game trophies

The ability to unlock achievements has become something of a phenomenon during this generation of gaming. Microsoft started this trend with the launch of the 360 back in November of 2005. Since that day, gamers have picked up titles with ravenous glee just so they can build up a gamerscore. Understanding the popularity of the feature, Sony adopted the system but allowed players to unlock trophies instead of achievements. Both systems are similar in practically every way and have kept gamers playing titles long after they’d typically forget about them. But what’s the purpose of these trophies and points? In a word: nothing.

For those unfamiliar with the system, achievements/trophies are unlocked when certain criteria is met in a game. For instance, completing a chapter in the main storyline or winning 100 matches online could unlock an achievement. Once the specifications are met, a message appears stating what achievement was unlocked and for how many points. After this, the points are then tallied into your overall gamerscore. Your gamerscore is the amount of points you’ve accumulated from achievements and is prominently displayed next to your Live ID for all to see. Trophies for the PS3 are not added to any kind of score. Instead you can acquire bronze, silver, gold, and platinum trophies, platinum being the toughest to earn.

Don’t get me wrong here; achievements and trophies can be fun to get and definitely add replayability to a title, but it’s a feature that’s weakly implemented. Adding a high score via the leaderboards for all your friends to view is nice, but practically every title already does that. There’s no real reason why people have to unlock every single achievement in a game. Yet, people willingly endure high degrees of gaming torture just to earn a few achievements they missed. Why? Mostly it’s bragging rights, sometimes it’ll net you a new gamer icon or even rarer, you’ll receive something to use in the game itself. Yeah, mostly it’s nothing.

It comes to no surprise that the games with the toughest achievements tend to be more on the competitive side. Business-wise, it’s a smart decision to implement hard to reach achievements for these games. Seeing how people throw away countless hours just to get a sliver closer to seeing that message pop up, it’s almost stupid not to. That means they’re playing said company’s game that much longer. The perfect example of this is from Gears of War 2, which is called Seriously 2.0. This achievement can only be unlocked after you’ve killed 100,000 people in any mode. It’s possible to get… if all you’ve been doing for the past five months is playing that game. And even when you do get it, there’s apparently no reward. But wait, I just got 50 more gamerpoints!

I think that the achievement phenomena could be significantly greater if developers took the time to streamline achievements with the actual game and reward the player. Let’s eliminate all this, turn the game on and press the jump button to earn five gamerpoints nonsense. Why not take the approach games like Mass Effects and Halo 3 did? In Mass Effect, once you earned an achievement it actually boosted your performance in the game. For instance, if you got 150 pistol kills, your shots with the pistol would become more powerful. In Halo 3, as you unlocked achievements you’d be rewarded with different types of armor and a sword if you achieved all 1,000 points. Developers, take some pointers from these prime examples.

Also, gamerscore as a whole is utterly pointless. Why not get creative and allow users to purchase themes, pictures, or in-game items with the points they earn from getting the achievements? We’ve already paid a premium price for the game. Oh that’s right, because you’d rather have players pay $2 for a pack of pictures or more for costumes. Having some kind of incentive to unlock achievements instead of just because would increase a game’s longevity tenfold. Imagine completing the 10 chainsaw duels in Gears of War 2 and being rewarded with different styles of the Lancer bayonet? The examples are endless and are only limited by the imagination of the developers.

Achievements and trophies are a great feature to every game, but with just a little more thought they could become something so much greater. I don’t want to look at a game’s achievements and find that I can only achieve one if I’m the greatest player in the entire world. Why bother with it when the only reward is a few more numbers attached to my Live ID? We’ve got the creativity people, time to use it.

Originally posted by Andrew Whipple III.

trophies

Lemarchand admits that earning trophies, Sony’s incentive system, is a fairly simple idea, but also recognizes that they can potentially reward a variety of play styles, from exploration and speed runs to total mastery. They are also a way to chronicle accomplishments in the game.

“We had 48 trophies in Uncharted,” he says. “We saw how much players enjoyed them, and it got us excited about applying ourselves more seriously to the design of our trophy system and trying to find trophies that are unique and really attention-grabbing. That’s what we’re doing right now [brainstorming trophies for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves].”

While the quest to collect trophies may drive some players into play styles that are not a natural fit for them, forcing them to complete tasks that negatively affect their experience with the game, the lead designer believes that in-game achievements also have the potential to break habits and preconceptions.

He adds that the most compelling trophies are a benchmark of player skill that test their combat or traversing prowess, pointing to one of his favorite trophies, “Dyno-Might!”, an award for killing three enemies with a single grenade, as an example.

“You would sometimes get it by accident, but when it gave me the best feeling was when I did it on purpose — whether by clever evaluation or because the stars aligned,” says Lemarchand. He argues that these displays of skill carry more weight in the public sphere than those that commemorate a player reaching an arbitrary checkpoint.

“This whole world of incentives, of public awards for things that players have done in the course of their unique experience of the game, is a jumping off point for a whole new world of game design.”

“It has to do with games becoming more social through connectivity and games breaking out of the constraints that they have had historically,” the Uncharted lead designer continues. “We are fundamentally social creatures, and fundamentally playful creatures. Most everyone has that urge to be part of a social group — to be seen in a social group.”

Lemarchand believes that trophies embody that spirit.

You can read the full feature, which shares additional thoughts on in-game achievements from Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling, Skate 2 producer Brian Lindley, Turn 10 senior game designer Bill Giese, and more (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from other websites).
Originally posted at Gamasutra.com.