The latest bandwagon for game developers to hop on is achievements. It seems that every gamer wants them and it allows developers to push gamers into otherwise unvisited corners of the game. A game has even been made mocking the current achievement heavy culture called “Achievement Unlocked.” The entire purpose of the game is simply to unlock mundane and pointless achievements. Just by starting the game you get an achievement for starting the game, getting to the menu, starting the game, and lasting more than 5 seconds. Other than all the achievement hoarding, there is no other point to the game.
However, what truly makes achievements fun? When I play games, I don’t play just to get all of the achievements. In fact, I am usually bored by many achievements. The basic achievements like “beat the game” or “get to level x” are completely uninteresting to me. They provide nothing in game and don’t even have much in the way of bragging rights. The only achievements that I truly enjoy getting are those that are not part of the actual game and are more quirky or offbeat. Achievements that force you to figure out what you must do based on the name are also a plus.
For the most part, I find that Valve has done achievements right. In Team Fortress 2, every major update comes with new weapons for a character class and a slew of class specific achievements to unlock. These achievements help to strengthen the character back story. However in addition to the standard achievement aspects you would expect, simply reading through them is entertaining. The things that Valve makes its players do and the names it has for the achievements are absolutely hilarious. In what other game are you rewarded for killing another player by using a taunt? In fact, what other game even has that ability?
I agree that many achievements are pretty mundane, but some present new challenges to the player, like getting a perfect on expert in Rock Band. They're optional and not intrusive, and that's kind of nice.
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