Does Trophy hunting affect the fun of gaming?

[GMVehox]

2 hours ago, Viper said:

Yes, it's a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because it's where the fun is at for me...I don't game without trophies in mind. They're one in the same...I don't do one without the other. However, it's a bad thing because I have a hard time playing my Switch because it doesn't have an achievement system. I tried to tell myself to turn that part of my brain off when I'm specifically playing my Switch...but games just feel aimless a lot of times. It's fun for awhile, but then I'm like "I need something to do than just play this story". Or in a sense the game has something as part of it's gameplay loop that's like an in-game achievement...it then feels weird that I'm not getting that "ding" for the accomplishment. I mean yes, I've been gaming for 30+ years now, so I was there in the time before trophies. But ever since they came around, it just completely changed everything for me, it's hard to go back. 

 

It's hard to just play a game for the game...because it feels like I'm not doing anything. 

That's exactly the point I was thinking of. Imaging Hogwarts Legacy comes with no trophy list. Would you have as much fun as with a list? It's sad but true that you can't enjoy games like you did before where trophies weren't really a thing. So maybe you won't enjoy one of the best games ever coming out. Like you already said it: On the switch are so many good games, but you can't really enjoy them, because we are way to focused on trophies nowadays.

 

And for example: Would you even buy Hogwarts Legacy, if the game comes with no trophy list? Feels like you do all the work for nothing right? And that's exactly where trophies affect the fun of gaming, because the game will be a masterpiece and you struggle even buying it. 

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by SoLiD_FLaMezZx

[DrBloodmoney]

The trophy list is just another element in the design of a game - and like any other element, it can be good, bad or indifferent.

It can enhance the fun, or be neutral, or detract from it.

 

The trick is knowing where it's a negative... and just dropping the desire to get those ones, or, at least, to get them right away.

To just play something else, and take a breather from that particular list - temporarily, or permanently.

 

Trophies are a great idea I think - but the idea that we have to get every one of them was never the point.

Because sites like this one with profile tracking have added lots of cool stats to profiles, it has given rise to people feeling the need for "profile cultivation" - of seeing the games they play as secondary to the cultivation of the profile, rather than the profile being simply a record of the games. 

 

That's fine of course, but it does lead some folks to lend such weight to the profile curation, that they no longer can get enjoyment from games, unless they serve the profile in some specific way. Are they are rare enough to lower an average rarity stat or increase an "ultra rare" count? Are they easy enough to add to the total as fast as they want? Are they achievable enough to maintain a 100% completion status? There are a plethora of external factors that tend to muddy the original reason we all played games... because they looked fun.

 

Trophies can really enhance the enjoyment of playing games... if looked at as simply fun little goals to strive for while playing.

When they become the dominant force though - more than the actual enjoyment of the games, and start affecting which games a person plays, or which games they keep playing, regardless of whether they are enjoying their hard-earned leisure time?

That is where they can become an issue.

 

[Ashande]

The short answer: yes. Yes it does.

 

My long answer: I started in the dim, dark days of the ColecoVision and Atari 2600, and have progressed through almost every major console released since then (missed Saturn, Jaguar and NeoGeo, and only got a Dreamcast after it was “dead”) up to the current day, where there is a Switch, a Series X, a PS5 / PSVR, a PS3 and a Wii all connected to the main television (with a Switch Lite and a Vita sitting on the shelf next to them.)

 

I have always been obsessive over my games, regardless of platform. I would sit there with the bridge in Adventure on the 2600, checking every square inch of wall to find spots you could go through, whether you were “supposed” to or not. I spent hours finding every item in Final Fantasy on the NES, and challenging WarMech repeatedly until I could beat him. I checked every tile, whether they were important or not, in the dungeons of Ultima: Exodus and Phantasy Star. Somewhere out there is a PS2 memory card that has 100% of Star Ocean: Till The End of Time’s Battle Trophies and a set of saves just prior to the final boss that have carefully cultivated relationship values and an inventory designed to manipulate them as I see fit, just so I could see every variation of the ending.

 

When Achievements - and later, Trophies - came along, they were primarily an extension of those obsessive tendencies. Getting 1000 points or the Platinum was just another aspect of completing everything the game had to offer, which I was already doing in most cases. A lot of my older games suffered due to periods of homelessness and unpleasant individuals in my life, but for the most part, when I start a game, I do my level best to finish it. There’s a few cases - the Yakuza games come to mind, here - where a trophy is just something I can’t do… in those instances, I will usually do everything else, and walk away… but it doesn’t feel good to me.

 

Doing the whole list is usually fun for me; I get my entertainment by “completing” a game, and the trophy list is part of the experience. There are times where a trophy may lower my enjoyment - someone else mentioned Persona 5 Strikers and its Bond Level grind, and that’s a prime example - but I will still call the game good and feel proud when the list is complete.

 

The other way trophy hunting affects my gaming - this time in a negative way - is with games I don’t enjoy. I have a personal tic that I don’t feel it’s right to criticize something unless I’ve been subjected to it… preferably in full. This probably comes from the number of times I’ve been told I don’t have the right to criticize something, or someone has - mistakenly - told me that I can’t comment since I haven’t experienced something. With trophies, I can direct them to my page and say “Given that I managed to get the plat in Days Gone, I think I’ve spent enough time with the thing to give my opinion.” This leads me to playing certain games well past the point where I discovered I didn’t enjoy it, or spending far too much time with something that I’m not enjoying - the most vivid offender I can think of in this instance is Neo: The World Ends With You and getting all the Pins. But at least I can point to it and say “I think it’s terrible, here’s why, and here’s my badge to show I suffered through everything the game had to offer to come to that opinion.” Petty, obsessive and paranoid, certainly… but it is what it is.

[LordSalochin]

I enjoy completing my trophy lists, but it isn't going to keep me from dropping a game. Yes, a platinum is a nice accomplishment as well as a 100% completion of a game, but not at the expense of enjoying the experience. My first PS3 game was Final Fantasy XIII and I got 100%, not because I trophy hunted, but because I really enjoyed the game. Granted there was inFamous that I was one shard away from 100% and platinum, and still haven't found that one elusive shard. I'm not sure what the developers were thinking, but whatever. I loved the Uncharted series, but I'm terrible at first person shooters, so I'll never 100% those.

 

A little rant...

The thing I hate the most are multi-player games. I understand that many players love them, they're just not for me. I'm a big fan of Robin Hood, so when PSN gave us Hood: Outlaws and Legends, I immediately grabbed it. Unfortunately, I looked at the trophy list and saw that around 75% of the trophies require multi-player. Now, I wonder if I want to even play it. Besides the fact that I don't find multi-player fun, the servers are taken down before I can even try that portion of the game most of the time. There's also multi-player games like Assassin's Creed Unity. Great world, but you can't continue the game after the first several missions without needing an online server. I enjoy re-playing games, will I be able to play that one now or in a few years.

 

To wrap up, don't let trophies rule your game play. Treat them as an additional aspect of the game that you can complete, should you choose. Happy Gaming!