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twesterm on 12 January 2011
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Khuutra said:
twesterm said:
Khuutra said:

So you would also see how that's not a qualification for calling something a "key feature", regardless of how important it is to you.

Absolutely not, I admit it's an overly important feature for me but that doesn't mean it's a throw away feature.  There's no denying that achievements help sell game and encourage players to play more games.  They help people actually complete a single player game which mean less wasted work and they encourage people to play multiplayer games longer which means people keeping games longer and people have more people to play with.

While achievements aren't important to other people as they are to me, that doesn't make them any less important overall.  Games are still fine without them but with them they're even better.

Ahp ahp ahp ahp!

I hate false dichotomies. I never claimed that cheevos are a throwaway feature, just that they are not a key component to general sales trends (and you're cripplingly unable to prove otherwise).

Your whole original point is that cheevos are a key feature. They aren't.

Now don't get me wrong, I like them - I'm apparently a lot more serious abotu cheevos in games I like than you are - but they are ont in the neighborhood of "key".


I actually don't think they're a key feature to sale trends but they are a key feature in 1) getting people to finish games and 2) making people keep playing multiplayer.

You're right I can't really prove they're a key component in sales trends but I do know a few things:

1. If a game is longer than eight hours, people aren't likely to finish.
2. Dangle a carrot and people will follow it
3. Achievements drive peopel to finish games and play the single player component longer.

While the above isn't something that drives sales, it is a key feature to making people experience more of the single player game. 

If they see the achievement for finishing the game or chapter, they might just put in that little bit of extra effort to finish.  If they see there's an achievement for finding collectibles and they have 4/5, they might just start searching nooks and crannies.

I don't believe I ever even hinted at achievements being something that drive sales (or if I did, I in fact did it wrongly), it's a key feature in getting people to play the game and play it more.