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twesterm on 12 January 2011
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noname2200 said:
twesterm said:

 

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.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall a gamasutra article which featured metrics showing that the number of people completing games has improved little, if at all, compared to the previous generation

I'm not saying people finish more games because of achievements, I'm saying people play longer and differently.

Pretend you're playing some sort of chapter based game and you're in the middle of chapter 6.  On a normal Wii game, you're not getting achievements and for whatever reason you put the game down.  What encourages you to come back?  Enjoyment is a big thing but that's not always enough for people.  If the Wii had given them some sort of over-arching achievement at the end of every chapter they know they're due at the end of chapter 6 even if it isn't the last chapter.  That achievement may just drive the person to play the game that much further.

Now pretend you're playing a game that has 40 collectibles.   One game, lets say a Wii game again, gives you access to an art gallery for getting all 40.  A similar 360 game with 40 collectibles may give you access to an art gallery after you collect all 40 and an achievement when you collect the 40th collectible.  Finally, another similar PS3 title has 40 collectibles and it gives you access to an art gallery once you've collected them all and a trophy every five collectibles.

Now pretend in all those games you're at 24/40 of the collectibles and you're about 2/3 through.  For the Wii game, most people aren't going to care about the art gallery.  For the 360 game, most people are going to give up finding the collectibles because they're surely missed the achievement and don't care about the art gallery.  For the PS3 game, the person knows they're only 1 collectible away from a trophy and they're going to start exploring every corner seeing more of the game.  Furthermore, they've tasted the carrot and they're going to continue to explore the game.  They might not get all 40, they might only get 25 in the end but the achievements still served their purpose.

That little trophy didn't sell anyone on the game at all but it made the person keep playing since they're only one away and it encouraged them to see more of the game that the Wii or 360 person would not have seen.