Help me get over my trophy/achievement obsession

[InvisibleBanana 23]

Hey guys, ever since the release of the Xbox 360 and achievements were introduced, I became addicted. I ended up getting my gamerscore to over 200,000 before I made the jump to PS4 in 2014. My addiction switched to trophy/platinum hunting and my backlog has gotten massive because of it (1000+ games). I want to switch to primarily pc gaming and stop caring about trophies and achievements but I don't know how. I also have a big collection of games on systems with no achievement system (Switch, retro games, etc) and I'd like to play them as well but always go back to Playstation because of trophies. Do any recovering trophy/achievement addicts have any suggestions?

[Deadly_Ha_Ha 3,092]

Nope, you're done for

[Shaun1094 216]

Wish I could help but I’ve accepted it as part of my life at this point and I think you will do the same in time lol

[LukeTheGooner 1,609]

If you have them on disk, just sell and think of the money you could make

[Malex595 37]

Taking on a full time job/non gaming telated hobby/ girlfriend can help

[Yuber6969 5,037]

11 minutes ago, InvisibleBanana said:

I also have a big collection of games on systems with no achievement system (Switch, retro games, etc) and I'd like to play them as well but always go back to Playstation because of trophies.

 

I feel you on this one. I really want to play Persona 1 - 3 but won't do it due to the absence of trophies.

[Dangisuckatgamin 806]

Just now, Malex595 said:

Taking on a full time job/non gaming telated hobby/ girlfriend can help

Eh. the non-gaming hobby didn't work for me lol.

But yes finding an overly controlling person can rid you of a gaming lifestyle, but in the long run it'll really screw you up. Never let someone control or change you.

[Pinselneo 255]

2 minutes ago, Malex595 said:

Taking on a full time job/non gaming telated hobby/ girlfriend can help

I have a full time job and a girlfriend but I still collect trophies

[InvisibleBanana 23]

4 minutes ago, Malex595 said:

Taking on a full time job/non gaming telated hobby/ girlfriend can help

I have a full-time job and a wife which is another reason that I'd like to stop caring about trophies since I don't have as much free time. I'd be able to get through my backlog much faster if I ignored trophies and focused on just beating them. 

[AK-1138 6,434]

Wait until you can sell your profile as a NFT to some sociopathic gaming exec who "loves pyramid schemes", and spend the rest of your life like this guy: 

 

[theninja223 24]

I'm also in the same situation. I have a full-time job and my addiction doesn't stop growing. Soon I will move to Canada and I will need to sell my PS4. Hopefully, this will stop me. 

[Malex595 37]

Well, speaking from my own experience... I started collecting trophies over a decade ago. I can honestly say, it consumed a good portion of my 20s. Over the years i have noticed i needed to take breaks from trophy hunting. Sometimes it just several days, somethimes it was weeks. And with each passing years, those breaks became both longer and more frequemt. Right now, i'm 32 and i still go for trophies, but to a much lesser extend then just a few years ago. Don't know how old you guys are, but i guess what I'm trying to say is that, that obsesion goes away in time 

[Krove-34 142]

Play shitty game. I'm playing FF VII now , and i hate it. Not my type of game , and i can tell you , i'm not even sure to finish it , and i have the platinum of all my game .So my love for trophy is challenged 😂

 

[LukeTheGooner 1,609]

3 minutes ago, Krove-34 said:

Play shitty game. I'm playing FF VII now , and i hate it. Not my type of game , and i can tell you , i'm not even sure to finish it , and i have the platinum of all my game .So my love for trophy is challenged 

 

 

this is how I know I'm not addicted, I just move on from a game If I don't enjoy and it doesn't bother me having it on my profile, because for me it shows realness

Edited March 21, 2021 by LukeTheGooner

[colia100 468]

Barking up the wrong tree on this site buddy 🙄😁

[DaivRules 15,288]

32 minutes ago, InvisibleBanana said:

Do any recovering trophy/achievement addicts have any suggestions?

Talk to an actual professional. Most insurance plans will cover visits and they have the tools to help you succeed. 

[ExHaseo 5,770]

If you really want to kick it, do the same thing you would do with any other addiction, get rid of your stash. Sell off your consoles and games with trophies/achievements and only play on the switch and PC.

 

Otherwise, turning off trophy notifications can help, but it's really just a matter of willpower. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by ExHaseo

[pogo_loco 264]

8 minutes ago, ExHaseo said:

Sell off your consoles and games with trophies/achievements

 

Such an obvious solution.  Such an unlikely choice.

 

[Trini 1,692]

I won't say do something as drastic as selling off your gaming collection, but I would say is, explore hobbies outside of gaming for a while. I think it really comes down to self-assessment, find out what probabilities are there that might pique your interest as much as trophy hunting does. You might quite often think that something may not interest you until you actually visualize/place yourself in that scenario, and your perspective of it might change immensely. Also, if you have family/friends that could help you then let them; their involvement could help you in more ways than one. 

[Whitelightnin683 1,188]

Just have to remember why we play video games in the first place.

 

1 hour ago, yuber1234 said:

 

I feel you on this one. I really want to play Persona 1 - 3 but won't do it due to the absence of trophies.

Apologies for slightly derailing the thread here. Having played Persona 1-3 on the Vita myself, 1 & 2 play more closely to the SMT (Shin Megami Tensei) franchise than the modern Persona games 3, 4, & 5 respectively, and thus I feel they are the weakest in the series and aren't really worth playing unless you plan on getting into SMT imo. Sadly, I do think you're missing out on not playing 3, as it's one of the best, if not arguably the best game in the series.  

[ladynadiad 4,040]

1 hour ago, ExHaseo said:

If you really want to kick it, do the same thing you would do with any other addiction, get rid of your stash. Sell off your consoles and games with trophies/achievements and only play on the switch and PC.

 

PC wouldn't really cut it though because Steam has achievements and even GOG, Uplay and Origin have them, though these platforms have fewer games in general.  PC has the advantage of achievements being optional, but devs know games with achievements sell better than ones that do not and anything that is also released on PSN and XBL is going to have the same list as those platforms.  Only non-achievement games being released as of late are niche games from indie devs or older games that don't really support them well.  On top of that, PC is the worst platform if you have problems with getting too many games since the sales, giveaways, game bundles and so on lead to many having backlogs far beyond what anyone could play in their lifetime because they have trouble keeping their backlogs under control.  Steam definitely isn't the place to go for someone looking to curb an addiction.

[InvisibleBanana 23]

21 minutes ago, ladynadiad said:

 

PC wouldn't really cut it though because Steam has achievements and even GOG, Uplay and Origin have them, though these platforms have fewer games in general.  PC has the advantage of achievements being optional, but devs know games with achievements sell better than ones that do not and anything that is also released on PSN and XBL is going to have the same list as those platforms.  Only non-achievement games being released as of late are niche games from indie devs or older games that don't really support them well.  On top of that, PC is the worst platform if you have problems with getting too many games since the sales, giveaways, game bundles and so on lead to many having backlogs far beyond what anyone could play in their lifetime because they have trouble keeping their backlogs under control.  Steam definitely isn't the place to go for someone looking to curb an addiction.

 

Yeah, unfortunately my Steam backlog is like 600-700 games long. Lol

[ExHaseo 5,770]

21 minutes ago, ladynadiad said:

 

PC wouldn't really cut it though because Steam has achievements and even GOG, Uplay and Origin have them, though these platforms have fewer games in general.  PC has the advantage of achievements being optional, but devs know games with achievements sell better than ones that do not and anything that is also released on PSN and XBL is going to have the same list as those platforms.  Only non-achievement games being released as of late are niche games from indie devs or older games that don't really support them well.  On top of that, PC is the worst platform if you have problems with getting too many games since the sales, giveaways, game bundles and so on lead to many having backlogs far beyond what anyone could play in their lifetime because they have trouble keeping their backlogs under control.  Steam definitely isn't the place to go for someone looking to curb an addiction.

 

By that logic, it's inescapable and they should just stop playing video games altogether. Even Nintendo games have achievements built in to games now. Except on Switch and Steam the achievements are pointless. There's no united gamerscore or profile, which is what drives trophy/achievement hunters. And on Steam especially, they're a joke. It's so easy to just hack them, that no one cares about them. There's also no big sites like PSNP for PC achievements either. Not to mention that there's plenty of options on PC to play games without achievements. I also never said anything about Steam. Being contrarian and creating a non-existent argument when someone is literally asking for help with an addiction isn't helping anyone. PC is the best place to go to be able to play modern games and get away from achievements.

[DrBloodmoney 25,198]

2 hours ago, DaivRules said:

Talk to an actual professional. 

This^
 

I don’t think we are the best lot to give advice on this issue.
 

Asking a trophy hunting forum for help to beat an addiction to trophies is like asking around in a bar for help in beating alcoholism

[Dr_Mayus 18,008]

3 hours ago, DaivRules said:

Talk to an actual professional. Most insurance plans will cover visits and they have the tools to help you succeed. 

This is probably the best advice here. Asking a forum board is fine but going on a trophy website asking how to stop going for trophies is like going into a shooting den asking for the best way to stop doing drugs.

 

It sounds like part of your problem is you buy too much. Honestly you might want to consider getting rid of credit cards and things like that. Or putting a restriction on them so you can only spend so much. You mention you have 600 games in your backlog...why keep buying them if you aren't actually playing them.