GN Expansion Pak: Were Achievements and Trophies a mistake?

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Achievements have been a part of videogames for much longer than most believe. While many look to the Xbox in 2005 as the start of achievements (with Sony following soon thereafter with Trophies), achievements in games existed decades prior. The 1990 Amiga title “E-Motion” is widely recognized as the first game to offer up something along the same lines of what we call achievements today, and plenty of other games in subsequent years also offered their own take on the reward system.

While Xbox didn’t start the achievement idea, it certainly popularized and expanded upon it. Achievements stopped being something that individual game developers decided to include in their experiences and instead became a system-wide affair. If you were putting out a new game on the Xbox, you literally had to make sure your game had a collection of achievements. A similar set of rules applies to PlayStation titles as well. Since those early days with Xbox, achievements and trophies have become a tried-and-true part of gaming.

Before I go any further, I want to make two things very clear. First off, I am not against game companies using achievements. I understand that the system brings many people joy, and the “game within a game” idea keeps people playing longer. It’s a win-win for both sides of the industry, and if it makes people happy, I’m all for it. The second thing I want to share is my personal opinion of achievements and trophies. I happen to be someone who loathes the idea of achievements, and I’ve lamented their inclusion in gaming since their system-wide introduction.

There are all types of gamers out there, and however someone approaches gaming is completely their choice. I wouldn’t tell anyone how to play a game, or tell them what they’re doing is wrong. If you like to take your time and explore, you go right ahead. If you want to rush to finish a game as quickly as possible, you do you. You spend the money to purchase games, so you engage with them in whatever ways make you smile. If you fall into the camp who loves achievements/trophies and can’t get enough of them, then collect every single one you want!

As for me, I’m the type of gamer who likes to sink into a game. I want to put in my earbuds, turn off the lights and totally immerse myself. I don’t care if it’s a 100-hour RPG or a cozy life sim, I just want to melt away into whatever game I’m playing. Time pretty much stops, the world around me fades away, and a game gets my complete attention. For those couple of hours where I’m playing on any given day, it’s just me and the game. That is, until an achievement pops up.

Be it a TV show, movie, game or what have you, there are things that are instantly immersion-breaking to me. Something that crops up that yanks me out of the experience and transports me right back to the real world. For example, with TV shows, it’s on-screen ads for another program that’s set to air. When it comes to games, there’s nothing that breaks a session more quickly for me than the noise of an achievement/trophy followed by the on-screen pop-up.

There was a time when you weren’t able to turn off achievements and trophies, and let’s just say I wasn’t a happy camper in that era. While options to mute notifications came somewhat soon thereafter, the time when I was forced to see those pop-ups was easily one of my least favorite in gaming. Not only did it ruin the atmosphere or feelings that were building, but it also became something I was constantly aware of. Instead of just being worried about an achievement flashing across the screen, I regularly thought about when they would appear. It went from being something that never crossed my mind to floating around in the background 24/7.

Sadly, those moments have piled up in my head, and now I have a memory full of instances where achievements soured a game for me. Emotional moments cut short by a trophy, a new gameplay mechanic made hollow through an achievement…the list goes on and on. With the way achievements irk me, it’s truly hard for me to look back on those games and not recall how certain beats, portions, stages or bosses were tainted by those darn pop-ups.

I literally just had one of those mood-killing moments earlier this week. When I was working through Neva for review, I was unaware the game had achievements. The way I found out was when I went to hug my companion wolf cub, which was something I had done numerous times during the journey. I guess I hit the arbitrary number that Nomada Studio had settled upon, as one of those hugs was enough to click over and earn me the “hug” achievement. “Loving: Be affectionate with Neva” is what it read, and if there was anything to destroy that sentimental moment for me, that achievement was it.

Again, I want to stress that I do not think achievements and trophies should be abolished. As long as I have a way to turn them off, be it an individual game basis or a system-wide option, I am all good. That said, I can’t help but feel slightly sad about their existence. I always viewed a game as something that you should want to play, not something that you need to be cajoled into playing. The idea that achievements and trophies exist to keep you playing and performing sometimes incredibly random tasks…it bums me out. I think sometimes people look beyond what a game is trying to do to just engage with the “gamified” aspect of that title, and it hits me with a pang of sorrow.

That’s all very much a me problem though, and I recognize that. As I mentioned earlier, I want people to play games as they see fit. If someone only wants to partake in a game to trophy/achievement hunt, so be it. There’s no wrong way to have fun, and I know tons of people get an immense amount of joy from collecting their digital accolades. Clearly I’m in the minority with these systems, as there are still plenty of diehard trophy and achievement fans out there. Players also see these gameplay features as a way to extend the life of an experience. Dipping back into a game you love to hunt down every last trophy lets you spend that much more time having a blast, and I am 100% down with that.

Achievements and trophies aren’t good or bad, right or wrong. They’re just one more way for gamers to interact with software and spend more time gaming. I don’t know that I’ll ever come to appreciate them on a personal level, but I don’t have to. I can continue to turn them off and hide away the notifications while millions of others embrace the idea. Achievements in and of themselves aren’t a mistake. If anything, not playing games simply because of their existence would be the true misstep. I may not enjoy achievements, but I’ll be damned if I let them stop me from having my fun.