Steam "achievements" are not only worthless - they are not real achievements!

[GARASHTA]

Do you guys agree with me?
An achievement is something hard to do, a feat which you managed to do. For example, beating a friend in mortal kombat using only one hand. Or doing the same and having a flawless victory. In game, these could be things like finishing a level quickly, killing an enemy in a specific and hard way, and so on. But the way things are, those achievements just pop out of nowhere, just by REGULARLY playing a game, without doing nothing out of ordinary. In that sense, the steam achievements are worthless. The are not true achievements. Some games get you achievements for playing the game, for ordinary things like making a common choice in-game, by unlocking a weapon, by completing a level, and so on. And there are WAY too many of them! So there's virtually no one that goes to a game in order to "get that achievement". Some games even go so far as to make joke achievements, and others satirize the very concept of achievement. In my ideal achievement system, there would be very few of them, like 10 for each game. And they would be hard to achieve. Not a single one would be awarded for regular play. MAYBE there could be only one awarded during regular play, and that is for clearing the game. All others would be challenges.

In the way it currently is, steam achievements are more an immersion breaker than anything.

[TurtleSwift]

They need points like 360 has.

[aiusepsi]

I think you're taking the word "achievement" slightly too literally. Pretend they were called something else, "milestones" perhaps.

Personally, I like a good mix of styles. It's nice to see some that are easy and you'll tend to get without trying, and it's nice to have the ones you really have to work for, or the ones that encourage you to try playing the game a different way than you would normally. It gives you a sense of progression, of the system acknowledging you.

I think one thing that's good about achievements on Steam is that you can see what percentage of players have each achievement, so you can know which rare (and hard to get) achievements you have. So for instance, I have the "Chief of Staff" achievement that only 5% of TF2 players have. The work I had to do to get 1 million heal points to unlock that achievement isn't diminished by the fact that 50% of people have "Race for the Pennant".

[Uueerdo]

Originally posted by garashta:

Do you guys agree with me?
An achievement is something hard to do, a feat which you managed to do. For example, beating a friend in mortal kombat using only one hand. Or doing the same and having a flawless victory. ...

You realize you are talking about games here, right? It is dubious whether anything done in them could truly be considered achievements.

[bermuda]

I think an achievement is like in a quiz game, you get all the wrong answers. Or you beat a level in a game in under 10 seconds. I think that's a little too less literal

[Kaya]

Well, the stupid achievements just track progress. The worst are the ones you get from grinding, which steam even acknowledges. I dunno if steam or the designer makes achievements -- probably the designer.

[Trade-01]

All good points but first thing that needs to happen is a mass achievement reset for SAM users and new server-side achievements system.

[Silv3r9]

I wouldn't call many achievements "worthless" but "pointless/useless", but yeah I agree with you OP.

As you very well point out, achievements should be awarded for doing something relevant within the game not for using the menu / moving your character / insert some random derp action here....the hells is up with that?!? >_>

[MA☝Omgwtfbbqstfu™]

Lol all game achievements are by default worthless.

"stupid" easy achievements are there sometimes just to get a new player used to the system.

[Aidan]

l

[Sparkling Forklift]

Yeah, I wish achievements were something that were difficult to, well, acheieve. A lot of 'em seem to be "Reach level 50" or "Kill 300 bad guys".

A cool one I remember from Halo 3 was you had to jump off a really high spot, where you would die when you landed. You had to break your fall by assassinating an elite. I thought that was kinda cool, much more interesting at least.

[Hammerblu]

It always confused me why devs added achievements for things like starting a new game or equipping your first armor. Not wanting to add to the bonfire of rage more than necessary, does anyone actually know what the official explanation for this is? Like the actual real reason they use to justify putting it in. Only thing I can think of is to amuse children (or simpletons I suppose), but that doesn't actually fly when we're talking about an 18+ title for example.

[ReBoot]

There are achievements which are hard and there are achievements which are easy. Why should non-hardcore-Players have an empty achievement list?

BTW guys, there are alot of difficult achievements. So just play games which are not The Maw.

[Pervenche]

Originally posted by Hammerblu:

It always confused me why devs added achievements for things like starting a new game or equipping your first armor. Not wanting to add to the bonfire of rage more than necessary, does anyone actually know what the official explanation for this is? Like the actual real reason they use to justify putting it in. Only thing I can think of is to amuse children (or simpletons I suppose), but that doesn't actually fly when we're talking about an 18+ title for example.

Because people like being rewarded for doing nothing. Game developers and publishers know this. It sucks them into the game. Kind of like in call of duty or battlefield where you seem to constantly be getting some sort of point streak or combat ribbon with very little effort. It keeps people playing. Do I agree with it? No, I honestly hate it. I wish the whole idea of "achievements" never even existed. Back in the day we didn't have these things. We just played the game.

[ReBoot]

Yeah, back in the days everything was better: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LvZuR0VQdOg/UVts-8nMldI/AAAAAAAAFYI/Ro5CVkdIOHY/s1600/statler-waldorf.jpg

[d7602002]

Achievements are a neat thing....for me it is for the individual joy. I do not compare them or care who gets what. I have a bunch of achievements on CSS...131 of 147 but I only play by myself with BOTS, to me those achievements aer something I have earned, but others would say they do not count because I do not play with a bunch of people online. BUt once again it is an individual thing.

Some games the achievements are silly cause you have to play several times...1 achievement is finish level 15 using only stealth and not killing anyone, then another is Kill all people on level 15....I rarely will play a game through 2 or 3 times just for achievements.