Game designer writes academic report on effective Achievements

I think they should do more performance based achievements. Anyone can complete the game, but can you complete the game without dying? It makes it more fun imo.

I think all achievements/trophies should be tied to things that you otherwise would've missed or things that are actually satisfying to get and don't take too much time. I hate when I'm excited to go for a platinum trophy only to find out I have to do some ridiculously time consuming and tedious challenge that will just end up frustrating me. They should be entertaining and not make people want to punch a wall!

Rockband... Those initial trophies are nothing more than padding stats, IMHO. Then again, some of the later trophies are just ridiculous...

I think there needs to be a small amount of the extremes in Achievements/Trophies, and a healthy, if not robust, middle ground when it comes to these. It is one thing to cater to the hardcore, but also another to just give a handout.

Interesting, after I get some work done today, I'm going to read that article.

The funniest achievement ever is when you beat portal 2. I wont ruin it for those who haven't finished it, but be sure to check it out when it unlocks.

When you see Avatar on somebody's game list, you know you found yourself an achievement whore. I've never quite allowed myself to do it.

I think achievements/trophies/etc can be good things when well crafted. They can be a good way to create a challenging goal without forcing it in-game.

But what I really wanted was for real rewards. Say, you complete a task, you get some sort of "points", that in turn you could exchange for free-games/wallpapers/themes/etc. Make the rewards the little things that people hardly buy, and it would make the experience more enjoyable.

Example: you play some games, get those nasty platinum trophies (well, when PSN gets back, that is), be awarded with "Trophie points". Then you could use it to buy themes, or some new clothes for Home (if that's your thing). I think that, in the long term, would be more profitable then charging US$ 1.99 for a theme or a Home/Avatar piece of wardrobe.

Kongregate and Gamestop have just started it, and I believe it will be a success. But time will tell.

developers should use less online achievements/trophies. I'm not saying online achievements/trophies are bad but i just hate games(usually EA games)were they have them achievements for online play but in a couple of years they close the servers or they were only obtainable on select days and then never again after that(Need For Speed community race days)

I really enjoy achievements/trophies, etc. I just really hate the "You completed the first level" type of achievements. It's whatever though, I'll take the gamerscore but I really didn't enjoy it all that much.

I still don't get the point of achievements. You're being rewarded for being entertained initially playing the game, and then rewarded again with a tiny icon with a number on it...So you're being rewarded for being rewarded....

That's like if you went down a water slide at an amusement park, and the park mascot said "You just had fun! Congratulations!" Then took your picture and posted it up for people to see. And your response to that is, "I did have fun! I really did!" I mean really? Is that necessary?

Joystiq, you've linked to the last page of the article for some reason.

Extra Credits' video on Achievements a few weeks ago was pretty informative. Mostly the bits on how Achievements can be applied to things outside of video games, and in fact, they are, and they work.

But regarding Achievements just in video games, I feel like they generally represent the things that we normally do when we do awesome things in video games. We brag.

Why do we brag? Well, because we want someone to care. We spent hours and hours beating Hard Mode without losing health, and we want some kind of recognition for our awesomeness. Back in the arcades, we had High Score lists. We would point to our names on the list and say, "Yeah, I did that." Then when consoles replaced arcades, we began to lose that feeling of accomplishment. We would do these crazy awesome things, but no one seemed to care. It was a hollow victory.

But now that we have Achievements, every time we do something that we feel is praiseworthy, the game recognizes us for it and the proof is posted online for all to see. Not that many people will actually care, but it doesn't matter.

I think that the best way to do Achievements is to make half of them easy enough to get that if you play straight through the whole game, you'll invariably get all of them. Then, about 3/4 of the remaining achievements should be for difficult, but not impossible things. Things you can do if you are trying to do them, but things you might not do without prior knowledge. These ones are great for when you accidentally stumble upon them. My first memorable experience with Achievements was when I played Bioshock and electrocuted the guys that were standing in water. I didn't hear the game tell me to do it, so I thought I was being clever and sure enough, the game rewarded me for my (not so) cleverness. It was cool. That's what those Achievements are for. Then the last 5 or so Achievements should be for the hardcore. The things that you can only unlock with tireless dedication.

Then there are the Achievements that suck. There's one Achievement in Portal 2 that just plain pisses me off. After completing the Co-Op mode, you have to play the tutorial section again, online, with a friend who has never played before. I hate this Achievement for a few reasons. First, it requires you to play online. All of the other Achievements for Co-Op can be done with a local friend. Second, it requires that you have a friend online who hasn't already played Co-Op. I currently have no such friends, since all of my friends either aren't interested in Portal 2 or they have already begun the Co-Op mode. So if I wanted the Achievement, I would have to either get a dummy XBL account and have a friend play me with it, or get lucky and find a random stranger who has never played the Co-Op before and is willing to befriend me. Obviously, I just decided to not bother with the Achievement.

Basically, any Achievement that requires luck, privileges, or additional purchases is bullshit.

Additionally, some companies just seem to phone in Achievements. Final Fantasy XIII had some of the most boring Achievements ever. There were about two or three that you had to actually work for, and all of the others were just unlocked by playing through the game. That simply doesn't work.

I think that Achievements can be a good tool for rewarding dedicated and creative players, as well as extending the gameplay. The desire for us to feel rewarded, even superficially, is pretty much hardwired into us, so obviously we will welcome them.

"For instance: Should achievements be performance-based, or completion-based? Should they reward boring tasks, or interesting tasks -- which the player's likely to do without the incentive."

Personally, I don't think your game should be filled with boring tasks in the first place.

Achievements have done more to get me to replay a game than anything else. The first play is usually just for pure enjoyment and then I'll go thru part or all of it again to pick up what I missed.