Achievements, as they are currently known, began three years before I became aware of their existence with the already established terminology. The fact that I've never been a big fan of "achievements" could in part be from the fact that I've never owned an Xbox or PS3. I understand the concept of achievements just as well, but again, they're not really my thing. My prepared rebuttal to the almost inevitable discussion that not liking achievements must mean that I suck at video games and that I should get back to sucking dick goes something like this, "Whatever."
When I first watched the Red vs Blue PSA "Small Rewards" back in 2008, I was introduced to the concept of Achievements in their present form. I had mentioned in a previous post that I consider the cheats in Goldeneye 007 to be "functional achievements," but calling them as such is only as recent as the writing of that article.
With the acquisition of games via Steam, being my main source for PC gaming, I now have an avenue to acquire achievements. What I sort of like about the achievements via Steam is that what you have earned is not posted on the front page of your profile. Maybe they can be with a bit of tinkering in the profile settings, which is fine I guess, but it's not something that I'm going to actively look for. Yes I can go and find out which achievements Dr. Potts has obtained/acquired/unlocked in LIMBO, but I've got to make at least 3 mouse clicks in order to find out. To me, this says that the achievements on Steam are not as important to other people as they are on Xbox Live or the Playstation Network. That you have to actively go looking for someone else's achievements says something about that system. And whatever it's trying to say, I like it.
One other thing that somewhat disappointed me about the concept of earning achievements is the fact that you know about them before you even play the game. In Portal 2, one of the achievements is titled "You Made Your Point" with the subtext "Refuse to solve the first test in Chapter 8." It tells you how to earn the achievement. Granted some other achievements aren't so easily accomplished or even tell you how to accomplish them as in the "Transmission Received" in the first Portal which lists the subtext as "..?". I like the idea of achievements being totally ambiguous or just having no description at all. I'd personally felt a sense of pride when I figured out what that achievement entailed. Do I have that particular achievement? Nope, I've got 7 of 26, which is just fine with me as I know what to do to acquire the achievement, I just haven't done them all yet.
I like the idea that you would be playing a game and all of a sudden the game lets you know that you achieved something that you didn't know was there, that you did something cool that the programmers also had thought of, but again, that just might be me. Or maybe in the case of multiple part achievements, trying to figure out what it was that you just did and have the game say that you need to do the same thing nine more times at other parts in the game.
The last thing, and I know a lot of games do this, is offering achievements for either passing a level or reaching a checkpoint in a level. If it's something you're supposed to do like collecting fully powered portal gun, I don't see a reason for there to be an achievement for it. I can almost imagine what achievements would have looked like in early NES games. Get an achievement for beating the game on any difficulty level (if the game has difficulty levels)? Sure, give out an achievement for Easy, Medium and Jedi level difficulties or for just beating the game in general. Maybe they're around to show other players your progress through the game.
Someone who has a larger degree than I do might say that achievements are the product of a society that has become one based on instant gratification, that if there weren't achievements in games (except that most/all of Nintendo games don't have an achievement-type system) that people would feel that their progression in the game isn't worth anything. But, I'm not that someone, so I won't say that.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
My Gamerscore is 0, If Anyone Wants To Know.
P.S. I couldn't figure out where to put this in the main body of the article, so a post script will do just fine. I get that some achievements are challenging to unlock, but some are just plain bitch-cake crazy (I'm looking at you True Form). I have yet to come across a game on Steam that I feel compelled to unlock all of the achievements in order for me to feel like I played a game to its fullest.
I like the idea that you would be playing a game and all of a sudden the game lets you know that you achieved something that you didn't know was there, that you did something cool that the programmers also had thought of, but again, that just might be me. Or maybe in the case of multiple part achievements, trying to figure out what it was that you just did and have the game say that you need to do the same thing nine more times at other parts in the game.
The last thing, and I know a lot of games do this, is offering achievements for either passing a level or reaching a checkpoint in a level. If it's something you're supposed to do like collecting fully powered portal gun, I don't see a reason for there to be an achievement for it. I can almost imagine what achievements would have looked like in early NES games. Get an achievement for beating the game on any difficulty level (if the game has difficulty levels)? Sure, give out an achievement for Easy, Medium and Jedi level difficulties or for just beating the game in general. Maybe they're around to show other players your progress through the game.
Someone who has a larger degree than I do might say that achievements are the product of a society that has become one based on instant gratification, that if there weren't achievements in games (except that most/all of Nintendo games don't have an achievement-type system) that people would feel that their progression in the game isn't worth anything. But, I'm not that someone, so I won't say that.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
My Gamerscore is 0, If Anyone Wants To Know.
P.S. I couldn't figure out where to put this in the main body of the article, so a post script will do just fine. I get that some achievements are challenging to unlock, but some are just plain bitch-cake crazy (I'm looking at you True Form). I have yet to come across a game on Steam that I feel compelled to unlock all of the achievements in order for me to feel like I played a game to its fullest.
Achievement unlocked: Cracking me up!
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