Did You Care More or Less About Trophies/Achievements This Gen? What Changed?

[Zombine]

Last generation, the Xbox 360 and PS3 introduced achievements and trophies. This system was utilized to extend the longevity of a game long past the initial launch week of a title and provided players with additional challenges for an arbitrary amount of achievement points or a trophy ranking.

During the launch of this new system, I would say that I was achievement crazy. I would play dozens of games, some unfortunately just for easy achievements to pad my score (Avatar the Last Airbender) and I would try my best to squeeze out every achievement possible to beat my friend's gamer score.

With the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One, this system would return, but my interest would not. Be it entering my mid twenties and spending more time working, or just seeing the pointlessness of it all, I couldn't give less of a shit and still don't in 2020. If some are fun enough I might try for them, but rarely do I ever go out of my way to do whatever they ask of me. A better achievement to me is unlocking a special weapon in a game, or maxing our stats in a good action RPG, or hell even seeing a game through to the end now that I'm an adult with responsibilities. I just don't care for it like I used to.

Where do you stand? Are you more or less into this system? Would you miss it next gen if it was to vanish, or do you want something more from it? Do you plan on jumping back in if you sat this gen out? Definitely curious about your particular experience with these systems.

 

[sibarraz]

Less because I got older and have zero time to grind achievements

 

[Platy]

i would say more but I went from hating to liking when they mix it with unlockables and hating otherwise =P

 

[Glio]

I care about the same: Nothing.

 

[Tunichtgut]

Never cared about them, to be honest.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Less than ever. I only really notice them at all if one randomly gets featured when my XBO is idling, or I see a notification in an app.

 

[hombremalo]

Never cared

 

[ghostcrew]

Definitely less. The more I got of both, the less they mattered. I barely even look at trophy and achievement lists now.

I guess I still like it when one pops. So maybe I actually like them on a more pure level now rather than my obsession with watching the numbers go up last gen!

 

[Jimnymebob]

Way less.

 

[Zonnes]

Nothing changed, couldn't care less

 

[Yuntu]

For me nothing changed, I never really cared and that's still the same. Thank the lord you can turn off notifications for that shit.

 

[Mack]

Nothing changed, couldn't care less

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This.

 

[banter]

I mostly look at them to extend the life of games that I've beaten but still want to play. But I definitely care less about them this gen. Especially achievements. The lack of "you got them all" specific things and how they started giving them out on things that aren't games really killed them for me in the beginning of the gen.

 

[psilocybe]

I thought about going after platinums early this gen, but after two I stopped (Killzone Shadow Fall and Infamou Second Son).
Too much grinding.

I still like when a trophy/achievement pops up though.

 

[OrangeNova]

Less for 100%-ing achievements.

More for "What haven't I done, oh that seems interesting"

 

[Couscous]

From 2016 and onwards I just stopped caring, because I realised that they're mostly there to pad out the time you play a game.

 

[Camp1nCarl]

Far less this generation. A big factor is the point in my life during each generation. Xbox 360 being in high school (plethora of free time), several friends and I competed to see who can have the highest. I think I accrued 30000+ gamer score in the first 2 to 4 years. Then over the next decade I think I've gotten about 5000 since haha. Pretty much stopped gaming much in college and have picked it up less so post college. It think it became a bit diluted and rather pointless once so many games started coming out as well.

 

[Noppie]

I only care about achievements that actually unlock stuff, so I care a bit. Those are mostly tied to single games though, I don't care about trophjies or xbox live points or whatever.

 

[FelipeMGM]

more for sure. I used to have one Platinum on PS3, now I have a little over 30 I think. Also 1000g'd my first couple of Xbox games this gen too

 

[ItchyTasty]

I don't care less about it now, most of it is just timewasting stuff and unfun repetetive gathering. I'll look through the list to see if there is something fun to do or missable story missions.

 

[Auberji]

I don't really care for them and never did, I really disliked the way Team Fortress 2 did it all those years back, but I did platinum two games in the last few years, Spider-man and Dragon Quest XI. In a lot of games it just starts to feel a bit arbitrary and check-listy and I feel like I could just be doing something new I enjoy instead.

 

[Trickytoon]

I still like the fact that they exist, particularly as a way of tracking what I did in a particular game or highlighting some goal I could reach and be rewarded for. But I stopped caring about my Gamerscore / Trophy *total* when I realised chasing some arbitrary numeric target was making me miss out on some great non-trophy games, as I would usually only play a game if it had a Xbox / PS / Steam version.

A nice bonus in changing attitude was discovering the 3DS library - right up there in my personal GOAT.

 

[Kemono]

Less, sadly.

I still like getting my Platinum Trophies but i don't have the time with all these games i want to play and my rising backlog.

But in some cases i make an exception. Resident Evil 3 will be such a case but only if it's sp only trophies. MP trophies outside of mp games can kick rocks as far as im concerned.

 

[KartuneDX]

Can't say I ever really cared for them but if I did then I do way less having spent most of my time playing Switch the last 2-3 years.

 

[Zombine]

Definitely less. The more I got of both, the less they mattered. I barely even look at trophy and achievement lists now.

I guess I still like it when one pops. So maybe I actually like them on a more pure level now rather than my obsession with watching the numbers go up last gen!

Click to shrink...

Exactly where I stand. I would even argue that the Gamepass/Rewards system Microsoft now has in place is far superior because it asks way less from the player, has you try out new games that you would have potentially ignored, and give you points to put toward gift cards. I believe in the past year I earned about $30 with rewards.

Not to mention that achievements are fairly hidden in that cumbersome Xbox one menu. Credit to Sony for making trophies a little easier to locate.

 

[Aurc]

About the same. I've always been a completionist, even since before achievements or trophies existed. That inclination hasn't really diminished over time. I'm coming up on 100 Platinums soon, and can honestly say I enjoyed acquiring the majority of them, over the past decade that I've had a PSN account. I don't play stupid filler games in some effort to buff up my numbers, and I think it's kinda weird some people actually do that, however. I just play what I know I'll enjoy.

 

[Pelao]

I cared the same as before, by which I mean not too much.
I only go for platinums when I need an excuse to keep playing the game because I'm having a good time but there's no other clear goal on-sight.
I don't even check at my achievements list on the xbox.

So no, I wouldn't miss them if they went away.

 

[Jolkien]

I've been hunting trophies a lot more this gen than the previous one.

 

[Lunchbox]

Definitely the same, I just played more games; always enjoyed seeing the ones I can get & when I'm done checking the ones I missed or hidden like a game within a game achievements/trophies are the best thing to happen to me with gaming artificially.

that being said I still enjoy Nintendo products it's not necessary for me at all but I have been taking games on PS4 over Switch because of it.

 

[Giga Man]

I never cared and still don't.

 

[cw_sasuke]

I care about the same: Nothing.

Click to shrink...

.

 

[Zombine]

I've been hunting trophies a lot more this gen than the previous one.

Click to shrink...

Any major changes in gaming habits, or do you like the games you have played so much that you try to get as much out of them as possible?

 

[StrappingYoungLance]

About the same. If I really like a game and it's achievable without any tedium I'll shoot for the Platinum, if not I'll just move on. I still like having them there to reflect on what games I've played and what I've done in them. I also like having a squiz at my friends' stuff on occasion - particularly if we're playing through something around the same time.

 

[RingRang]

I've always liked them and still do, but I don't do anything crazy to earn them.

What really annoyed me this gen was how Xbox buried them in their OS. It just feels like a chore to try and pull them up. In order to see the entire list you gave to go to a full screen list no matter what. I hate this. Really hoping next gen you can pull up a simple list at anytime.

 

[xendless]

Care more now, never bothered last gen. If they're not too awful to get I will try to get them all

 

[Flevance]

More.. much more, actually. I was close to get the platinum on many games on my old account, but didn't bother. Games such as Killzone 2 and GTA IV which I've spent a ton of hours on and got most of their trophies, even finished Killzone 2 on Elite mode and left GTA IV when I was on level 9 (10 is the maximum level), or Just Cause 2 which was close to %100 the game, but the map is so big and didn't know where was the things I was missing, so dropped it as well

However, that changed when I played Ground Zeroes, I was randomly replaying it from time to time and finished all the side missions, got S rank for the main mission on hard mode, didn't know what to do more, but I wanted to play it more tho, those trophies gave me exactly what I wanted.. a goal. It was really fun to work on them, so the real hunt started then :p

Reached my #100 platinum last year, platinumed the hardest games.. or at least from the genre I'm interested in and 100%ed every Metal Gear game except for Survive which I might not play in my life. I feel like I'm done at this point, I hope next gen will have some improvements, it's been like 6/7 months since my last platinum

 

[Jolkien]

Any major changes in gaming habits, or do you like the games you have played so much that you try to get as much out of them as possible?

Click to shrink...

The later. I've always been a completionist and with the price hike we got in Canada I try to get as much mileage of every game as possible. I don't pad mytrophy number with "crappy" games or games I'm not interested in. But a good trophy list in a game I'm unsure of but interested in will make me buy it.

Funnily enough I don't care at all about Xbox achievement or Steam. Only platform I care about achievement is PlayStation and World of Warcraft.

 

[Lentic]

I still love getting trophies for games I really like. Sometimes you discover new things about the game that you wouldn't have otherwise.

Getting trophies for the sake of leveling up is dumb though.

 

[Guicheman]

Never cared. Even deactivated the pop-up on PS4.

 

[Dodoow]

Less, i love playing games the way I like and I don't like to play in any forced way!

 

[Opa-Opa]

Even less... I thought it was zero before, but now it's probably -1.

But love me some of this:

Achievements and Trophies done right.

Pop-ups ruining cutscenes... nightmarish!

 

[Snake Eater]

Zero

 

[iHeartGameDev]

Definitely less - I went from being a high school/college student to having full time jobs and a girlfriend. At a certain point, some of these achievement lists felt like an additional job.

 

[panda-zebra]

Less, much less. But I do appreciate it when I enjoy a game but don't particularly want it to end at the story finale, so anything with "doable" platinums like Days Gone and Spider-Man gives good incentive to stay in the world just a bit longer with defined goals to aim for.

 

[Lunchbox]

I would of missed a lot of content in some games honestly if not for trophies.

 

[Neo_MG90]

I never did.

 

[No Depth]

Enjoy the chase for games I am fond of. But my appetite has died down tremendously since 360 era.

Ill still look up a list to see what needs doing occasionally, but not always. I used to grind them for anything I played, often carrying anxiety over missables with progress while using guides. I recently enjoyed Days Gone and about halfway through decided I was in for the plat, so I went for it. No other game this year had me do the same. I grab trophies as I stumbled on them, but I barely look at lists anymore.

Though I still appreciate the data culled from them. Percentages of players completing progress thresholds is fun to check now and again. Same with friends to see how far or what they have accomplished in certain titles. Not for competitive means, just curiosity.

 

[Flame Lord]

Less, but only because the PS4 was my main console, and the only trophy that feels like they're worth anything are the platinum ones.

 

[GreenEarth]

I still enjoy getting trophies, but I don't chase platinums in the games I play now like I did some years back. I'm fine with leaving the most tedious trophies unfinished, which I would have grinded mindlessly before.

 

[paradox85]

Less, but I still like them.