Am I the only one who doesn't care about achievements/trophies?

[Salnax]

I do not so much disapprove of the achievements concept as its execution.

When I first started using Steam on a regular basis in late 2010, I began to enjoy the way the system used achievements. They were not really used to measure somebody's "gamer cred" or anything, but instead helped inspire me to go out of the way to try things out. Sure, I was going to do things like help out this faction and use these types of weaponry eventually, but some of the achievements inspired me to do crazy things in the game. Hording casino chips sounds fun, and now I get a set goal! The same with Team Fortress 2. Achievements for TF2 gave me a way of seeing all sorts of crazy things I could do as different classes, and acknowledged when I lived up to the game's high expectations.

Even simpler in-game systems are great. Kid Icarus: Uprising, for example, had hundreds of achievements that were only recorded for one's own benefit. These typically granted small rewards, and gave players rewards for expanding their skills in different directions. Sure, I may be skilled with a bow, but if I do this level with a Club, even at a moderate difficulty, I get to play the game in a new way AND get some new equipment as a reward.

The problem with the Xbox and PlayStation method, IMO, is that they turn what should be a way of letting a player push themselves forwards into a contest of who can play the widest variety of games the most effectively and quickly. I don't want to have a big number on my profile to show I'm awesome; a simple screenshot, now a common feature, does that for me already, and in a far more personal fashion.

I guess that my beef with achievements is that they're currently competitive in nature, whereas I'd prefer a more solitary system of challenging one's own limits.