Add a Gamerscore to all achievements, and have the score adjust to how many people have unlocked it. Also have achievements give you Steam XP.

[JerryBear]

I used to achievement hunt all the time on Xbox, but since I've moved to Steam, achievements are missing a key thing that made it fun. It's cool getting achievements, but tying points to those achievements would make it a bit more fun on PC. You can also improve from how things are done on Xbox.

My proposal is that all Steam achievements have a base value of 1 point, but it receives a multiplier based on how many people have unlocked it. For instance, Steam says 65.3% of people who own Half-Life 2 have unlocked the "Malcontent" achievement. Under my suggestion, it'd be worth 35 points (100-65.3=34.7, then round to the nearest positive integer.)

This would give every achievement a fluctuating value of 1 to 100 based on how rare it is. Easy achievements that everybody have unlocked would be worth less, while difficult achievements would naturally be worth more.

There would be other ways to calculate this multiplier as well, and Valve could fiddle with it to fit this next part.

Steam achievements should increase your Steam Level. Right now no one really pays any attention to it because it's based on badges, and you can literally buy badges through getting trading cards on the Market.

Each achievement point should give you XP. Valve would have to balance this because of the multiplier, so it might end up being a tenth or a hundredth of your Gamerscore. For instance, I have 2,679 achievements right now, and that would break the current leveling values, especially once it's been multiplied (An average multiplier of 20 would give 53,580 XP, and I currently am Level 25 with 4,687 XP on an 11 year old account.) But if you dropped 53,580 down to 5,358 or 536 XP, that's much more reasonable. Again, Valve would have to find a balance that worked to keep things fair.

In principle though, I think there's a system here that works and would add a fun new layer of competition to Steam.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Achievements are easily cheated. Aside from programs that can just unlock them, there are games that don't disable achievements when using in-game cheats, so I don't see XP being gained from them any time soon.

Achievements already have a score. One achievements = 1 point. Then there is the percent completed. Both these are in the achievements showcase.

A score based on how many have an achievement isn't likely either as people would complain then they lose points as more people gain the achievement or that their achievement isn't worth as much as when their friend got it. There also achievement cheats at issue here too as it would over inflate the number of people who earned said achievement, causing it to have a lower score.

PC is more of an open platform where it is far harder to prevent cheating achievements, where as a console is a closed system and they can do more to prevent such things.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

This could be a good idea if it were entirely divorced from the XP system, actually.

Maybe make a separate score?

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

This could be a good idea if it were entirely divorced from the XP system, actually.

Maybe make a separate score?

A score that shifts constantly? Yeah I think that'll cause more confusion.

OP if you need to add stuff to achievements to motivate you to getting achievements, then you kinda missed the point.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

This could be a good idea if it were entirely divorced from the XP system, actually.

Maybe make a separate score?

Dude. How can it possibly be a good idea with the existence of SAM?

C'mon...

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by AmsterdamHeavy:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

This could be a good idea if it were entirely divorced from the XP system, actually.

Maybe make a separate score?

Dude. How can it possibly be a good idea with the existence of SAM?

C'mon...

Even without sam. most games ghave a godmode or cheatcodes or mods that will allow you to cheese achievements.. That's sort fo the thing. Cheevos were never meant to be anythingg other than motivational prompts "Can you do this?"

If your response is 'What do I get for doing it?', you're not really the mindset CHeevos were designed for. Achievements were made for those would respond to the question of :

"Can you do this?" with "Hold my beer".

[Electric Cupcake]

Originally posted by JerryBear:

but since I've moved to Steam, achievements are missing a key thing that made it fun.

What a sad life you console kids must lead if you can't have fun without e-peen measuring.

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Even without sam. most games ghave a godmode or cheatcodes or mods that will allow you to cheese achievements.. That's sort fo the thing. Cheevos were never meant to be anythingg other than motivational prompts "Can you do this?"

If your response is 'What do I get for doing it?', you're not really the mindset CHeevos were designed for. Achievements were made for those would respond to the question of :

"Can you do this?" with "Hold my beer".

Back in the day, the satisfaction of Swordless Questing or a 4 White Mage Run or finishing Contra without the code or beating Battletoads was reward enough. It's disgusting how achievements now are being shoehorned in everywhere (even against the wishes of creators like with Toby Fox) and kids these days™ think it's abnormal to not use achievements.

[Start_Running]

4 white mages... oh dear god I remember trying that....It's actually not the hardest combo. That one is reserved for the 4-thief party.

Cheevos started for the right reasons since it solved the whole 'Yeah sure you did' whenever you said you did something like Beat COntra on only 3 lives. OIr Beat punchouse without a perfect record.

Then they started getting creative with them, using them to hint at possibilities and encourage the use of mechanics outside a a players FOO strategy. THen they became certificates of participation.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

This could be a good idea if it were entirely divorced from the XP system, actually.

Maybe make a separate score?

A score that shifts constantly? Yeah I think that'll cause more confusion.

OP if you need to add stuff to achievements to motivate you to getting achievements, then you kinda missed the point.

Uh, most scores shift constantly anyway.

If you're talking about "the value of this achievement shifts constantly", then (1) that could incentivize people to seek out more achievements in the first place, and (2) this wasn't even my point anyway.

My point was that a Steam achievement score makes more sense when it's divorced from the Steam user level/XP system.

Originally posted by AmsterdamHeavy:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

This could be a good idea if it were entirely divorced from the XP system, actually.

Maybe make a separate score?

Dude. How can it possibly be a good idea with the existence of SAM?

C'mon...

Because then the only purpose of cheating achievements is to cheat achievements -- there are no other perks (e.g. getting additional booster packs) that result.

If you're saying "but SAM impacts the integrity of the achievements" well some people are going to SAM it up anyway and they already do. Doesn't mean that other people can't make something meaningful out of achievements.

[CaliberPlex]

This became a heated debate really fast lmao. Honestly I really love this idea and I don't see a huge issue with either of the arguments made.

The fluctuating point scores seem perfect for Steam as it would fit right in with the Steam Market ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ where it's another "earn it or buy it" kind of deal that a good load of steam's features are based on (active virtual economy crap).

As for SAM... I honestly had to look it up. Again it's the kind of thing that is just built into Steam and it's unchangeable now. Griefers are griefers and it's a mild satisfaction that very few people particularly care for. If Valve went out and made a LEADERBOARD for the highest level players, THEN it would be a problem when bot accounts are on the top 24/7.

Games like Half Life 2 which are set in stone shouldn't be victim to fluctuating points to begin with. Games with active communities like GTAV where more players constantly join and more content is constantly being added would add a bit of "antiquity" to certain achievements I suppose as players who get them early on get to wear those 85-99 points as an indication of how long they've been on Steam.

Maybe this could go to ♥♥♥♥ really fast as players get points too quickly and sooner or later we have steam users with levels as high as 800, but as JerryBear said Valve could finick with the system to find the best fit:

Originally posted by JerryBear:

There would be other ways to calculate this multiplier as well, and Valve could fiddle with it to fit this next part....

...Again, Valve would have to find a balance that worked to keep things fair.

In principle though, I think there's a system here that works and would add a fun new layer of competition to Steam.

[Start_Running]

Or they could leave the system as is. If you need to be motivated to get achievements..then you missed the point of achievement. It's like needing to be motivated to do well in school.

[WASHED CORSA PEEK]

Just no, sounds like an Xbox thing..
you can also just cheat the achievements