How Do PlayStation Trophies Affect How We Play?

[TrophyChief]

I'm sure we all have our stories to tell and share. I certainly do when it comes to trophies and the 'hunt." Fun topic that IGN's Beyond! podcast recently discussed and dropped. Enjoyed hearing their takes and the community members opinions. This just scratches the surface, but fun to listen in and hear what was discussed nevertheless. Enjoy!

 

 

[LegendExeter]

90 minute podcast, not bad though as it gave me something to listen to while at work.

 

It's such a diverse topic.

 

I would agree that those who do care about trophies, of course they affect how and what we play.  I agree with several of the comments they made, definitely Mark who said that when we played Miles Morales again...he was like what am I doing I already have the platinum.  That mindset is the mindset of a trophy hunter, a game might be fun, yet once all the trophies are collected its natural to want to move on to the next challenge.  It was hard after my son platinumed Minecraft PS3 to watch him play it afterwards, or days or weeks after, I kept thinking what a waste of time you have all the trophies.  However to a now 9 yo he was never in it for the platinum or other trophies.  So watching him play games, is literally watching someone play for fun.  He currently plays Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, Geometry Dash, etc.  He did play the phone version of PVZ and tried to get all the achievements in that.  Yet overall he is playing for fun solely, while me or the rest of us here are playing for completions, platinums, and then moving on to the next one.

 

John said the same thing I did about the game becoming like a job and not fun any longer, I said it in this post near the end:

 

 

[z99f]

It's an interesting topic for sure and I find myself in the middle.

 

In a certain way, trophies have been great for my gaming experience as it generally offers ways of playing games differently or doing things that wouldn't normally be done (all of which was discussed in the video). In addition, I've played some games that I otherwise never would have played if it wasn't for trophies. I've found some real hidden gems this way. 

 

On the flip side, I don't like the idea of playing a game for the sake of trophies alone. I also don't particularly like that I tend to stay away from certain games with unobtainable trophies. This latter point is quite absurd when you actually think about it. For example, I've tried getting over this mentality and have purposefully gone back to some of my unobtainable platinums like Motorstorm Pacific Rift where I beat all the developer time trials despite not having earned any of the online trophies before the server shutdown (I never touched this game after the online shutdown because it became unobtainable yet I still had so much fun going back to play it all those years later). There have also been many games that have felt like a chore when working through their respective trophy lists and this really does feel like it defeats the entire purpose of what gaming is supposed to be (yes yes I know that not every second of gaming is intended to be pure enjoyable bliss but it's not supposed to feel like a chore either).

 

In the end, some of the more hardcore of us are able to stomach these difficult/grindy trophies without much hassle, while others simply prefer not to. Similarly, some of us enjoy plowing through every game we play while collecting every last trophy while others call it quits after only one or two. I don't see anything wrong with either. Trophy hunting really comes down to what each person is willing to do and this is what makes it quite a subjective area within this particular discussion.  

 

While browsing the Forums Index a little while back, I came across something that made me laugh (not one of ridicule but a genuine 'huh' kind of laugh). Anyway, I saw something about a casual gaming event where trophies were specifically intended not to be the main purpose of the games being played. If nothing else, I think this is (at least somewhat) substantial evidence that trophies really have affected the way some of us play if we even need to create such events (and yes I realize there is more to these types of events but the trophy aspect was what struck me). On a side note, I think these events are a great idea in allowing people to go back to 'gaming for fun'. Personally, when I'm tired of trophies (which does happen every now and then) I will often fire up my GameCube and play some Mario Kart Double Dash because I know it's pure fun without the hassle of trophies nagging me on. I truly believe some folks have actually forgotten what gaming was like before trophies. This is especially unfortunate when I hear certain people saying they won't play a game (whether it's PlayStation or another platform) solely because there aren't any trophies. 

[DansomeYT]

My take:

 

Play the games you want to play, and get the most out of them by going for the platinum. Don't play games just for trophies because that's lame. I can't even imagine how much money some of these hardcore leaderboard stat chasers are spending on digital turd games just to get a quick platinum.

[DrBloodmoney]

There are great things with trophies - they've solidified a community in a way that simple gaming without achievements never did, they've allowed a simple way to identify players with similar tastes, and therefore find games that you might otherwise miss, they've added additional meta games and challenges to games - and they add structure to some 'endless' games in a way that some people (myself included) can appreciate...

 

...but for sure there are downsides.

 

Think about how many times you hear people saying the words "I need to" on this site...

 

..."I need to clean up my backlog"

..."I need to improve my completion rate"

..."I need to finish up the first game before the next game comes out"

..."I need to wait, so that my favourite game is a milestone"

..."I need to knuckle down and finish this game I don't like"

..."I need to boost before the severs close"

 

That feels a bit unfortunate - people shouldn't feel they need to do anything in the hobby they choose to unwind with.

When the things you do to relax become work themselves, then where can people go to truly enjoy themselves?

 

That's not the fault of the trophies alone, of course, but it is a direct result of the need to compare ones own profile to other people's, which has sprung out of the trophy/ achievement era. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by DrBloodmoney

[Slava]

If anything, they motivate me to try things in a game that I wouldn't have tried or even know about otherwise. Or sometimes even inspire me to "git gud".

 

But that depends on the game and on the trophy list. If a game has a completion progress bar, I will likely go for 100% anyway. I've been doing that since the PS1 days.

[Phlegeth]

And what about trophies making some of us not play games?  I've never avoided a game because of a tough trophy list.  But I've been a bit of a nostalgic kick and been picking up PS3 games.  One of the games I was interested in was Eternal Sonata.  But no trophies, so I passed.

[sepheroithisgod]

Honestly, for the most part, trophies have enhanced my gaming experience. Even before they existed I was of a completionist mindset. I tried to play new games whenever possible to do everything in them and only really went back to play a handful of games over and over (my favorites). Although as a kid, getting new games was out of my control so it did kinda force me to replay games.

 

Platinums used to tell me I've done everything in a game of importance, but recently you see games like R&C or HFW that have platinum requirements that only scratch the surface. To me, it just defeats the purpose and undermines the nature of what a plat is supposed to represent (I acknowledge it is different for everyone).

 

I will say one of the bad habits I have really picked up is avoiding games without a platinum. Difficulty and length don't really matter to me as long as I am interested in it, I'll see it through to the end.