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Opinion: Achievements and Gamers

By Jason - May 26, 2009 - 05:47 UTC - 33232 Commentshttp://www.xboxinsider.net/opinion-achievements-and-gamers/Opinion%3A++Achievements+and+Gamers2009-05-26+05%3A47%3A14Jason

I overheard a conversation between gamers the other day which sparked my creative juices in regards to an opinion article, namely the one I’m writing now (let’s face facts; if it wasn’t, it’d be very strange).  The conversation was about  achievements in general; how they both competed for them, what games were best for achievements, and how what they played and their score was critiqued by all.

After listening to this conversation, I got to thinking about how I saw achievements.  A public record of my gaming habits, my choices and how involved I was in games; a trophy if you will, of my gaming prowess.  With this is mind, I got to asking over 50 other gamers what they thought about achievements and how or if they changed their own mindset about gaming because of them.  The results, personally, I thought worthy of sharing.

Has the addition of achievements affected your gaming mindset?

The general consensus here was that they had.  A staggering 86% of people found that they were playing games again, or in different ways (doing things they normally wouldn’t) just to get those extra achievements.  I was also interested to see that people who had played Xbox 360 for achievements seemed more likely to play games if they had achievements (for example, Desktop Tower Defense on DS now has achievements, in its own way), so the trend towards adding a goal to aspire to (which would explain why developers [including flash games] are now tending toward the trend of ‘achievements’ [including the addition of them on the PS3])

Do you feel that the addition of achievements has caused you to do things in games you would not have previously done?

Gamers seem less likely to push the boundaries to either 100% anything in a game or to do a second run-through or something similar due to lack of achievements.  People are a goal-driven force generally anyway, so the addition of achievements to games has given people something to strive for.  Also, the achievements also add a form of bragging rights; something to show to your friends (outside of the home), to wear as a badge of honour, to say, “Yeah, I’ve done that, have you?” and be able to back it up with proof.  Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 4 is a classic example.  Not many people would go out and shoot all of the pigeons for the achievement as there is little incentive in-game, but since there is an achievement for it (albeit a small one), people are compelled to go out and spend time hunting the little flying rats down.

What about multiplayer?  Would you normally try multiplayer if it had no achievements?

This was more or less down the line.  About 58% of gamers who took the questionnaire admitted that for non-mainstream games they wouldn’t try multiplayer at all if there was no achievements for them.  In fact, it would seem that most gamers only want to try multiplayer for the popular games if there is no in-game incentive for playing (like in Godfather 2, where completing goals online means you can level up your ‘family’ in single player)

Would you feel more compelled to play a harder difficulty usually above your base-line if there was achievements on the line?

Another close-class question.  More of the hardened veteran gamers were more than happy to jump into the highest difficulty, or play a game again at a harder difficulty if it wasn’t already unlocked (like in Gears of War), so it wasn’t a big step for them anyway; but for the normal gamer, your average Joe was more than happy in most cases (ie: patience permitting) to step up to the plate and take a swing at a higher difficulty if lots of gamerscore was on the line (for example, Halo 3’s Legendary difficulty), even more so when those achievements stacked and unlocked for previous difficulties as well.

In comparison to actual in-game rewards, do you prefer achievements?

This was an interesting question to respond to, for me.  I mean, both are quantified as an “achievement”, either through lots of unlocks to benefit the player like in the Saints Row series, or alternatively, an online number to show what you’ve done, or how good you are?  Personally for me, I prefer the benefit of unlocks in game.  Either unlocking new content (Like Halo’s skulls) or extra things (the aforementioned Saints Row is a big player here).  I mean, I automatically lose the bragging rights by not having it replicated online, but I also get something to benefit me.  Disagreeing with me though was the majority of gamers, it seems.  Players seem more interested in being able to show off what they’ve done than actually get something in return for it.  Admittedly, usually if you unlock something to benefit your in-game experience, there’s often an achievement trailing behind like a lost puppy.

Would you be more likely to buy/rent a game if it was an “easy 1000 gamerscore”?

I will always find this question hilarious.  The answer is just as hilarious in my book.  About 60% of gamers would be happy to rent (not so many would buy) a game for a few dollars just to raise that gamerscore up in a way that only Avatar and King Kong can.  Incidentely though, out of that 60%, about 70% of them wouldn’t rent a game that had been seen as ridiculously easy, just say, a 3/10 difficulty to achieve 1000 gamerscore.  Otherwise it could be seen as “cheating” for you score.  Go figure.

In regards to the difficulty of achievements, how do you feel about ridiculously easy ones?

Happily for me, most gamers were more than happy to admit that they hated games where you got achievements for doing something that, really, shouldn’t have an achievement.  Best example of this is Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, where there is an achievement called “…where credit is due”.  A stagger 60G for merely watching the credits.  It seems, thankfully, that gamers are generally happy to get achievements if they have indeed done an achievement.  Watching the credits, hitting the start button in The Simpsons Game (5G); these are not achievements.  They are just part of playing.

What about strange numbered achievements?  Ones that aren’t a multiple of 5 or 10?

I’m pretty pedantic about many things, and this is a pet hate for me.  Forza Motorsport 2 is a bad offender if I recall correctly.  Again, I am not alone.  It seems many gamers are in the same boat, almost 90% of those asked also hated this practice and wanted it to stop.  Apparently, the tarnishing of a public score was too much to bear, and caused some of them to finish the game as quickly as possible to make it ‘right’ again, or play another game that had an ‘off’ scoring achievement to bring it back to a multiple once more.  Thankfully for me though, I’ve only experienced two games that suffer this affliction.  Forza Motorsport 2 and Infinite Undiscovery.  The later of which is a game that clearly hates all gamers who love gamerscore.

So there you have it.  I had a lot of fun hearing back from people with their opinions in regards to achievements, and would love to hear some comments below about your responses to the study I did.