Introduction:
I would first like to say hello to the Capsule Computers Community, my name is Dylan Radcliffe and I am the new Editor for Capsule Computers. You have probably seen a few posts by me already, and you can expect many more. To read more background information about me, you can check out my bio in the about section of the site.
Achievements – The Mentalities for Collecting
(This article is focused more towards accumulated achievement score, over trophy count; even though it applies to both areas)
The last decade has introduced us to a new online status marker within games: Achievements. The Xbox 360, steam, and even World of Warcraft have achievements, while the PS3 has trophies. They are unlocked by doing specific tasks within a game and have actually been around much longer but only recently have been collected and cataloged over a larger quantity of games and then displayed for all to see. Whether they are called achievements or trophies, the bottom line is that they are a system used to track achievements through multiple games and see how much you have played. This score (or trophy count on the PS3) can then be shown off to all your friends. Many people feel that the score is pointless, while others play games solely to increase their score. A conflict occurs between these two groups. The main problem is the misunderstanding that, just because your achievement score is hi doesn’t mean that is the only reason you play, but many people see a hi achievement count and instantly title you as an achievement #####. There are a few mentalities towards collecting achievements that many people do not consider when titling someone with a hi achievement score. I will proceed to explain a few of these other mentalities to enlighten the general public in the reasons behind collecting achievements. There are a few other Mentalities, but these are the three main reasons.
OCD (Order Compulsive Disorder)-
Gamers who have OCD or even lesser extents of OCD have a compelling urge to complete their games 100%. This group doesn’t feel like a specific game is completed until everything possible to unlock within a game is unlocked, this includes the achievements. These people will buy a game they want, but then spend days trying to get all the achievements after they beat the game and then once they complete the game completely will usually never return to the game unless it has a fun online multiplayer.
The Competitive –
This actually borders upon being an achievement #####, and is usually reserved to groups of friends that all buy the exact same games to play with each other. The group of friends will compete to see who can get the highest achievement score. The competition can lead to a lot of fun between friends. Care must be taken though to not go out and buy easy games just to surpass your friends in score. This category is basically reserved for close friends that always buy the exact same games, and play online with each other.
The non-wealthy –
This group is for gamers who don’t have a lot of money, and can’t get their hands on a bunch of video games. People who fall in this group usually only get a few games for Christmas and their birthday because they don’t have a job or get any allowance. Since they only have a few video games they rely on achievements to extend the life of their games. Before achievements, these were the people that would get every heart container and weapon on all three files of ‘The Legend of Zelda’. These people usually have a hi achievement score alongside a low game count, and many of their games are 100% complete. The main difference between this group and the OCD group, is that the non-wealthy still play for fun and they don’t feel obliged to 100% complete it unless it remains fun. So those achievements that required 500+ hours of online multiplayer to reach 5,000,000 experience (yes, I’m looking at you F.E.A.R. 2) will never be unlocked by the non-wealthy, because after a while it just isn’t fun anymore. Unless they are really poor and this is their only game they will get for 3 years, then they will probably get that achievement.
The main sign of an achievement ##### –
Achievement #####s usually base an entire purchase of off of how difficult the achievements within a game are (don’t get this confused with people who look up the achievements before a purchase, an achievement list can show a rough estimate of how much fun the game will be or how long it will take to beat; people that look for this reason usually go for difficult achievements rather than easy ones). If it looks like a few of the achievements would take too long they don’t buy the game. They will also go out and buy used copies of games that have easy achievements, such as ‘Hannah Montana’ or even ‘King Kong’ and then return it just to get an easy boost.
Conclusion:
Many people who aren’t actually achievement #####s simply say they are to avoid dispute on why their achievement count is so hi. Other people rename themselves as achievement hunters that says they collect achievements but don’t want to be classified with the same group as achievement #####s. The definition an achievement ##### and achievement hunter is in fact entirely different, so classify yourself and others correctly. The exact definition of an achievement ##### is “Person who acquires XBOX 360 console games for the sole purpose of getting all of the achievements for that game to gain gamerscore.”, while an achievement hunter is “Someone who plays 360 and/or Live PC games for fun but also will not stop playing the game for good until her/she has all the achievements.” [via Urban Dictionary].
I hope you enjoyed reading this article, and that you have learned a new perspective into achievement collecting. So, are you wrongfully accused as an achievement #####? If so which category do you fall into? Are you really an achievement hunter hiding underneath an achievement ##### title?
