s just ‘Collect 100 logs’ or whatever, they are boring and don’t add gameplay.
Just because you don’t like achievements doesn’t mean other people do as well, if that were true then the http://www.xbox360achievements.org website would be pointless. Achievements are here to stay, get used to them.
NO Xbox 720 better come with Achievements and they better continue off my 360 Achievements, I had tons of fun earning them and feel proud of what I earned. MS was smart to start Achievements which almost everybody copied now because they add to a game and because I know a dozen of friends including myself which are locked on getting the new Xbox so we can carry over all of our hard earned Achievements. It’s also the reason I buy multiplates on 360 instead of PS3 and Wii, all in all it was a very smart move by MS to start them and it would be foolish to stop.
This article is just pure stupidity. Achievements and trophies are completely OPT-IN and OPTIONAL. Those who care about them will care and compete with you (big whup). Those who don’t won’t. :P It’s really that simple.
Achievements / Trophies are here to stay — regardless of how much wishful thinking you have. Here is the MAIN reason why…
It allows developers and publishers to gather data from the software you use. This feedback can help to make future titles better or it can help point out what games people are playing so more of those games will be made.
Achievements are the cheese
Talking crap. Makes people explore the game more. Gives a game more of a life time.
I like achievements more than this article.
i wish achievements/trophies would just go the way of the dodo…they’re so 2005.
Your obviously bad at video games i heart achievements and is the reason i stopped playing ps3 so if you dont like achievements go play the wii
“Prior to 2005, the creation of an expansive, open world environment filled with collectibles would have been deemed lazy.”
You apparently didn’t play video games before 2005 then? Hell, even Wolfenstein 3D had you searching for secret rooms just so you could get the 100% for finding treasure…and I’d put money on them not being the first :)
yup yet another pretty bad article. Serioulsy. kept giving you a chance but nah this site is a waste of time. seeya
Achievements are to a great extent challenges laid down by the makers of the game, I for one find it very satisfying to know that I have accepted and beaten those challenges. Achievements also allow a game additional longevity, I recently played through Shadows of the Damned on all three levels because the achievements didn’t stack, I really enjoyed the game, but I don’t know that I would have played it three times on the trot without the temptation of those extra achievements, and seeing a game 100% complete is very satisfying. Hopefully, achievements are here to stay.
This is a bit of a silly article isnt?, I mean walking out in front of a car is pretty silly way to spend you’re day too & you know what, that’s why i dont do it.
Basically what i’m getting at is, if you dont like hunting for what you think are silly Achievements, dont do it.
I think Achievements are a brilliant idea & help give games a second boost of life on multiple playthroughs.
I would like to see them skew the achievements more towards the harder settings. instead of 20 for finishing a game on normal and 50 for hard you should get 300 for finishing it on hard. Make it like military medals where some have far more meaning than the simple participation trophy most of them equate to.
I rarely get to spend as much time as i’d like with the joypad these days, so achievements only really register once ive taken everything else from the game. Like many, after tearing the wrapper from a new game, and without taking any notice of the achievements avaiIable, I first finish the single player, then hammer the multiplayer for all its worth, then finally check my outstanding achievements and mop them up if the game is worth putting the time in and they arent just mindless ‘filler’.
Ive been gaming for 30 years so the gameplay is paramount, until achievements i knew nothing else so that isnt going to change, but they do have a place and as sad as it seems, i often raise a smile when i see an achievement unexpectedly ching up on screen. Its a little extra, so why not?
what the crap? what is wrong with achievements? everything you pointed out is flaws in ourselves not achievements fault. the fact that game makers are lazy and they put easy achievements in so they get heaps of people achievement whoring isnt the achievements fault its the lazy company or the stupid consumers. and since when was finding fun in somthing that isnt fun a bad thing. i dont agree with multiplayer achievements or achievements that are unataiable without thier previous game or playing rediculous amounts of crap but at the end of the day i feel pretty happy when i see one pop up.
I agree, achievements on console should be done away with. HOWEVER, I believe in the games themselves having achievements within the game. I just think having achievements locked onto your account are marketing ploys slapping us in our faces. It’s obvious- so no, they won’t go away, but it ought to. It’s hard for us people with mild obsessive compulsive disorder.
Xbox should just let people know whether you’ve completed a game or not. Or at least get rid of multiplayer achievements. I picked up Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, which was almost a launch title. I decided to get all of the achievement points. One of them is to get to the top of the multiplayer ladder. OH OKAY, LET ME GO DO THAT. NOBODY ONLINE. DOOM.
P.S. I believe Xbox shouldn’t even have sign in accounts. So annoying when you want to just fire up a damn game.
Baaad article! I think the achievement system is the best invention since the console itself. It has led me to play many, many more hours on games than I did before. The sound of the ‘ploink’ is music to my ears and I have put a lot of effort in accumulating my 81K. So much so, that wiping my score would most likely set me back to pc gaming…