Achievements and trophies have, as of the last console generation, become standard practice in games. But are these collectible trinkets helping or hindering the medium?

For

The year I decided to purchase an Xbox, Lizzie became a diamond queen and the Olympic rings were forged in the pop-up ironworks of a London stadium, while the world sang along to The Beatles.

It may come as a surprise, then, that as editor, I only recently began to play on consoles that gave away achievements and trophies (I bought a PS3 some months later to play Ni No Kuni.) I’ve heard the pros and the cons, the bugbear that ‘organised goals’ cheapen the experience, predominantly because since the time when achievements were a novel concept, they’re now often either painfully simplistic or infuriatingly tedious to… well, achieve.

So if that ‘ping!’ notification flashes across my screen just a little too often, my feathers can get ruffled, because as much as I am a gamer who plays to win, like many others, I play for the full story immersion, and sure, those little pings like to do their best to poke holes in that cloud nine on which I’m daydreaming.

Having said that, trophies do work in moderation – this is key. Difficulty levels must be balanced (unless of course, you’re playing LEGO Harry Potter – collecting bricks is your only nemesis there). It’s also nice to know that developers aren’t intentionally screwing you over by adding last-hurdle stinkers. You know, game achievements which are all very straightforward and pleasant, until you reach 990G – by now so invested in earning the full house you so admirably deserve – only to find the final measly 10G requires you to purchase an online pass. Yes, Saints Row, I’m looking at you.

Despite, however, this wholly cheeky scheme which will have you grumbling but eventually caving in because it just bugs you to see that 990G, which really reads ‘10 less than perfect,’ Saints Row achievements, while simple, have always been uncommonly fun to earn. It goes to show that while duds exist, it would be going too far to condemn all achievements as cons to drag out game content. [divider]

Trophies give you that extra drive to do something incredible – like defeat Kingdom Hearts’ Sephiroth. [divider]

I’ll now admit that I would never have reached 100% completion on Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix had I not trophies to strive for. Back when I played the original before puberty kicked in, as a simple child I ran away from the battle with Sephiroth with my tail between my legs. After I lost. Got my backside well and truly kicked. I thought, no more – I’m not going through that humiliation again. But trophies do things to your brain, they are human whisperers, they taunt you, eyeballing you, jiggling eyebrows at you, laughing, ‘You can’t get me!’

Trophies don’t have eyebrows, you say? Well then, friend, you’ve simply been lucky to escape their power. So a kid who wouldn’t have bothered to strive to beat the game’s biggest, baddest boss, did – with the aid of a trophy’s eyebrows. I think I rest my case. [divider]

Against

As sad as it might be to admit, I used to be obsessed with achievements. I’d spend hours on end trying to find every hidden collectible in Assassin’s Creed and Fallout 3. I even made an offline account called “ACHIEVEMENTS” just for finding the bloody things. I was hooked. Every time a little Gamerscore notification popped up I’d have this wave of satisfaction course through my body, like what I imagine a chain smoker feels when they take a drag on a cigarette. I was, for all intents and purposes, an achievement addict

I’ve calmed down a bit now but back then, to many gamers, I was part of a problem that’s swept gaming ever since achievements were introduced. Simply put, some people believe achievements are instruments of evil, lazily slapped on games as a way of padding out content. Even worse, instead of playing games based on their own merits, many of us now play them just to add to an arbitrary collection of virtual trophies that serves no purpose apart from screaming, “look how many games I’ve bought from a shop.”

As a former slave to achievements I’m not going to say that hoarding them isn’t addictive. However, I think the anti-achievement argument isn’t so much a problem with achievements in general, but rather how they are implemented. The fact is that achievements, when used well, can do a lot to bolster a game’s merits, rather than take away from them. Often they can open your eyes to a game’s hidden secrets, and in some cases completely change the way you approach a game’s mechanics forever.

For example, one of my favourite achievements of all time is “One Free Bullet” from Valve’s The Orange Box. For 40 Gamerscore you’re tasked with making your way through the entirety of Half Life 2: Episode 1 without firing more than a single bullet. Having to work your way through the game’s hordes of enemies and puzzles without using weaponry was pretty challenging, but it completely rebuilt the experience into something organic, and it’s something I probably never would have thought to try if the achievement hadn’t been there to guide me. [divider]

An achievement from Half Life 2: Episode 2 which asks you to carry a gnome throughout the ENTIRE GAME [divider]

Unfortunately the problem is that achievements as creative as “One Free Bullet” just aren’t as common as they should be, particularly when developers often treat achievements as tacked on time-sinks, asking you to repeat the same dull activity over and over again. But this doesn’t mean we should bin achievements outright. Instead, developers should look for more interesting ways to incorporate challenges that reinvigorate their games, rather than put them out to pasture with bland achievements that only exist to fill a quota.

If they do that, I’ll happily become addicted again, as I’m currently finding real life achievements difficult. The “Get a girlfriend” achievement has been particularly taxing. [divider_top]

What’s your take on achievements and trophies? Tweet @BoarGames

Video credits: Cyberman 65, MrMafro