{"id":1782,"date":"2012-12-05T12:08:44","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T11:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/?p=1782"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:44:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T16:44:58","slug":"4-achievement-sins-in-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/05\/4-achievement-sins-in-games\/","title":{"rendered":"5 achievement sins in games"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve discussed before how trophies or achievements in games can have a big effect on the player\u2019s experience<\/a>\u2013 many people use these meta-goals to influence how they play the game, or to extend their enjoyment of the game. However sometimes designers do not consider how achievements will affect players, and make some common mistakes. Today I\u2019m looking at 5 of the worst things achievements, or trophies, can do!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not unlocking \u2018easier\u2019 achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s common for games to have multiple achievements for completing levels on different difficulties. The \u2018value\u2019 of the achievement can be linked with the difficulty, incentivising players to replay on a harder difficulty level. However, there is a simple error when making these achievements, which can ruin the player experience. Typically, playing on a harder difficulty level automatically unlocks the achievement for playing on the easier difficulty. Quake 4 however doesn\u2019t, forcing the player to replay the game on easy to \u2018complete\u2019 the achievements \u2013 decreasing the challenge of the game, and ensuring that the experience isn\u2019t fun. Developers should therefore always enforce automatic unlocking of the achievements for easy difficulties when playing on hard.<\/p>\n

\"Rick

Achievement Unlocked: Sorry!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Online only achievements <\/strong><\/p>\n

Often achievements are used to make players try the multiplayer mode within games, and can vary from the simple \u201cplay one multiplayer match\u201d found in Resistance Burning Skies, to the slightly more epic \u201cWin 100 matches\u201d in FIFA.<\/p>\n

The problem arises when these achievements rely on a continued fan-base for these games. Often games have a very short online popularity, and if you miss it, you will never be able to \u2018complete\u2019 these achievements. Some games, such as FIFA\u2019s \u201cwin 100 matches\u201d, rely on the participation of other players to complete. With rage-quitting being a big problem in FIFA, this achievement can be almost impossible. Last of all, some games (in particular sports games) close down the online servers after a few years, making online achievements impossible to acquire.<\/p>\n

Spoilers<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s always tempting to read the trophy list early on while playing a game, to influence how to play a game. However this can go wrong if the trophies aren\u2019t hidden, and give away plot elements from later on in the game.<\/p>\n

This issue is particularly relevant for narrative heavy games. Heavy Rain cleverly avoided the risk of people \u2018spoiling\u2019 the experience for themselves by making all the achievements hidden, removing the temptation of looking and discovering what happens later in the plot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Secretly miss-able achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s common in games such as Deus Ex or Dishonoured to give achievements for playing in a particular style \u2013 for example completing the game without killing anyone, or without being discovered. Half Life 2 takes this to the extreme of having an achievement for completing the game while only firing one shot!<\/p>\n

However, for the Half Life 2 example, the game doesn\u2019t actually check if you\u2019ve only fired once, it instead checks if you\u2019ve only fired at one mandatory padlock and then never again. If the player passes this padlock without firing, but does fire one shot elsewhere, they will fail the achievement despite meeting the outlined \u2018rules\u2019.<\/p>\n

The issue here is that the player is not informed when they\u2019ve \u201cmissed\u201d the achievement. Much like for Deus Ex: Human Revolution\u2019s achievements for completing the game without killing anyone, or being spotted, players can continue to play unaware that they\u2019ve failed. They will only discover this upon completing the game, and will then be unsure what they did wrong or how far they have to replay to \u2018fix\u2019 it. \u00a0The player\u2019s time is wasted, and this will seriously affect their perception of the game.<\/p>\n

Lazy achievments<\/strong><\/p>\n

This example may be a bit unfair. Let\u2019s look at the achievements for Avatar: The Burning Earth –<\/p>\n

\n
\"Avatar

All done, and still in time for lunch!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

A full \u20181000\u2019 gamerscore can be achieved within the first 5 minutes of play time, with one extended combo. \u00a0I gather that the team making the game had to deal with a last minute rejection of their original achievements, requiring new achievements to be implemented with only hours to spare.<\/p>\n

However they\u2019re not the only game to have \u2018lazy\u2019 achievements. Achievements can have a major effect on player\u2019s perceptions of games, and their longevity. For developers doing achievements correctly can prevent re-sales and have a direct effect on the number of first-hand sales. There is a huge benefit to putting effort into doing achievements correctly, and avoiding these \u2018achievement sins\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve discussed before how trophies or achievements in games can have a big effect on the player\u2019s experience\u2013 many people use these meta-goals to influence how they play the game, or to extend their enjoyment of the game. However sometimes designers do not consider how achievements will affect players, and make some common mistakes. Today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-1782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games-user-research","tag-achievements","grve-entry-item","grve-blog-item"],"yoast_head":"\n5 achievement sins in games - Steve Bromley - User Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/05\/4-achievement-sins-in-games\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 achievement sins in games - Steve Bromley - User Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve discussed before how trophies or achievements in games can have a big effect on the player\u2019s experience\u2013 many people use these meta-goals to influence how they play the game, or to extend their enjoyment of the game. 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