Do you give a crap about achievements?

[Buyatari]

I like achievements too. Kinda nice to see what you have accomplished and in what games. But now it is turning into a bad thing, I am willing to play a bad game for easy achievements.... (just bought Eragon for $10 for 1000 points, lol)

 

How is that a bad thing?

 

You now get more enjoyment out of games. Even games you wouldn't play before now have some reason to be played.

[moycon]

Interesting results and further proof many people do give a crap....

 

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/827/827837p1.html

 

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New research suggests games with more Achievements sell better and impress critics.

 

by Ryan Geddes

 

October 16, 2007 - A new study by a San Diego-based research group has found that games with a higher volume of "accomplishments" generally sell better and receive better critical reception than their less goal-oriented counterparts.

 

According to a report by Electronic Entertainment Design and Research based on a study of the Xbox 360's Achievement system, games with more Achievements - which the study refers to generally as Accomplishments - correlate with both a higher Metacritic metascore and higher gross sales in the United States.

 

"Consumers want their games to include both variety and abundance of Accomplishments," said Geoffrey Zatkin, COO of EEDAR. "Our research shows that incentives such as Accomplishments impact sales choices such as which game title to buy and which platform to buy it on; they also extend the replayability of a title."

 

The research also indicated that games incorporating online elements into their Achievements generate 50% more revenue than those that don't and that titles can generate up to 50% more revenue by including Achievements into their viral marketing strategies.

 

In a news release announcing the results of the study, EEDR said the data suggest that, despite the popularity of achievements in Xbox 360 games, developers are still not using the system as well as they could be. Of the 4,615 achievements incorporated in 124 retail and 63 downloadable game titles available for the Microsoft Xbox 360 from Nov. 1, 2005, through June 1, 2007, 29 percent were completion Achievements - one of the easiest types to develop and integrate into a game.

 

The company also found evidence that gamers are taking the time to review the available Achievements in games before buying them and that games that keep their Achievements secret generate less revenue than those who reveal them to players up-front.

[Shannon]

bah...

 

Although it is possible to get achievement listings once a game is released. I've yet to find a place that has the list before a game is released. Article sounds kinda laughable to me. Now what I WOULD believe is if they said that a dual console owner would choose a 360 game over another console because of achievements.

[Atari5200]

i think i'm going to officially change my mind. After finishing The Darkness some time ago, i've recently gone back to it to do the side quests. In doing this I started to get some achievements and now I find myself purposely trying to get these where as before, i could care less, all i wanted to do was play the game from start to finish.

 

I don't really care what the achievements are and I wouldn't buy a game just for achievements, but I do change my position about trying to get achievements after the fact of completing a game, it brings more replay value to the game.

[NE146]

but I do change my position about trying to get achievements after the fact of completing a game, it brings more replay value to the game.

 

What about the games where you get all the achievements from just naturally playing the game?

 

 

*cough* King Kong.. *cough*

[Lord Helmet]

but I do change my position about trying to get achievements after the fact of completing a game, it brings more replay value to the game.

 

What about the games where you get all the achievements from just naturally playing the game?

 

 

*cough* King Kong.. *cough*

 

There are a lot of those "launch titles" that have achievements like that. However, more recently they have been spread out over the game...some for completion of tasks, others not so evident. Most games now have a pretty good mix. You will get a bunch of them just by plaing the game and getting better at it over time. Picking up the more obscure ones usually requires a replay of some sort.

[NE146]

There are a lot of those "launch titles" that have achievements like that. However, more recently they have been spread out over the game...some for completion of tasks, others not so evident. Most games now have a pretty good mix. You will get a bunch of them just by plaing the game and getting better at it over time. Picking up the more obscure ones usually requires a replay of some sort.

 

Yeah we know that. But again, my question to Atari5200 was ..What about the games where you get all the achievements from just naturally playing the game?

[moycon]

bah...

 

Although it is possible to get achievement listings once a game is released. I've yet to find a place that has the list before a game is released. Article sounds kinda laughable to me.

 

You are mistaken or you just haven't been looking very hard. The achievement lists for many games are listed often months in advance.

 

Don't believe? See for yourself, ye of little faith.

 

http://www.achieve360points.com/list/

 

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/index.php

 

I'm sure there are dozens more like these two.

Now what say you? Entire sites devoted to achievements, still laughable?

[Shannon]

I knew about that site. But some of the games I looked up I could not find the achievements until the week of the release. Unless they just didn't update their "index" page to reflect the added game..

 

How the heck do they get the list so early anyways?

 

Personally I like achievements. I certainly like them better then unlockables and that other crap games are filled with. At least achievents are reflected in your gamer score so you have something to show for your efforts.

[Atari5200]

There are a lot of those "launch titles" that have achievements like that. However, more recently they have been spread out over the game...some for completion of tasks, others not so evident. Most games now have a pretty good mix. You will get a bunch of them just by plaing the game and getting better at it over time. Picking up the more obscure ones usually requires a replay of some sort.

 

Yeah we know that. But again, my question to Atari5200 was ..What about the games where you get all the achievements from just naturally playing the game?

 

i don't really care about those. I play the game through, beginning to end to see the end. If i get achievements along the way....so be it, but I do not actively look. I just started actively looking at them when replaying The Darkness, so I may start now with other games, but I will play through the game first before.

[Shannon]

I useually glance thru the achievements real quick before playing the game and then depending on how tedious they are I decide how I'm gonna play.

 

Sometimes I'll just play in different waves (like with Halo 3).

 

Other times I'll try to pick up as many as I can get without it getting too "tedious".

 

Then there are times where the achievements are so trivial I don't worry about them and just play the game thru and decide later if I think I can do them.

[Famicoman]

I think its crap that I can't have access to all the content on my disc without doing mundane things, to have it.

 

Alot of people are like "Hey, your gamerscore is in the dirt" and I say "I play games to play games, not to show people a big number so they can be impressed by me"

[Atariboy]

I think its crap that I can't have access to all the content on my disc without doing mundane things, to have it.

 

Whats that have to do with achievements? I've never seen a achievement that unlocks any game content so far.

[HammR25]

I"d never buy a game because of the achievements but if they're in there I might try getting some of them just to see if I could do it.

[NE146]

Alot of people are like "Hey, your gamerscore is in the dirt" and I say "I play games to play games, not to show people a big number so they can be impressed by me"

 

Well.. a lot of classic games are just that. I don't know about you but I like to tell people about my million score in Robotron or my 40k score in original arcade Space Invaders

[moycon]

Alot of people are like "Hey, your gamerscore is in the dirt" and I say "I play games to play games, not to show people a big number so they can be impressed by me"

 

Well.. a lot of classic games are just that. I don't know about you but I like to tell people about my million score in Robotron or my 40k score in original arcade Space Invaders

 

Still pisses me off everytime your Robotron score pops up in my friends leaderboard.

No one can get that high of a score!!! YOU CHEAT!!!! (or I suck)

 

Also...Getting achievements doesn't unlock content that I've seen either.

[Scumdogg]

Today i bought X-Men 3. Knowing it's terrible. Just because i figured it'd be worth blowing through for the achievements. I feel dirty.

 

Although, it was $7 new. So...that's pretty awesome i guess. But yeah...i wouldn't have gotten it if there were no achievements to be had, that's for sure.

[moycon]

Today i bought X-Men 3. Knowing it's terrible. Just because i figured it'd be worth blowing through for the achievements. I feel dirty.

 

Although, it was $7 new. So...that's pretty awesome i guess. But yeah...I wouldn't have gotten it if there were no achievements to be had, that's for sure.

 

It's not near as bad of a game as I had imagined. I rather enjoyed the game myself. Especially playing as Nightcrawler. It's definately not a game I'd have been happy paying $59.99 to play. I paid around $20 - $25 used months and months ago and feel I got my money's worth paying that much. Altho I did sell it afterwards, so I probably recouped half that.

[Scumdogg]

Today i bought X-Men 3. Knowing it's terrible. Just because i figured it'd be worth blowing through for the achievements. I feel dirty.

 

Although, it was $7 new. So...that's pretty awesome i guess. But yeah...I wouldn't have gotten it if there were no achievements to be had, that's for sure.

 

It's not near as bad of a game as I had imagined. I rather enjoyed the game myself. Especially playing as Nightcrawler. It's definately not a game I'd have been happy paying $59.99 to play. I paid around $20 - $25 used months and months ago and feel I got my money's worth paying that much. Altho I did sell it afterwards, so I probably recouped half that.

 

 

Well that's definitely good to hear. I was excited for some Nightcrawler as well.

[Video]

Nope. Couldn't care less. Look at it this way, is the achievement actually saying how well you did? Or is it just saying that you did?

 

All of the (rather limmited I'll admit) games I've played, the achievements are givein out at certain points of the game. They escentually say you finished it. They don't say you dragged your shot up bloody ass across the finish line in last place however.

[Atariboy]

Most games I've played, you'd only get around 50% of them by just finishing a game. You have to go out of your way to get a lot of them doing things you'd of never done probably if you weren't aiming to get a achievement, like beating Ravenholm in HL2 with just the gravity gun.

 

Dirt is the only 360 game I've played where you get them all just from progressing normally though the game.

[Scumdogg]

Nope. Couldn't care less. Look at it this way, is the achievement actually saying how well you did? Or is it just saying that you did?

 

All of the (rather limmited I'll admit) games I've played, the achievements are givein out at certain points of the game. They escentually say you finished it. They don't say you dragged your shot up bloody ass across the finish line in last place however.

 

 

I'm playing Blue Dragon right now. I'm on disc 3, about 50 hours into the game. I have about six achievements, totaling 30/1000 possible points. I've only gotten i think two of those achievements from things that would've just happened through normal progression. So, there are games out there that make you work for 'em, and definitely say something about how good you are at the game. Hell, just look at the achievement list for Dead Rising sometime, several of them are nearly impossible without being some sort of machine.

[Lord Helmet]

Alot of people are like "Hey, your gamerscore is in the dirt" and I say "I play games to play games, not to show people a big number so they can be impressed by me"

 

Well.. a lot of classic games are just that. I don't know about you but I like to tell people about my million score in Robotron or my 40k score in original arcade Space Invaders

 

Still pisses me off everytime your Robotron score pops up in my friends leaderboard.

No one can get that high of a score!!! YOU CHEAT!!!! (or I suck)

 

Also...Getting achievements doesn't unlock content that I've seen either.

 

Dude, he's definitely cheating

 

He has me beat on Pac-Man CE also, which really burns me up.

 

And I agree, achivements don't unlock in game content

Edited October 23, 2007 by Lord Helmet

[Famicoman]

I think its crap that I can't have access to all the content on my disc without doing mundane things, to have it.

 

Whats that have to do with achievements? I've never seen a achievement that unlocks any game content so far.

 

Halo 3

 

and @NE146, I don't play the classics too much anymore, yet alone on my 360. Its sad, I know, but oh so true. I just don't think I have anything to prove with scores.

[Gabriel]

And I agree, achivements don't unlock in game content

 

But there are times when an achievement is given for unlocking game content, ala DOA4 and any of the Koei Warrior games. So, it's a matter of perspective. It could be said the achievement represents what is needed to unlock the content.