Soapbox: How Nintendo Switch Helped Break My Crippling Obsession With Achievements

I am pleased to announce I have lived my entire life free of such artificial gimmickry whose only real purpose is to artificially extend the proper playtime of a video game. I must admit it was a ingenious of developers to tickle our brain with "false achievements" in order to create a "false sense of mental rewards", but when the craze was on top of their game during the 360 and PS3 era, none of my friends with gazillions "achievement points" and long lists of virtual feats justifying their superior skills could't really beat me at... anything. So I fell rather blessed I was never swept by this collective marketing madness / imposed industry standard and as such looking back I am pretty confident I was able to play a lot more video games than my friends who spend hundreds of hours seeking virtual glory by replaying over and over just a few games. Please understand: If you like them and want to keep hunting them all, power to you. For me, the reward they provide was and will always be paper thin compared to the limited time I have to currently enjoy new video games.

I'm not really bothered with achievements, I did try at the start but after so long it feels like a waste of time when you can be playing something new and fresh instead.

I don't care if they exist, I don't care if they don't. Don't have much experience with trophies and the like because I've played 97% Nintendo for all my life.

Although, badge collecting in ARMS is pretty addictive, so I see what he's getting at. 😂

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
500G - Ultimate Self Denial

There, you got this one before you friends did, congrats!

I was a bit miffed Switch didn't have a trophy system, but the bigger problem is it still lacks a Pokemon or Monster Hunter game. Hopefully these deal breaker problems are alleviated in the next 12 months or so.

I would be fine with them if they gave us an option to opt out, but the best you can do is turn off notifications. They still trigger, still sitting there in your profile. You're required to participate in their pointless system whether you want to or not. They add nothing to a game.

Meh. For me Trophy and achievement hunting was only interesting if I liked the game. So it never was a need for me and was a good distraction for a challenge.

Never saw the point in trophies on my PS3, they didnt give you anything just an annoying message which normally interupted my gameplay.

I try not to care about achievements... but then I look at my Steam profile and it splashes up a completion percentage (bizarrely based on achievements) and it really makes me want to shift that number upwards.

I like achievements and 100% games, but something else entirely made me not care as much: career as a video game tester.
When you're spending 8 hours a day collecting things or unlocking stupid achievements because that's what you're paid to and you know you'll have to wipe it and start over when the next build drops you stop caring. It's also why I don't care as much for saves as well (though I would still appreciate cloud saves on Switch).

As for Nintendo itself they have turned me away from getting 100% in Zelda by going way overboard with the Korok seeds. Getting the first few 10s of Koroks is fun. Getting a hundred is tiring. I thought I would be getting close to having them all when I was in 120s, then I learned online how many of the little twerps are actually in the game. Too much of a good thing.

That said I like getting achievements in games I care about and I like when the achievements are linked to gameplay (though it could be a little frustrating at times, like finding the lost sector in Rock Cruiser in FTL – that one's pure RNG). It's also nice if they feel like a genuine achievement, like finishing an adventure game without using the hint system. I don't understand the mentality of getting them for achievement sake, like in that Avatar game. What's the point of getting 100% in a game nobody likes?

Never cared about achievements and I honestly always disliked them. I know they obviously cannot waste too much memory in a console disk space but I still think about the memory that this stupid crap waste and I get angry. Microsoft always do some stupid s... stuff :/

While not as extreme as this (I didn't buy games just for achievements), I sure spent a lot of time getting achievements especially on Xbox 360. Halo 3 especially comes to mind with absolutely ridiculous achievements like Two For One.

For me it was the Wii U that helped break this (I've only got all achievements in 1 Xbox One game and that was mostly unlocked just by playing for fun) and so far the Switch has continued its legacy of no achievements which I hope stays.

@Dom I know what addiction is like, I was hooked on fruit machines for years and ended up with nothing to show for it myself. Luckily I never got into debt and I always made sure I had enough money to live on, but the thought of putting more money into fruit machines when I couldn't afford it was always present.
I've been free from that crippling vice for about 5 years now. This is due to the fact that I was made redundant from my place of work, the company was struggling and eventually closed. So being out of work forced my hand into having to give up. Living on the dole, priorities quickly change and I had to learn how to deal with putting what little money I had into what mattered most.
Gambling and trophey hunting obviously are 2 different things, but at the end of it adiction affects people regardless of what it is that your addicted to. It's a horrible state of existance at times and something that can be embarrasing to admit and hard to talk about.
Trust me, things get easier the more time you spend away from the addictive habits. I'll admit that I miss playing fruit machines because I met alot of nice people in the arcades, but I don't feel the need to go back and waste my money any more.
It's all about training your mind into focusing upon on different things, and from what I've read your on the right road. Good luck Dom.

Trophy & Achievements are NOTHING to be proud in my opinion.
I don't even care their existences.

@shaneoh I don't care how many achievements I have in a game in general. But I have played a few games were they were either put there as a joke (e.g. some achievements in Portal 2) or were they were like mini puzzles you had to solve, which was quite fun.

Agreed

@Robotron2084 Yeah, it's not something I'm proud of, but I'm glad I've moved on.
I just think Dom needs to see that he's not alone and that addiction does affect other people too.

I’ve never really cared about a virtual trophy in a game. Most achievements are just a waste of time in everyway. A game like smg2 has achievements in the form of extra stars or unlock able levels. But atleast its more actual game content. You are rewarded for collecting stars that you have to work to get. Getting 1000 headshots with each sniper rifle in cod is not an achievement. It’s just sad. But if achievements extend the gameplay of a game you like, how is that really that bad either?

Nintendo is not immune from issues like this. Regularly, their games are packed to the gills with collectables (many of which are inconsequential). I have spent MANY hours tracking these down because I'm an OCD gamer. Great games frequently bog down for me and become Victorian work houses. I'm working to overcome this...

@Fuz I agree, no one should be upset by them. It's just something extra sprinkled in that you can freely ignore.

Personally, I ignore them in 90% of the games I play. There are times I believe achievements greatly enhanced the game for me though, and it has nothing to do with some artificial score displayed publicly. The two biggest examples that come to mind are Spelunky, and more recently, Slay the Spire. The achievements encouraged creative ways of playing and provided a nice challenge.

I like achievements, but not having them isn't the end of the world for me.

Let's not forget that many NS games do still have achievements... they're just not applied system-wide. So it's another example of Nintendo being weirdly behind the times.

I like achievements/trophies for games I’m really into. Gives you a little extra to do.

I really wish Switch had achievements...

I do wish some games had nintendo achievements so that years later from now, there is a list with all the games I played and how much I enjoyed them.

I absolutely hate achievements. They're artificial game extenders, represent no real world value other than catering to one's pride or vanity, and especially nowadays, more and more of these "achievements" are accomplished by performing the most basic of actions (like achievements for crouching or aiming a gun) that have nothing to do with any actually valuable achievements that you should be rewarded for.

It's either that, or they kind of work like useless side quests, that feel completely disconnected from the game itself. I remember back in the day, in Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway on the Xbox 360, the achievement that you got when you could find all the "Killroy was here" graffiti hidden in all the various levels.

It completely distracted from the main objective of those very levels, and as such, from the game as a whole. Another useless achievement in that same game was gained by simply logging into Xbox Live and then starting up the game, every day for 100 days in a row.

Completely ridiculous, and what's even sadder is that you can bet your behind that there are more than enough achievement addicts/idiots that have actually done that very thing, proving they are VERY easily goaded into doing something completely useless and asinine, and all for that "glorious" feeling of getting that extra bit of intangible, useless reward...

If you look at the bigger picture, then achievements/trophies have only been a part of gaming for a couple of generations, so the larger part of gaming history has done perfectly fine without them, and they won't be missed and/or necessary if we take them away now.

The REAL achievements you should value and cherish, should be finishing a game, getting that high score, beating someone else's high score (either a friend's or the high score that's already recorded in the game itself), beating that seemingly unbeatable end boss, finding all the secrets, collecting all the stars/coins, or if you're into that kind of stuff: speed running a game.

Those were and are the only things that always really mattered when playing a game and which gave ACTUAL satisfaction, instead of the faux feeling of glory that these tacked-on achievements/trophies represent.

I'd even go so far as to say that it is a very bad and negative trend, as even I myself have noted, even though I don't play games for the achievements, I still don't like it when my friends have more points than me, and that can make you feel like you're a bad gamer or that you're bad at a specific type of game, because you were "incapable" of finding all the pretty little points hidden in it, which arguably implies some kind of inferiority.

So, for me, it represents a negative factor in that you don't count as having actually played the game to the fullest, if you haven't scored those achievements. And even in the Xbox 360/PS3 generation, people were known to cheat to gain various achievements, yet another disgusting example of why achievements don't really add anything to a game.

An example of this behavior is the various COD games: the most achievements can be gained in online multiplayer, but especially if you aren't an expert (or at the very least a well above average) player, some of these achievements are almost impossible, if not completely impossible, to get.

So, what's the solution? Grab a couple of friends to play with you online, and take turns shooting each other in the head or whatever you had to do to get those perfect achievements. I've even done that myself one time, because my friends suggested it to me, because they wanted to help me rack up my achievement score.

And even though we had quite a bit of fun playing, because we tried to make the kills as spectacular as possible, it still felt pretty empty afterwards. And I still didn't (and still don't) have as much points as any of my friends, simply because they spend WAY more time online and in multiplayer games than me, so the battle is actually already lost in that respect, because I'll never be able to catch up with them anyway, so what's the use, really?

The only things that matter to me are the things that I already mentioned, and those are the things that have always mattered in gaming, ever since the first gaming console entered someone's household...

So, even though I don't think we'll ever see the day, I wouldn't shed a single tear over them completely disappearing from any and all consoles, because to me, they are a cancer, and a highly negative trend, getting more ridiculous with every new generation of consoles.

I love getting trophies and 100%ing games. For me it's not about showing off or trying to one up someone but it's a way to keep track of games I completed and ones I haven't. I was the 3rd person in the world to platinum a Need for speed game on the ps3 and that was honestly pretty neat 😉. Adds another layer of completion to those that want it and there's nothing inherently bad about them imo.

In addition I will say that "trophy hunting" exposed me to games I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise and ended up liking a lot so there's that. Many Nintendo games do have what really amounts to the same thing just not on a system wide level. Getting 100% in Mario or Zelda or going out of your way to collect every Pokémon for example is really not too far removed from earning a Platinum or a 1000 gamer score imo.

Every gamer is different in terms of what sense of accomplishment they get from a game. For some just beating the story is enough for others getting every trophy/achievement is enough. Everyone is unique in what they want and just because they may not be important to you doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad or negative thing.

Glad you kicked your addiction though.

Not a big trophy fan, but I would be ok with them if they ever added them.

I like how it's kind of like documentation of your endeavors. A historical recording of your playtime, so to speak. And I really like that aspect.

But ever since Monster Hunter World, I've kinda started to dislike them. Because I'm one of the biggest MH gamers there is. I routinely put 400 to 600 hours in every single game. But I was still missing half the trophies from that game. Why? Because you have to find a crown minitature size Monster and large crown size Monster, for every monster in the game. And that just covers a couple trophies. And it's completely random- so you'd have to play the game for 1000 hours and just hope your luck is good. There's countless other trophies like that. Oh, help 50 people online (ugh, have you seen how childish and lame a lot of the online playerbase is for that game? Sit back and let you do everything, or triple cart in 5 minutes cause they bite off more than they can chew), etc etc.

That's not fun. That's the definition of tedium, and choring through a slogfest just to get a trophy. I would have loved to get the platinum trophy for that game to show my dedication to the series. To have permanent documentation for all to see of my commitment and love for the franchise. But I'm not going to do all that BS. I don't care how much I love the series. I've only got so much time to play video games and I'm not going to waste it doing meaningless, tedious crap just so I can have the satisfaction of a trophy.

That's really when I started looking at trophies in a negative light. I still don't mind them- don't get me wrong. But I'd much rather use my total play time as a metric, as Dom now does.

The only game that has ever got an achievement system right IMO is Goldeneye hides

@ThanosReXXX I think all future Xbox and Playstation consoles are doomed to have achievements/trophies as the backlash of their removal would be massive.

FAKE NEWS

I think the nail was hit on the head on why achievements and trophies are problematic. More times than not, they aren't genuine ways to extend the life of a game. They tend to be artificial task that, if you get sucked into completing them, completely take you out of the actual game and narrative. Obviously, not all are like that. But too many games use them for those means.

@Grumblevolcano Yeah, I know. That's exactly why I said "even though I don't think we'll ever see the day".

Wouldn't want to upset all the junkies, now would we?

@countzero Valve popularized them on PC so in Valve games you have a few funny ones.
One of the silliest achievements I've gained was in Team Fortress 2: "As a cloaked Spy bump into enemy cloaked Spy". Not really an "achievement", but a memorable moment nonetheless

I could probably write 200 pages about how much I loathe achievements and people trying to compete based on time played... But I'd be one huge hypocrite.

I'm one of the few people who so adamantly vocally voiced my distaste for people taking shortcuts and practicing competitive Pokémon off the 3DS (using different emulators and so on) that I personally bred people's teams and did their EV spreads and so on... This resulted in Pokémon X/Y being my most played Pokémon entry, logging just over 2600 hours on my old 3DS and around 350 on the new one. Come to think of it, more than 75% of the time was just spent breeding and maxing out my Pokédex both shiny and non-shiny. Ugh.

Achievements have always helped me get more out of a game by making me play it more. I do hate the ones like "drive X miles", "get X kills", or multiplayer achievements. IMO, those are pointless and I agree with another poster that achievements need to feel like actual achievements again.

@JaxonH You not having a Plat in MH is kinda nuts. I've always found them as a metric, I get about 50% in every game I play. Half for me means I completed the game. ☺ Games I really like are about 2/3. I do enjoy trophies with funny pun names, but there aren't too many of those, mostly just pointless "completed chapter" which are a waste.

@ThanosReXXX Tell us how you really feel. 😆

@rjejr Eat my shorts

@ThanosReXXX I agree with your comments somewhat, but I think they apply more towards HOW the achievements are implemented, and less so to achievements in general. For example, chasing "achievement" scores seems a bit ridiculous to me as well. But there have been times (Few and far between, admittedly) that I feel really enhanced the experience - see post #25 for examples. To me, they're additional goals - similar to "beating" a game - and if those goals aren't fun or interesting, I ignore them.

EDIT: @Pod summed up a my thoughts quite well in post #46. Another similar example would be the Strawberries in Celeste. It's less about displaying my achievements to others (Let's be real, I've got like 3 friends on Steam XD) and more about finding fun and interesting ways to play the game. Spelunky, especially, added dozens of hours of game time for me by adding achievements that I thought were a great deal of fun.

I never had a gaming system with achievements (except Steam), but it would have made certain games such as The Cave (Wii U), Costume Quest 2 (Wii U), The Count Lucanor (Switch), Thimbleweed Park (Switch) a little bit better because of added content, stuff to do, replay value. I wish these games had their trophy system built in-game.

I like it when games have "achievements" inside the game, in a way that makes sense to the design.

The trinkets in VVVVVV. The stamps in Nintendoland. The emblems in Knytt Underground. And of course actual game unlockables that feel like you're really being rewarded for achieving something, like image galleries, sound test screens, or in the case of Mario games: more game!

The numbers and silly names for achievements that went on outside the individual games always felt universe breaking to me. Particularly on Xbox, where the achievement graphic/font/sfx would always be the same, regardless of the atmosphere the game world is building.

I wish the play time count was accurate...

Personally I still never have and never will understand the appeal of achievements. I'm convinced it just preys upon certain addiction propensities in a percentage of the population. The idea of playing a game to tick off a checklist of specific tasks outside completing the actual objectives always seemed like a really odd time waster to me. I'd rather play the core experience more than once if it's a good game than find random other things to do in it off the side to check them off a list.

Some games are exceptions, such as Hitman, where completing the kills in a myriad of different ways really is part of the core game....approaching the same problem through various organic methods, or where it has ongoing time limited online "contracts" mixed into the main areas to take part in. But that's extended content more than achievements.

I like achievements. Super mario oddysse wasn’t a bad game because it had achievements.
Most of the moons in mushroom kingdom we’re achievements.

Achievements add more to the game

This piece might not age too well if Nintendo ever does implement a universal achievement system. :V

Personally, I'd be more into achievements if the points/trophies could be exchanged for something. That's what I thought the launch of Xbox Achievements were.

Nintendo definitely has the right idea with My Nintendo's implementation of Platinim coins. Though the acheivements are more tied to mobile games and internet interaction, it's never a race against others to get them. You get them at your own leisure and exchange them for content/games you want.

Sure, they're not amazing content, but I'd rather a nice wallpaper than bragging rights on a screen I'll rarely visit (the trophy page).

Going to be honest; unless they add some form of feature or utilization of achievements than a "sticker" which you then put in the basement with every other achievement you earned and forgotten, I cannot find myself desiring to go down that road again.

I was addicted to getting platinum trophies so much that it sucked all fun out of gaming and made me stop gaming for 1,5 year. Than I bought stardew valley on ps4 and 2 months later bought the switch on launch. Now I enjoy gaming again and I’m constantly jumping between all consoles to try as many games as possible (all ps consoles, a sega genesis and all nintendo consoles safe the nes and snes)

I went through the exact same with the Wii U. I was hooked on achievements and trophies and I'd play bad games/avoid games with hard trophies, all to my detriment. It's great to finally break out of that and now I couldn't care less about them

Mario has a achievement toad. Ubisoft do a system where you can get skins etc for the game your playing if you do well. And i bet that's missing from south park. I got one game i finished and i have 12 percent of the achieves one of my friends has 87 percent go figure lol.

@rjejr I think I just did...

@roadrunner343 Yeah, there are some achievements that do add to a game and that actually are well-implemented, but far as I've seen, those are few and far in between. Most of them are of the kind I mentioned: simple or stupid achievements, or achievements that are nigh on impossible to get for the average gamer, which I suppose I am, seeing as I don't spend as much time playing video games as I used to, simply because I just can't find the time anymore besides my professional life and the precious spare time I'd like to spend with friends and family in real life instead of being plastered to a screen with a controller in my hands...

And like I said: achievements have actually always been there, but apparently, people need giant sign posts and arbitrary coins/tags to validate them.

Back when I was a teen, we went to the arcade and we found more than enough addiction and feelings of achievement, if we managed to beat a high score on the game of our choice and even more so if we managed to do so with most of our money still in our pockets, so we could try to beat even more games.

I really don't think that a pop up window and an ever present aggregate score table at the top of my console's home screen adds all that much more to my entertainment or satisfaction of playing certain games.

Apparently, a lot of gamers nowadays don't see/notice or feel that, but the reward is already there, in the things I mentioned, as it always has. I don't need 500 points if I've beaten that final boss, the beating of that final boss itself IS the achievement, and THAT is what should give you your natural high of having achieved something. Points don't represent that, at ALL.

And even the points gained in a high score don't represent that: the achievement and satisfaction is gained by seeing your name or initials at the top of that list, NOT by how many points you've scored, because that is only of secondary importance, for example if you are already in first place but want to beat/improve your own score.

Achievements are worthless and make no difference to how I play a game but I don't mind their existence, I certainly won't go out of my way to get them. I'd rather just play the game in a way that is fun and rewarding to me, what I do miss is the ability to unlock things from playing the game such as in Resident Evil that I'm playing at the moment. This regards you with extra game modes or weapons for doing things that today would just net you a trophy, this is what developers should be doing

Binding of isaac is a classy example of in game achievements being far superior to an inane tally of accrued points/trophies for just playing a game. In game rewards and extra features being unlocked for reaching certain milestones is far more compelling to me.

Aside from a rather odd and short article that isn't really saying much of anything of real substance, it always cracked me up, this hive mind thinking of NDFers salty over not having achievements or trophies like the two big boys of the industry.

There's nothing wrong or negative about achievements. It's an evolution of the old 'high score' system from arcade days of yester year. Don't like it? Don't achieve it.

So to the commenters: Just stop being salty about not having them on a Nintendo system because if Breath of the Wild or Odyssey had achievements, you damn sure would be striving to achieve every single one of them.

Oh, and to the author: it's you having kids, man. Trust me. Nintendo didn't help at all in getting you over obsessing achievements. It's called being a parent.

@XCWarrior I'm definitely not expecting Monster Hunter World on the Switch(and in fact am starting looking at used PS4 for 250$ or so to not have to buy a 500$+ PS4 Pro to play it)...

But I am expecting a Monster Hunter to hit the console. This said, judging by the ginormous sales of World(7mil in two months) and lukewarm results of XX even in Japan.... if the Switch gets a Monster Hunter game I expect either one(or both) of two things:

A: A port of Monster Hunter Stories to put that game on a console that is "not a 3DS" and actually seeing a lot of present momentum right now.
and/or
B: A whole new Monster Hunter game, custom-tailored the run smoothly on the Switch hardware(while still prettier then previous 3DS outings) and built with design improvements and concepts of Monster Hunter World as a way to build up on the successes of this game's success while trying to aim for a game that can exist in parallel to World rather than in opposition or complete separation from it.
I doubt World fans(especially all the NEW fans) would be happy about a "sequel" to World that "doesn't look as good" but "feature all new better gameplay" than World to not risk a bad split of the fanbase instead of "proper" growth on two console able to exist in parallel to each others and succeed through their respective player bases.

After all, new titles need to "grow" the IP and not end up cannibalizing the population of one title(especially for something with as notable a multiplayer focus than Monster Hunter) to drag it off one console to another. And with 7 millions copies sold, World itself already succeeded and incredible gambit bit you can bet that a "Monster Hunter Switch" would thus definitely see just as much calculation to try and create and grow an ecosystem of Switch-exclusive players rather than risks cannibalizing from World's userbase(featuring a lot of brand new players) and risks jeopardizing the future of legacies/sequels to World's own potential future Monster Hunter games building on it's success.

It's gonna be a tough one, and tough because World was such a success. The Switch has a lot of success to motivate a new proper MonHun title on it, but it must come at the cost of Capcom's own success with MonHun World.

@NEStalgia It's really no different from Pokemon's tagline: Gotta Catch 'Em All.

On the next soapbox...

"How Nintendo Switch Helped Break My Crippling Obsession With Quality Third Party Support"

I enjoy earning trophies on the PS3 and PS4...even my wife and kids enjoy it, it gets you playing the game more and more, instead of a once-through and put it away. This is something that keeps me away from buying games on the Switch that is also on the other consoles. My wife owns Stardew Valley on all 3 consoles we have (PS4, XBONE and SWITCH)...yup, she became addicted to it. Amazingly, she plays it more on PS4, but comes to it on Switch when she's on the go. She loves earning the trophies, as so does my kids, who play the PS4 and XBONE more. On the Wii U, I did enjoy getting the stickers (or whatever you called them to post on MiiVerse), and that was something that kept me playing and replaying. I honestly wish nintendo would get into this, add like Amiibo pictures (in place of Trophy or Achievement)...even possibly going the distance of getting enough to get a prize on Club Nintendo...something that can get people to play some of the games that aren't that playable (hello Amiibo Festival and Mario Party 10). Anyways, I'd love for nintendo to do this...maybe I'd actually pick up the switch more than once or twice a month.

I can relate to the article. I'm not an achievement hunter, at least not in a professional sense. But I kinda obsess with getting as many as I can, even though I have literally only 2 games with 100% of the achievements, one of them being a 12 achievement digital one.

I've bought games on 360 and not on Wii U just because of the achievements, and that's silly. And as I explained, I almost never get the 100%, so what was the point?

I said I can relate also because of the Switch playtime display feature. It is nice and a better way to show dedication to a game, but it has its flaws and it's starting to become an obsession too. Sometimes I play a little longer than I wanted just because I sense I'm going to reach a new 5-hour milestone and want people to see my playtime updated. Lol.

But I'm starting to understand that the most important thing is enjoying the games, not boasting about achievements, because too often they require you to do things you wouldn't have done otherwise, unnecessary things for the game progression, thus making you check the achievements list and how to get them on websites, taking away the fun.

And there's always going to be a lot of people better than you anyway.

So I take it easier now, hunt for achievements but without obsessing so much (maybe some rivalry when it comes to finish first on Xbox One monthly score leaderboards with friends and acquaintances, but that's all), and try to enjoy games for what they are.

That said, it wouldn't harm Nintendo to put some achievement system, a well designed one that fitted into the games' story.

Could never get into achievement hunting. Give me the top score on a local or online friends leader board any day.

If the game is on PS4 id usually go for that one, trophies and hard drive space influence the decision. However some games fit the switch better. Hence why I have Celeste, Owl boy etc on Switch!

@Anti-Matter You're making achievements sound like a drug...

@ThanosReXXX I've mentioned before, but it likely bears repeating - I'm stictly a PC/Nintendo gamer. So I'm not really exposed to the worst achievements. Like you, I recall going to arcades as a kid, and beating a high score, even my own, was achievement enough in itself. And I fully agree with you, 90%+ of the achievements today are stupid and worthless, I just ignore them. Kill X# of things, or collect X# of money grinding achievements are worthless to me. But in games like Slay the Spire & Spelunky, I found them truly thoughtful and enjoyable. I don't know if it had achievements associated with it, but Binding of Isaac's challenges are another example that I really enjoyed. But I don't share any of those things with the world, nor do I need a flashy banner indicated I completed something. For me, it's all about the fun/interesting challenge associated with an achievement. For the stupid, grindy, or simple achievements, I have no issues just ignoring them completely.

EDIT: @gatorboi352 lol @ the being a parent part. I can relate. It most certainly changed my gaming habits drastically.

I've played a lot of PS3, still play PS4 and I'm not at all into trophies. Ok, maybe I'll do a couple of easy ones, but I never replay a game just to get all the achievements.

I'd like Switch games to get achievements, but only for doing rare and unique things. Not a "congratulations, you've opened a menu" or "Finished level 1".

I cant believe the hate achievements/trophies are getting! Beside Nintendo I game mostly on Playstation, and will hunt trophies if its a game I enjoy and wont take anything outrageous such as an extra 50 hours or some online crap. However, the majority of people here saying crap about them being worthless is false. Not sure about xbox but on playstation you get incentives such as merchandise, coupons and PSN discounts on the various trophies you collect via the sony media store (such as 20%) off your next purchase. Playstation also sends you a nice congratulations email and artwork when you platinum their flagship games.

With all that said I would happily welcome an achievement type system on the Switch. I thought the WiiU had something going (sort of) with the stamps but that was not a true integrated system. I personally would like to have a virtual representation for 100% a zelda/metroid/mario game.

I would rather Nintendo came up with their own 'carrot on a string' idea rather than outright ripping off achievements, like Sony did.

@yuwarite You know how the gaming business is, its all about who can do what the best. Imo trophies are much more satisfying and actually have value compared to achievements. However, if Nintendo introduced a system that rewards or glorifies you 100% Splatoon or Mario via wallpapers or discounts that would be awesome

My thing is....with so many games out there to play, if I beat it (get to the end credits) I move on to the next game. Therefore, achievements mean little to me. Only in rare cases do I feel the need to comb over every corner in a game. I have to really love a game to do that.

@gatorboi352 That's a rather odd and short comment that isn't really saying much of anything of real substance. It always cracked me up, this hive mind that thinks there's such a thing as NDFers.

@gatorboi352
What's now ??
Still salty with Nintendo ?!

I'm still struggling with my obsession and i have my white whale now for platinum trophies. Damn you Monster Hunter World and you're 2 RNG trophies just give me the damn crowns so i can move on.

I'm the opposite. Without achievements, I feel no urge or want to explore the nooks and crannies of Mario and Zelda. Why do so without any reward or recognition of the feat? No achievements causes me to play games less rather than more.

And I am not a completionist. I have no platinum trophies except for Telltale games. But I love unlocking them and then comparing them to what others do

Nothing wrong with achievements. I tried pretty hard at getting achievements on X360 games that I enjoyed. With my Xbox One they made the achievement screen much harder to open and navigate so I just stopped caring. Shovel Knight and Vostok Inc have little achievements on the Switch, but I can't say I went out of my way to acquire any of them. Nintendo probably should add something like achievements with their online service, because I don't think it would hurt anything.

Elitist horsecrap.

@roadrunner343 I think we're in full agreement on what is good and what isn't, achievement-wise. I suppose the only thing we don't agree upon (and not specifically we as in you and me, but in general, so don't take it to personal, making you feel the need to repeat yourself again, no offense), is that people nowadays seem to think that a console "needs" achievements/trophies, as if it's some kind of natural evolution that, when taken away again, will be a loss for gamers.

Which actually isn't the case, because for the most part, it is a tacked-on, artificial enhancement that doesn't affect a game in any negative way when removed (provided the game is good enough in its own right, obviously), which was kind of the whole point of my initial wall of text in this comments section.

So, I do agree that there's nothing intrinsically wrong with achievements in and of themselves, but do we really need them or do they really add all that much to a game to a point that they are essential for it? Absolutely not.

I know what he's saying about time played in the profile section. I have tended to play the games I have on switch longer than I played anything on my PS4 (except maybe Elite).

@Anti-Matter actually it's quite the opposite. I'm confused as to why so many nintendo fans are salty towards achievements. or rather, the lack of Nintendo systems having them. So they spin the narrative and act as if they are some inherently bad or negative thing. when in reality they are rather envious. If BOTW had achievements, every single person on this site would be scratching tooth and nail trying to 100% every single one of them.

@ThanosReXXX But... but what if I WANT to repeat myself =D I'm with you, it's no big loss if system-wide achievements go away. If I recall correctly, I played the GOG version of Spelunky first. Achievements were tracked within the game, but not on my Steam account. So hopefully game specific achievements stick around forever (When they make sense, and are fun, of course), even if system-wide achievements go the way of the buffalo.

@roadrunner343 Yeah, that's a nice way to round off our discussion, and I agree. I don't mind them, and if implemented well, they can add to games, but they (the developers) really do have to take care not to fall into that trap of tacking them on way to easily in all the ways that have by now already been mentioned.

And then I won't mind them being there. If I will ever feel inclined to hunt them all again or if I will just play the games and enjoy them for what they are instead of focusing on the achievements? Well, I guess the answer to that is already clear...

@Shiryu r/gatekeeping, r/iamverybadass

Wouldn't completionist tendencies go hand in hand with achievement tendencies? So would high score, come to think of it.

I also have the slight addiction to seeing how many hours I have clocked up in any particular game, but it isn't nearly as bad as it used to be. My achievement hunting days are over with though. I am not knocking anyone who is an achievement hunter, but they don't hold any value for me anymore. They always held back my enjoyment of games by forcing me to do things I didn't want to do. I never needed them back then I was five, and I certainly do not need them now.

Still think Nintendo needs to jump onboard. Despite not owning an XBONE, I'm still plugging away on my 360 nabbing achievements. Closing in on a 30K gamerscore which is also helping me playthrough the games I missed out on over the years, not just last gen but retro games like Alex Kidd and Streets of Rage III I can happily now say I've beaten, all thanks to the promise of achievement rewards.

I still play my Switch often don't get me wrong....but wouldnt we all feel better getting something for nabbing all the seeds in BOTW.....you know, other than a golden poop?

Preach it!!! I too was at one time in love with achievements & trophies, but playing the Switch and enjoying how much FUN it can be, I’ve also lost the achievement itch.

I still hunt down some achievements and find the chase excitting somewhat, but not like before, and I will gladly play a fun switch game any day over any achievement hunting.

In the end it’s about having fun and that tops any achievements.

@YelloFangz Wanna try your luck?

Super Mario Odyssey.....moons.....900 ishhhh.....anybody??

I'm not a big fan of achievements but I did enjoy collecting stamps back on the Wii U and being able to use them in my miiverse posts. The sting of losing miiverse still hurts 😖

I tend to ignore achievements most of the time. If they're there and I get a few, cool! But I'm not going to actively seek out and try to complete every little thing. I have too many games to play to worry about that.

i dont care about this guy. achievements are a benefit for games, it gives you an extra challenge and more gamevalue.

if nintendo dont get achievement on switch games, i'll be very dissapointed.

@Shiryu lol!

Achievements -or trophies- broke the natural flow of a game for me. They kind of encourage playing with a checklist of artificial and forced actions instead of just allowing you to experience the story-telling, environments,... It works in some games though, like score-based arcade games, or if certain actions outside of a story mode help you unlock actual in-game extras. But I'm not that interested in showing off, or in keeping track of other people's, well, virtual "achievements".

I personally never understood the obsession with "trophy hunting" as some people call it. Like no joke, it seems like there is a lot of people out there who play games just to get achievements, and getting a "platinum trophy" is everything to them.

Personally, I never cared to go out of my way to earn trophies really. I might do a couple of little things here and there to get one but it is never a mission of mine to get some trophy that requires me to do everything they want me to do. It is probably why I never got a platinum trophy on Playstation. I just tend to move on, I love checking out new games, and playing whatever I am in the mood for, so it is very rare for me to obsess over a single game.

As for "skill," I have noticed that it is a very specialized thing. Like despite how I had some friends who obsessed over that, they would only have a single game that they could beat me at which was usually something like Halo and only because they grew up playing that competitively against their siblings/friends. Everything else I seemed to beat them in and they pretty much didn't want to play anything else that they weren't good at competitively, which seemed to be everything.

@Shiryu I think video games stand out for the experiences they offer. It can be a certain type of gameplay, or just something that you are into, but the experience of playing them and the enjoyment that I get out of that is the only thing that really matters.

I think it's because I grew up playing video games long before they implemented trophies and online gaming that I can enjoy them the way I do. It has always been about the fun factor to me, it doesn't matter how anyone else thinks about a game, the most rewarding thing is how much fun I have playing it.

I like achievements but I dont need them. I think it'd be cool if we had achievements and portability on the switch, but I'm good either way.

Not every game does this, but some of the open world games will have areas to visit that I normally might miss if I didn’t look into the achievements and see “go to such n such place” — also, to say it’s a gimmick and gives you nothing is false. Every 10 Platinums you get on PS4 gets you $10. This started last year near the end of the year.

i understand about a trophy system. on the ps4 i didn't care either.
but gamescore is way better like on the xbox.

its also typical for a hardcore nintendo gamer to say, we don't care.
they're not used to achievements , but thats a lame exuse, you should have experienced it to judge.

achievemnt also tell you that there are hidden secrets in games, also nice to see in what game your friends good at.
if you dont have achievement, you play the game, then finish it, and never look back or played it 100%.
take mass effect for example, there are hidden stories wich you can get achievements for.

i realy annoyed by this news item, wtf do we care what he dislikes!? maybe it will influence nintendo's decission.

@JayJ Indeed, and when you get people telling you there is a "right" way to properly enjoy video games like, say.... conquer every achievement before moving on to a new game, my eyes begin to roll back so , so hard. I am the only one who decides when a game is done. I bought the game, I control it thus trying to impose rules on my own enjoyment is simply ridiculous. And as you mentioned, in older games we didn't need achievements, just playing them to the end was an achievement enough, sometimes developers even reward our skills by unlocking extra content for free, but that for another soapbox related to paid for DLC that should have been included on the original package to begin with.

The Nintendo Switch Helped Break My Crippling Obsession With Gaming

Because the Switch has no game

everybody has the right to play games like they want to play them.

but better to have achievements and leave that option open to anyone, then have none.

my oppinion is, that i do understand that if your not good at playing games, or dont have time for it, you came here to tell you dont like them.
but shut the f.... up to convince the hardcore gamer.

on all systems achievements are populair.
and make switch games better, even the switch and its online network better.

@BigKing
the same on my ps4 and xbox one the first year.
have patience man.

They’d be better if you could opt out of the online achievements at the start of the game.

Achievements don't really bother me unless it is something that requires a online server (that is disabled). I use achievements as a way to be pushed into playing the game a different way. But if I cannot get an achievement (outside the broken ones or aforementioned server locked ones) it really doesn't bother me much.

If the developers need to have them that badly, they can do what they did on Wii U, add them as an in-game system.

Now there's the obsession with adding up gameplay hours

I never fell victim to achievement points because I mostly only had Nintendo systems, and still mostly do. However, I think they can be a great system if used right. Big if. It can be a little reward that adds to the gameplay experience, but only when matched with real content. The problem is, developers often just add these achievements as useless goals without ever curating the gameplay to achieve them.

@PALversusNTSC
"if you dont have achievement, you play the game, then finish it, and never look back or played it 100%."

I can always revisit my old games anytime WITHOUT Achievements.
Who cares if my games is already unlocked 100 % or not ?
I play games for entertaining myself, NOT entertaining the Achievement System.
It's not a Mandatory thing to do.

@gatorboi352
I am NOT a Trophy Hunter !
I play my games for FUN.

@gatorboi352 I completely agree dude.

I have been viewing Nintendo Life for several years now and every time achievements and trophies are brought up the Nintendo fanboys cry that achievements suck and are pointless, but in reality they are just envious and confused to why Nintendo doesn't have a similar system.

I think achievements are cool and can be fun sometimes, hating on them is SILLY

@Shiryu Yeah the video game industry has changed and it hasn't always been for the better. While I enjoy how games can get patched, and how extra content can be added at later dates, it has resulted with a lot of games that get released in an unfinished state, with some publishers who love to leave content out just to charge extra to access it.

Nintendo seems like it is doing everything it can to keep gaming as close to how it was before the online generation. They almost feel like the last place where you can find a console that isn't designed around being online all the time, games that aren't all about "achievements" that try to deliver all of their content, where added content doesn't cost you anything extra.

As for people who keep insisting upon the way you need to play video games or justify them, I can only relate to the eye rolling comment. It is one of the reasons why I stopped going to a lot of gaming communities and have become a lot more selective about the kind of people that I discuss them with. It seems like far too often these days I will encounter people who take video games very seriously but for all the wrong reasons. Like, I have to really question what kind of enjoyment they really get out of playing video games because it seems like "achievement" goals and/or the "git gud" competitive mentality is the only thing that drives them. It's like, if they don't have a trophy to earn or someone to beat in an online competition they don't understand how anyone could even enjoy playing video games or something.

Personally I just enjoyed them for the experiences they can offer. Like, I don't play GT Sport to "pwn noobs" or get all the trophies they have for it, I just play it because I really enjoy the way it feels to drive cars in that game. Same reason why I enjoy games like Mario Odyssey, it is all about how fun it is to run around and play the game as Mario. Video games great for that reason, so I try to not get caught up on what other people need to get from them.

I don't have anything against trophies/achivements. Back in the PS3 and early Vita days, I considered myself somewhat of a trophy hunter, but the novelty wore off. Far too many games had ridiculous trophy requirements so the tedious grind wasn't worth it. I'm certainly not going to play had games for easy trophies or skip out on games because they dont(I actually seen people say they've done the latter facepalm)

So yeah, I wouldn't be against Nintendo adding a system wide trophy system, but I wouldn't go crazy over it. Maybe they could do what Sony now does with their trophy system and make it so you can earn some My Nintendo good coins or eShop coupons after getting so many, idk.

You do NOT need a universal achievement system to have achievements in a video game. There were achievements in games before Xbox and Playstation was even a thing.

I never understood the point of achievements. I just sort of roll my eyes when I see them pop up.

@gatorboi352
" If BOTW had achievements, every single person on this site would be scratching tooth and nail trying to 100% every single one of them."

Doubt it. I'm happy with the extent to which I finished BotW. But then I suppose I'm a part of the Nintendo Defence Force even though I'm playing games on my PC more than I am on my Switch.

I think achievements in BOTW would be great, but what do I know I just own a Xbox One, PS4, Switch and a plethora of classic systems so I'm the weirdo around here.

Prohaps Devs might start giving us in-game unlocks for doing certain things in games again, like they did before the trophies / achievements thing happened

@gatorboi352

Yeah I wouldn't be bothering with achievements on BoTW so you are wrong as usual.

Having said that I have no issue with achievements or similar being on the Switch and I would just ignore them like I do on my PS4. First thing I did on PS4 was get rid of the notifications of the trophys and the automatic picture taken every time I opened a door or whatever pointless krap triggered it. Have the option there for the people who want it but why don't you try for once to stop generalising everybody because you sound like an idiot.

Wow it's like your talking about me in that article

I used to be the same way. I would often lean toward buying PS3 games JUST because they had an easy list of trophies to achieve.

Over the years though, the obsession faded and now I'm back to buying games simply because I'm interested in playing them. I still enjoy earning trophies and achievements and love the added challenges that they provide, but they no longer dictate the games I play and I no longer obsess over "100 percenting" games through them.

That said, I would love to see Nintendo implement their own unique take. How cool would it be to earn new profile avatars or home menu themes by completing in-game challenges? Now THAT would be something to obsess over and have a lot of fun with.

Have never taken any notice of achievements on any console. Some people certainly seem to like them, though, so Nintendo may as well introduce an equivalent system. More features is generally a good thing.

@Eddyson I mean the 3DS has the activity report that tells you how long you played it in total, how long you played it on average, and how many time you turned on that game. I believe the Wii U had something similar if not the same. And the Nintendo Switch has the thing where it shows you total hours spent in each game. Is that not the same except not seeing little icons showing you what you earned? Showing how much time you put in shows how much you cared without seeing a trophy or achievement in my opinion.

@Meaty-cheeky I'm someone who will 100% beat a game, if it's possible for me, but personally I prefer in game feats or rewards instead of outside number ticking upward. I don't think Achievements or Trophies are pointless, but I do think they're made to scratch that itch some people have to get them all. Nintendo prefers to go their own route, or a more casual route than Microsoft and Sony.

@gatorboi352 By all means, continue to generalize. Also, continue to surround yourself with other xealots who will reinforce your belief that you see saltiness. All I see are people who are tired of being told that achievements are an essential feature of modern gaming (they're not), that Nintendo is behind the times for not mandating them (they're not), and that blind fanboyism is the only possible reason for their attitude (it isn't).

I was never an achievement hunter, but I always did like seeing that little notification pop up with "Achievement unlocked" I am in the group that was/is bummed that the Switch lacks achievements because to me, getting an achievement in a game always felt like the dev team saying "good job". That friendly pat on the back or pleasant compliment from a friend.

The way this guy describes it, it certainly sounds much darker, and more like an addiction. I hope this guy stays FAR away from casinos and gambling.

@NGamerCole I don't care how I long I played an RPG compared to an action game. I do care looking at how long I play everyday. but looking at some weird list ten years later saying I played an action game shorter than an rpg? no, give me an award for all of my effort.

My take is that I've completed far more games with achievements than I did the generation before. I'd prefer Nintendo to have them but they needed implementing from the start.

lol achievements

@Meaty-cheeky
exactly what i mean.

thank you.

we all know nintendo has the money and the power to make the most powerfull console, but why do they always do things half?

n64- no cdrom(destroyed by sony)

gamecube- small storage (they lost 3th party)

wii- bought by parents not hardcore gamers(misses HD graphics, no hdmi) lost alot of dedicated fans( like me)

wii-u no advantage over the xbox 360, even lost more dedicated fans, and 3th party.

after 3 f.... ups they still dont listen what gamers want, well at least to get the old nintendo fanbase and 3th party back.

yes they are inovative, they have brilliant ideas, but at what cost.
as we speak, there is still no serious online function available, you dont have achievement, gamedevelopers are bounded to 32gb games and have to degrate their games, and we dont have twitch, or the system is prepared for 4k gaming.

i wish they pay the same attention to develop a system as they do on the quality of their games.
nintendo is at least very good at making durable product, and deliver glitch free top notch games day one (applause). nobody can do that.

im not here to bash them or you real nintendo fans, but i want them to be the best on the market, a place where every gamers feels at home, just like in the snes days.
but they dont listen to people like us, all they do is searching for the cheapest way to make a console, make it inovating, make everything expensive (games, accesoiries) so they can make the highest profit.
and we fell for it.

i can live with the switch limitations since its hybrid. my 5 year old son is happy with it, so am i.
we van both play games you dont find on any other system since they have alot of violence games. (thats not the way i want to raise my son)

but its my only system at this moment, i was fed up with the xbox one (no new ips) and my daughter claimed my ps4 when she moved on to herself so i gave it to her.

but for me to get further satisfaction of my main console, it got to have at least more 3th party, a online system like psn or xbl, twitch, youtube(like allmost every simple device) and achievements. in adventure games they are exited to hunt down especialy in secret area's. also very cool to compare with friends, and to ask friends how do they get them.
actualy achievements is the best game feature ever added in gaming evolution( respect for microsoft)

nintendo says: we make systems you can enjoy with friends and have a laugh.
well thats exactly what online gaming is here for. online nintendo feels empty, its not easy to make new friends at this moment.
on the xbox i found alot of asian, american and european friends, and talked alot about gaming and other stuff

without these features, gaming feels empty for me(like you being trown back in time, i hate the old days), even for a guy that start playing games in 1984.
gaming is so much better now, then it was in the old days. and i hope one day we get a nintendo console that blows everything else in the competition away.

I'm a bit late, but came across it and felt like responding. First, Nintendo will have them soon enough, so what then, going to hide from all games?

Seems like you have a personal problem instead of everyone else. Yes they're going to be hunters that don't care about the games they're playing but you gotta know that there is something awesome about accomplishing a feat, of feats, in a game, being able to prove it, and a mark on your account for doing it.

You also get kickbacks for doing that in many instances. PlayStation gives you money for the story. I've earned about $30 to spend by just playing games and popping trophies. Ubisoft credits for more content and unlockables and so on. Do you have to have them, no, do they bring more to the table for games.... absolutely. It's more for completionists types anyway. Just turn of your notifications on whatever system you're playing on and ignore them if it's such a problem because it's a part of gaming landscape now, and not going anywhere. Just adapt, and take breaks if you feel the need to only unlock them.

I also love trophy and achievement hunting but I never go out of my way for things that I know are beyond my skill level and I wouldn't say it has crippled me to the point that it's the only reason I play games. I play games for their story primarily. I know some people who won't even buy games that don't have trophies and that's just stupid.

One thing to note though. A bit of info in your article is technically outdated in fact it was outdated at the time you posted this article. Trophies do have real life value now. On the Sony rewards website you can link your PSN account and activate these passes that will start monitoring your trophy progress and you can actually earn Sony rewards points for trophies now. 1000 points is all you need for $10 in PSN credit. So trophies are literally good for store credit.