PlayStation 3 gamers have been blessed with a bunch of hit titles this year leaving many of the more dedicated gamers with huge backlogs and even more important…unfulfilled Platinum trophies.
Perhaps this might not be a big thing to the average gamer but for those of us that have been crazed with competition against our peers to acquire these sirens of completion, it is serious business. The difference between 100% and 96% can lead to weeks of self-torture, serious bouts of ER (Electronic Rage) leaving your controllers or consoles damaged out of frustration, and even make your so-called friends tease you relentlessly about your failure as a gamer.
Okay…maybe these are embellishments. That does not change the fact that more and more trophies are becoming unattainable or more so undesirable. Most of the trophies in question require online play of some sort. It seems developers are becoming more obsessed with adding re-playability at the expense of customer satisfaction.
What about Tiny Tim with the crutches and no Internet? It is not bad enough the little guy can only afford to buy one game a year? So he’s crocked in real life and can’t satisfy his trophy glory completely in FIFA 2010 unless he wins 100 Ranked Head to Head games online? In short, Tiny Tim is screwed. Meanwhile Tall Tony, Tim’s rich friend, is spending his days playing game after game online. Sooner or later, he’ll get the Platinum.
Does that mean that Tall Tony is a better gamer than Tiny Tim? Are these trophies supposed to be measurements of our gaming prowess or just simply adornments of our accomplishments? Either way…gaming is supposed to be that one avenue that sets everyone equal. We all have the same console, the same controller, and only our skill sets us apart.
Kotaku had a wonderful interview with Jacob Minkoff from Naughty Dog. He elaborated on how they used their trophies to make Uncharted 2 an even stronger game. It is quite clear that Naughty Dog understands where the gamers focus their attention. Out of the 48 trophies available, only 2 have anything to do with online. They deserved to be applauded for their conscious decisions to reward gamers for accomplishing what is core to the game.
So why not take it a step further? Why not take all online trophies out of the equation for Platinum trophies unless the game is specifically meant for online like Warhawk in which case, Tiny Tim would not buy it anyway. The online trophies would still add to your overall count and even your Level just like the DLC trophies from Burnout Paradise.
Some may argue that these online trophies do count for skill but those people should search the Internet for trophy boosting sites. These are places where people get together and organize games or events to specifically acquire online trophies. Once again, Tiny Tim is left out of this whole process but this further illustrates the problem. While these trophy boosting sessions are not really cheating, it makes some gamers play in an unintended manner.
Sure EA Sports means well by making gamers play games online but do they really think the average gamer is going to have the patience to reach 100 wins? Do you think that gamers staging matches so they can lose to one another constitutes as skill? Every game with online play has some type of boosting going which basically means the whole community is affected in a negative way. Perhaps Tall Tony is trying to earn his trophies legitimately. He might not have a chance if he constantly re-spawns with the team whose turn it is to be slaughtered in Killzone 2 multi player.
With major titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 shrinking down single player experiences in exchange for loads of online action supported by trophies, it doesn’t seem like Tiny Tim matters as much the millions of people who supported Activision’s latest hot title. So when 2010 rolls around, expect to see more online trophies and less focus on the single player exploits of Mario, Sonic, Solid Snake, or other protagonists. What originally made us fall in love with gaming is now being devalued by a growing number of developers but are they really to blame? 7 million copies sold in one day…money talks and unfortunately it speaks volumes about what some gamers really care about…themselves.
yeah i hate hard to get trophies some times i get like that kid a few days back who made a vid about mw2 sucks every game that i have or rented ive 100% except for 2 gt4 and re5 i have 8 plats and im ocd like that, but unlike wat the thread states ive noticed games trophies being more easier than b4 check a look at cod4 vs mw2 acheivments and ull see wat i mean ive also notice games that once had online trophies now don'tor the online trophies are easier to get but it does depend on the dev some are know for adding hard trophies some are not
dont worry Tiny Tim as more people go crazy and make utube vids im sure something will change with online trophys and hard to get ones
wat the hell is going on with every1 bashing mw2 sp the last 2 games 4 and waw where all 4-5hrs in length so stop hatin cause it sold 7mill in a day and mw barely has any MP trophies except for a few spec ops
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“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” Antoine de St-Exupery
