Love them and have added replay value to games.

I have written letters to NES about having them. however if you don't like them, How does this effect you at all? it doesn't, it only adds to someone else's experience, if you don't like them, don't pay attention to them. Just like, if you don't like what's on the stereo, change the station.

Captures it perfectly. LOL

I've seen a lot of people questioning "if you don't like achievement, just ignore them", but that is oversimplifying the issue. I'm not going to go deep into anything because I don't think anybody really cares, but often, achievements are just skinner boxes.

What does that mean? Well basically it is an exploitative way to trick players into playing a game more and artificially lengthening the experience well past the point where it stops being fun, or at least past the point where it stops being as fun as it could be.

If you still think it is a petty complaint, watch this Extra Credits video and just think about all of this in the context of achievements:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtvrPTbQ_c

Also, its worth noting that nobody is really asking games to do less...just do things better. There is a way to get the same effect out of the player without Skinner boxes. I am simply asking for that...

I find them relatively inoffensive, though there are some that are just dumb, such as those unlocked through natural progression be it story or kills/kills with certain weapons/tactics are a waste of time. Then there are some that challenge you to approach a game in ways you wouldn't have even thought about, which are becoming more and more rare these days.

A good example is my favorite achievement of all time, 'Little Rocket Man', in hl2 episode 2 where you have to take a garden gnome from the very beginning of the game and carry it with you all the way to the end and throw it into a rocket. And it's not like the gnome just sat in your inventory, you have to hold it with the gravity gun, which is the primary weapon in episode 2; frankly, at times it was a hassle and annoying, but when I got to the end and threw that lilfuck in the rocket and saw it take off it gave me the weirdest sense of accomplishment like I had never felt before when playing a game.

Some people seem not aware of the fact that achievements are important for developers as well.

Those story achievements show a dev how many people even bothered to try their campaign. With that knowledge they can adjust the length of future games, skip multiplayer or think of story DLC.

As a gamer I know a friend's current story progression and can challenge him or talk about the game without accidentally spoilering anything.

Regarding secret achievements, they exist because they spoiler the game if you read through the achievement list.

Anything else is just lazy design by the developers. It does exist, but don't blame the achievement/trophy system for it.
Go to xboxachievements.com or playstationtrophies.org . They look closely at the achievements/trophies in each of their game reviews.

Part of me wants to get them for completion sake but at the same time, I don't understand why they exist. These are things that used to be unlockables in previous games and as unlockables, secrets and cheats no longer exist really, these do.

My main issue is they are pointless. The more you get the bigger your gaming e-penis is. That's it.

It's not an XOR situation, games can have achievements AND unlockables / secrets... and many games still offer both. Blame the developers of games without unlockables and secrets, don't blame the additional achievement systems.

Games with cheats have become rare, but that has nothing to do with achievements at all.

Bolded: you are kidding, right? It will probably takes some KB or MB in a 500GB system. The cache of the browser or YouTube app is likely bigger. They work on a Vita with a 4GB card and on low-end Android devices (Google Play games includes an achievement system). If it works in a Galaxy Y, I don't see any console having issues.

It's dumb to not have an unified achievements system because it doesn't make sense it it doesn't add up to a global rank. I think it's a valuable addition, a lot of people like to 100% a game. It's like in the old games where you tried to unlock everything, but now you still has the bonus of getting a plat/100% a game.

I'd want achievements if they counted towards some credit on the eShop or unlocked parts of a game. Otherwise, I can do without them. I know some people like them so they're ok as long as they are optional and can be turned off.

PS This thread has a poll without a choice for my sentiment. I wish more polls here on VGChartz were more comprehensive.

They are nonsense.
They serve no purpose other than artificially lengthen a game
or allow 13 year olds to compare their e-pen!s


The only correct way to do them is by giving you challenges (NO repetitive crap like kill 99999999 enemies) Real challenges that unlock stuff that some companies sell as DLC. (stages, characters, music, costumes, modes etc.)

The "wall of unlockables" in smash is a pretty good starting point and not even half as repetitive as trophies etc.