GDC 2010: EEDAR on Achievements, user behavior

Halo 3 has had to be one of the biggest pain in the ass for achievements i have ever found, atleast with fable 2 its just the 1 stupid dollcatcher achievement i need but halo 3 needs sevrel playthroughs of 1 level to get them all.

Its annoying how many games have multiplayer achievement but you have to buy a map pack for so you can play online.

I've only managed 100% of achievement in a few games where I was motivated to finish and/or complete all the side missions. Some games have ridiculously hard or monotonous achievements, and those I tend to steer clear from. There are others that completely ignore multiplayer, or force you to complete with a partner or team. I find those are hit and miss as far as any value. Depends on whether or not friends have the game or whether or not you're willing to team up with a stranger to complete. It's almost too bad you couldn't choose your own and lock in the achievements based on your own style of play.

It seems to me that achievements have become harder or more involved. Earlier games were a little bit looser in their criteria. I find it particularly funny that some XBLA games take achievements way too seriously, and are too hard to achieve for most casual gamers, which is what XBLA initially catered towards. There's also that disconnect where some achievements are only possible for unrealistic situations (ie, so many players in multiplayer at the same time). And there are also games where achievements are just so freaking hard or take way too long to acquire, you almost feel disappointed. I know one game in particular I played for days and never received a single achievement. It was like throw me a bone. Likewise, there's funny achievements such as in the Simpsons where starting the gave gives you an achievement. Love the sympathy achievements!

Anyway, I don't play games soely for the achievements, but if I do get them, I do rather enjoy it, and feel some sense of accomplishment or milestone.

Games I have 100% on:
Halo 3
Bioshock 2
Modern Warfare 2
LOTR: Conquest
Madden 2008
Bioshock
Assassins Creed II

I liked the quick read and the reasoning behind it. To me achievements (if recognized by the player at all) are a reason to replay the game. If a vast majority of players are not even trying to reach a 50% completion mark in achievements to me that says the game to the owner wasn't worth replaying that or the achievement was not worth it to the player be it for any numerous of reasons.

In my eyes most game makers should strive to have a constant 75% achievement mark on their games. The remaining 25% of the achievements should reward those hardcore gamers if you will. The 75% mark to me says that the owner of said game wished to replay the game at least 2 times to ensure he got up to that area. Anything below 50% to a extent states the person played the game then decided to quit for any possible reason.

Hope that the developers listened to this overall.

Really good read, i really like the point they made regarding the use of achievements for sequel building, if nobody did it then dont put it in the sequel.

Usually I try to get all achievements because I want to “see” everything. I completely ignore online achievements, though. I don't care for online deathmatches and some of those achievements (like “become number one”) are ridiculous anyway. For example, I got the platin trophy in Fallout 3 and all achivements in Bioshock but only like 30% in Killzone 2. I think achievements can be a great motivation, but if they are unrealistic then they are only annoying.

Well, most games have stupid achievments. Not everyone has time to spend grinding/playing on "uber hard"/collecting 10,000,000 heads/souls/coins.

IMO achievments dont reflect how much someone likes a game. Poeple who dont buy games very often get more achievments in the few games they have.

I think game story unlocking achievements help motivate a player to continue on. Sadly if the player is only going for the achievements then they've lost the point. That is what I'd say to this panel. I'm actually a member on MyGamerCard.net yet I don't play bad games or do stupid things just to get the achievements. Also I can't even get the online achievements due to not having broadband in my area so there's that. One thing devs could do is to unlock a gamerpic or theme (insert other motivation) if you 100% their game.

Achievements have actually stopped me from trying certain games on my profile because I know Ill never have any chance of getting them.

Oh I'd like to add that Bioware knows how to implement achievements with motivation/rewards/and me wanting to replay the game over again.

I don't even look at a game's achievement list anymore prior to playing. If I unlock one during my normal play through, great, but I don't go out of my way to get them. Unless I have already finished the game and I am bored and decide to go back and get a few extra ones. Which is rare.

Well, if the developers start making achievements a little easier to get, maybe those number will change drastically. Because some are just for the superultahipermegahardcore, which are only 4% of the gaming population.

A sample size of 100 seems quite low for a community of 17 million people (as of January '09).