Trophies being an addiction and ruining your love for gaming.

[JusttJD]

I want to start of with saying that this is not a cry for attention or anything like that.

My mind is already made up, I am simply writing this message to give my perspective and tell my story and hopefully hear other people's opinion about this matter.

 

Pretty much since the introduction of trophies, I've been battling with my addiction for trophies.

Where I started off as just wanting to play and complete games, suddenly I wanted to do everything that the trophy list told me to do.

- Complete Fallout 3 and force yourself through all the bugs? Sure.

- Infamous and gather all the shards? Sure, why not?

- Need for Speed Shift and perfect every track? Sure, sounds like fun.

 

Not long after that, I created a new account https://psnprofiles.com/Justt_Jan

My goal was to have a profile with at least 80% completion so I could still focus on having fun mostly and skip the odd game that I didn't enjoy.

I started to grind for hours and hours in GTA5,  played games multiple times, suffered through Multiplayers and most importantly... Read through every trophy guide before even starting a game.

Planned my way to platinum meticulously and I played the game to get that platinum.

I didn't play for the joy of gaming, no... I played to get that shiny platinum, and that was my goal.

 

Near 2017, I started to get burned out by doing that.

I started asking myself "Why do I do this? This is not why I started gaming all these years ago.

I took a long break from gaming all together because I didn't want to start anything else.

 

About a year later, I started a new account. https://psnprofiles.com/JusttJD

And, started to play some of my favorite titels.

Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Borderlands...

I completed them because I love those games, and 100% them was fun and a joy.

Shortly after that, my addiction started to kick back in.

- Xenoverse 1

I love the game and thought to myself "Hmm, I'm already playing so why not grind for the skills as well"

- Fallout 4

I'm already completing it mostly, so why not make a save for some extra endings as well?

- Dark Souls Trilogy

Why not grind for an obscene amount of souls so my platinum run is easier.

Slowly but surely, I was already obsessed with getting those trophies, only now it's becoming even worse.

Getting that 100% for every title and having my profile as completed as possible.

- Suffering through hours of frustration in Destiny 2

- Payday 2, going to 25 Infamy and suffering through so many game crashes and bugs for a trophy.

- Final Fantasy X, breaking a controller because I couldn't finish that chocobo race.

- Fallout 76, logging in for every week for half a year because I want that bronze trophy.

- Elden Ring, rushing through the game to only get the platinum as fast as possible and using the most O.P build in order to succeed.

 

I know for years now that trophies have a negative effect on my gaming experience and that I've been addicted to getting them.

I hoped that it would change, that I could start to ignore the trophies.

I even started a third account a little while ago, but no matter what I do, my attention always goes towards the trophies.
And, trying to play while not paying attention to them, it obviously doesn't really work that well.

I've always been a Playstation gamer, ever since 1996 and the PS1 release.

I have so many good memories of playing the game, but.. when I think about PS3, 4 and 5 gaming... I think mostly about trophies and not actual games.

 

I know that it's not going to change, that this addiction will always be there.

So, I finally took the step to sell my consoles and switch the PC gaming.

It will be a huge step and after so many years on console gaming and big adjustment.

And, gaming without focusing on tropies. Am I even able to do that even more?

 

And, my question is to people that might have experienced the same thing. (even though they probably won't be on this website anymore. )

How did you deal with this situation?
And, if decided to stop with playstation gaming because of the same reason, did you manage to find joy in gaming back?
But, also I'm curious to see if there are more people that are in this situation now, and if they are thinking about quitting.

[HuntingFever]

I had a breaking point and once I hit it, that was it - game over. I set a retirement date from competitive trophy hunting and stuck to it so now I only play/plat/100% the games I want to and any that prove way too irritating or difficult, get either shelved for a long time or ultimately sold. When I'm not Guide writing, I just play whatever comes to mind.

Edited February 12, 2023 by HuntingFever
Update.

[DrBloodmoney]

Personally, I know I have quite an addictive, compulsive personality, and for sure trophy hunting plays right into that… 

…but really, the biggest thing that helped me not to get so wrapped up in trophies that I end up caring about them more than the games, was having some very early “unobtainables”.

 

A couple of games I had went unobtainable very early in the trophy era (Zen Pinball I think was the first of mine?) - and that really was a blessing, as it made the whole idea of a “100% Profile” impossible.

 

As soon as that happened, I was freed from any kind of compulsion to finish everything - I’ll try to get trophies in the games I play, but there’s no little deamon sitting on my shoulder, telling me I have to finish a list if I’m not having fun - and so I can happily drop a game if I’m just not feeling it (or accept that I’m not good enough if it’s beaten me!)

 

I still love trophies…

…but in the end, it’s the games that matter.

[GT__Jedi]

So, I started as a hard core PC gamer, and the only reason I moved over to the consoles isn't for trophies but because I got tired of upgrading the PC every time a new game came out.

 

So, here at PSNP with all of the trophies, If you look at my profile you can see I don't give a rats ass about completing a game if I get frustrated or just don't like it.  Do I jump back into competitive trophy hunting or events?  Hell, yes, if I feel like it. And, if I lose interest in these events I don't lose sleep over it, I just don't play the games or play something else.  And, I don't punish myself for not achieving a particular trophy or milestone.  

 

And, no, I don't plan on walking away from gaming.  These are games, not a career (unless you are ESports) or anything RL. And, I've been gaming for prob 15 years now, MMOs and Solo.

[Ashande]

35 minutes ago, JusttJD said:

…

I know that it's not going to change, that this addiction will always be there.

So, I finally took the step to sell my consoles and switch the PC gaming.

It will be a huge step and after so many years on console gaming and big adjustment.

And, gaming without focusing on tropies. Am I even able to do that even more?

 

And, my question is to people that might have experienced the same thing. (even though they probably won't be on this website anymore. )

How did you deal with this situation?
And, if decided to stop with playstation gaming because of the same reason, did you manage to find joy in gaming back?
But, also I'm curious to see if there are more people that are in this situation now, and if they are thinking about quitting.

 

I’m not so certain that switching to PC will help, since Steam has an achievement system as well, but if it helps (or you’re sticking to GOG, Origin or Epic Games), then by all means, have on. Just hoping you’re aware the potential to fall into the same pattern is there.

 

So far as trophies having an effect on my gaming, I suppose it has, in a way; I will generally strive to get all the trophies (or at least all the ones I am physically and mentally capable of doing, usually disqualifying multiplayer) in a game, partly because I like watching numbers go up and partly because I’m an incredibly critical person, and before I start critiquing something, I like to feel I’ve seen everything the something is going to put on offer. That does lead to some games being finished out of spite, and sometimes a game I enjoy becoming a chore, but it is what it is. I also have known a lot of people who seem to feel an opinion is invalid if you haven’t “finished” something, and are constantly asking “what did you think of <x>,” so being able to point to the trophy list and say “I did finish it” is occasionally useful.

 

It probably would qualify as an addiction, in my case; if there’s a choice, I’ll always get a game for PS4/5 first, XSX version second and Switch only if there is no other option. I have a goal of 5 trophies a day I try to keep up, and feel a twinge of irritation if I’m not able to meet that goal. But it’s not entirely a negative one, and it helps with my other problems, both physical and mental, so I consider it a net gain. That’s in addition to me spending more time with a game overall, getting more bang for the buck.

[Boni_Neto]

I think that it all depends on the player. I'm gonna give you my example. Sit down, please, here comes a long story. I never had a PS3, and I always had a shitty PC, so I never got to play good games between 2006 and 2017, which means I didn't know about the existence of trophies and achievements. During that time, I put games aside and just had my fun on the internet with memes, visiting websites, etc. In 2017 I was working and earning my own money, so I finally got to buy a PS4, my first game was The Last of Us Remastered, and I was so fucking impressed because the last game I had played was on PS2. Then, I was introduced to trophies as I was playing, and I liked this mechanic and the game so much that I felt that I needed to have 100%. So, I went for it. Next, Kingdom Hearts, one of my favorite franchises. I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't get those beautiful plats on those games I love so much, and so the "addiction" began...

 

Three months after getting my PS4, however, I made the mistake of downloading a game called Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends from PS Plus. I thought to myself, "well, I like the movie, it's a kid's game, the plat shouldn't be too difficult, right?" Wrong. One of the trophies required you to win 1,250 online matches. This was already not very popular, and this trophy made it basically impossible. Since I was at the beginning of my "addiction", at the time I thought to myself, "Oh, well, it's okay, I guess I won't be able to plat everything I play, anyway", and I managed to move on without much trouble. Much later, in 2019, I got to play GTA V. Once again, the multiplayer trophies - the bane of any trophy hunter's existence - proved themselves to be really hard for me, especially the Doomsday Heist related ones. So, once again, I moved on happily.

 

However, fate is a funny thing, and long story short, I was able to eventually get 100% on both of these games that I never thought I'd be able to complete 100% (yes, because only the plat is not enough for me, I have to get everything), and then I thought, "damn, I got my 100% profile back, and I have plat'd some really REALLY hard games, I just can't give up on this now".

 

Now you might say, "you are prisoner of this obsession and this will prevent you from enjoying the game as it is". Only it never did. The result was quite the opposite. When I was younger (SNES age), I used to play everything on EASY mode, finished the game once and never looked back - not even the bonus modes and extras. Now, by hunting trophies I came to appreaciate games more, because most of them forces you to play through different difficulties and modes to get the plat, something I never did. Now I feel like I explored 100% of what the game had to offer and it's very satisfying to me. I understand that, for some people, some games are really frustrating. Like yourself, I was in pure rage mode during the Final Fantasies minigames related trophies, but other than that, the only time I really got stressed was with Crash Bandicoot 4. Everything else was just a joy to complete. I'm a person that doesn't mind trying and retrying, rinse and repeat (except when you playing something maddening like Crash 4 - there's a limit to everything, you know), so I'm very patient and very persistent without getting stressed, which enables me to see this as a sport or a hobby that I do for fun.

 

Of course at this point I don't play anything extremely risky so I don't lose my 100%, and then you might say, "now this obsession is keeping you from playing other games". True, but the only games I'm avoiding are games with multiplayer trophies. I HATE multiplayer games, I hate depending on other people and the trophies are usually exceptionally ludicrous, so I'm not missing too much. Besides, there are lot of games that I have hunted and that have dozens of multiplayer trophies, so I'm at peace with that. I don't, for example, run from difficult single player games, in fact, I love the challenge. In the future I plan to try the platinums of all Devil May Cry games. I also don't like hunting super easy games, so chances are you'll never see me hunting for "My Name is Mayo" or whatever, or doing different versions of the same game just to raise my plat numbers. The greatest fun to me is protecting my 100%, I don't really care how many platinums I get at the end of my run - which is close. PS5 is really really expensive in my country, so I don't see myself playing those games anytime soon. Having said that, this year is probably the last one for me regarding trophy hunting on PS4, I have, like, 35 games I still want to trophy hunt, and I believe I'll get everything by December or the first months of 2024. Anyway, this is my story, I don't necessarily would call it an addiction, because at this point I'm basically "damn, I've come so far, I have to finish my run with a 100% profile", and not "trophies, trophies, I need them, I neeeeeeed them!!!". And it's been fun. It's not harming me in any way, so... Besides, when all it's said and done, I plan to play everything once again, without worrying about trophies, so I'll get the best of both worlds anyway.

 

TL;DR - It depends if you are patient and do it for fun and are lucky and selective enough.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Boni_Neto

[Lava_Yuki]

I like trophies and had a period of addiction where I did things like buy shovelware to increase my trophy count and compete with my level 999 psn friends, and would avoid games where the trophies were too hard, but at some point in 2020 I stopped caring too much, and only just platinum the games I like, am able to and want to. I don't care about completion % as such, as that was what drove me to buy jumping food shovelware plats to increase my completion % which I regret and have since hidden those games (they make up 15 plats, so my profile here just shows I have 83 rather than 98 which is my actual number). I only care about platinuming games I like now after that shovelware incident, which left me feeling guilty and shit for like a week before I got over it, sounds pathetic but I even had thoughts contacting sony to delete the trophies, knowing full well that would be impossible. 

 

I do play games I know I won't be able to or cannot be bothered to plat, with Kingdom Hearts BBS, Tales of Symphonia and ToS Dawn of the new world forever half if not less complete, as I only did the story but the rest of the trophies were too hard/time consuming/boring, and for me gaming is about fun. I'd rather not torcher myself playing Tales of Symphonia 5 times just for the platinum trophy.

 

Also I don't have time to devote my life to gaming and trophy hunting, life is so much more than that and breaking your back/stressing out for trophies that are just artificial symbols seems like a waste of emotional energy to me. Gaming is a fun hobby for me. My job as a doctor is busy and draining enough and keeps things in perspective, life is too short to obsess or get upset over a trophies you cannot get. It's just gaming in the end, and there will always be someone better.

 

I'm not the most skilled at gaming in that you will never see a crash bandicoot, yakuza or dark souls plat on my profile. I don't play difficult games as I do not like much challenge and always play on easy mode. My job is hard enough and I don't need hard stuff outside work. The hardest plat I have are the FF and Tales games with FFX being my hardest plat maybe, but I have tons of easy games, excluding the 13 jumping food and 2 quiz uk plats shovel that I have hidden, I play a lot of otome games and VNs which are easy and relaxing for me. 

 

I would not go as far as selling my consoles, only because just remember that no one looks at your profile. No one cares about others, they are too focussed on their own stuff to give a crap about other people's trophies or completion %, so even if you have the world's most cluttered profile or a profile full of crappy games, in the end no one is looking or caring (unless you show it off or complete intentionally). 

[Deadly_Ha_Ha]

I just accept that trophy hunting has become more of my active hobby than gaming casually, and I'm fine with that. For what it's worth, I've been playing Brawlhalla every single day whether there were trophies to get or not, so I'm still lucid over here despite trophy hunting being what I care more about than playing games without trophies for fun. It's resource management; the resource being time and mental energy. I do not care that there are bad trophies in lists I want done. I do not care that I could have "simpler" fun away from trophy hunting. I have been gaming since I was 5, and trophy hunting more seriously since I was 28. I had 23 years of just playing games, that was enough for me and now I've transitioned that hobby into a different form. I feel better thinking of my "addiction" as being my dedication, but I could imagine I'm just placating myself. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Deadly_Ha_Ha

[VigilantCrow]

I just switched my thinking when I went to console from PC. My hobby is playing trophy lists, not games.

Doesn't make any difference why someone plays, games these days are more of a social median rather than entertainment anyways.

[BlueDragonZero]

It’s interesting as a lot of the things you have talked about I would readily say apply to me as well. I think the difference is the relationship we have to trophies is different. I’m sure this might seem contradictory due to having a 100% profile but I don't consider the ‘trophy’ as the goal, it's merely an indication of having achieved something. From the way I see people talk about trophies I get the impression that this isn’t the case for a lot of people and the trophy is in fact the goal and that alone has pushed people to go way beyond their normal cut off points. 

 

For me I've always had a tendency to try and do the majority of things within a game that I could so the addition of trophies only added an extra incentive to do so hence why I go for 100% 's . Now of course that's not to say the existence of trophies haven’t pushed me to go for things i wouldn’t have without them as they definitely have i.e Star Ocean 4 i doubt i ever would have gotten 100% B.T’s if it wasn’t for the trophy. But I suppose the trophies just recontextualised what I would consider the things to complete. This is definitely the case when it comes to difficulty setting as I never really played beyond normal before them. 

 

It also means that I'm happy to play games that don’t have trophies and it’s not uncommon for me to go back and play games that don’t have them or games I already have all of them in or even take a break from gaming for a while. It’s also why I don’t care for a lot of the number inflating that people do like shovelware, auto pops etc as it's not about seeing the number go up for me. 

 

Sure trophies can lead to times of frustration but the way i see it is that trophies have been a positive to my overall gaming experience. I won’t deny that I have definitely fallen into a bit of a trap with the ‘metagame’ of trophies and they can definitely factor into the equation of if i play something but they are never the primary reason why i might. If it’s a game I know I will enjoy, I'll play it regardless. 

 

If it’s something you feel you can’t get over then I wish you all the best with PC gaming. If it’s possible I would turn off notifications for achievements to avoid you falling into the same trap there or you could just get a switch I suppose.

[DanteIshimura]

I would indeed say that achievements/trophies changed the way I game. When I first cottoned on to what the achievements were all about, I really got hooked on the idea of having a totally different set of goals to aim for than what the actual games A-B intentions were. But early on into this new style of gaming I noticed that its more about how the devs incorporate the trophy requirements which can make a hell of a difference and totally change my perspective on what I will play.

 

Since 2007 when I started going for achievements to this day, I can probably say that I could count on one hand the amount of games that actually got a trophy list right. Obviously this is of my own opinion. But I also put it down to my age as well. What I could do 20 years ago in terms of gaming determination, feels more like a dream in comparison to what I would attempt now. 

 

But what I will not agree on is the term 'addiction' in regards to trophies. I'm not having a pop at the OP with this statement, but these threads usually come about more from gamers feeling like trophies are deserved instead of being earned. I get it, I do, but when a trophy list puts you off because of the requirements, that's not your trophy hunting ruining gaming for you, its just gamers realising they finally met there match for whatever reason. I was a drug addict for eight years and it truly cost me near everything, my long term relationship, my house, my jobs, friends and on a number of occasions almost my life. That is an addiction ruining something. With achievements and trophies I've had numerous accounts over the years which have all failed and its cost me nothing but how I perceive it, be it wasted time or just accepted that I refuse to meet certain requirements for whatever reason. 

 

Another example of why I don't consider trophies/achievements to be an addiction but more of what we're prepared to do is this...

 

When GTA III first arrived on PS2 I was in my very early 20's, maybe 20-21 and was of the mindset that blowing up stuff, jumping over stuff and just causing carnage without even bothering with the story was superb entertainment. 2009 I'm now on GTA IV with a whole new mindset in gaming. Mindless violence and carnage feels more like its just a toy I'm playing with and so I need more structure for my entertainment. The story was ace, the actual gameplay requirements were ace and then I was enjoying the achievements until the time came for the requirement to win every single race track and game mode. I didn't have that determination, time investment or reason to go for something like that so my current completion rating on that profile came to an end. Started a new profile and off I went all over again. Then in 2018 I'm on GTA V and GTA Online. Superb gameplay, trophy requirements were fantastic even with the additional co-op heist requirements but then a year or so later they release the doomsday heist trophy requirements and I pointblank refuse to go for them Why? For reasons that it was a marketing tool to bring in additional shark card revenue which I refused to be a part of... indeed. But mostly because I knew for the life of me I didn't have the skill to gain some of those trophies. Now if that list was just to complete each heist 100 times I would still have the 100% completion, why? Because I would know that no matter how tedious it got, I had 100% chance to unlock the requirements. If I was addicted I would have been willing to even have them bought for or anything just to have those trophies, but for whatever reason I chose to not go for them. Thats not an addiction, thats knowing where you stand with something be it for sound reasons or simply justifying to yourself on why you cannot obtain them. 

 

Now you could say that one persons addiction could be different to another's but that wouldn't be right. Indeed you can be addicted to different things, but the actual meaning of an addiction is the same no matter what the choice is.

 

So when it comes to trophy runs coming to an end, I refuse to say that it was an addiction that ruined gaming, but more that I met my match and should accept that everything does and must end at some point be it from my own choice of limitations. Its the same with things like Boxing. You could have a boxer who wins 40 fights and then loses and retires because the defeat is hard to come back from for them. Then you have another fighter who's won five and lost 20 but keeps going because they're doing what they love or have other reasons. Either way they didn't let defeat ruin them.

 

And if not for trophies and achievements I may not have continued to game for as long as I can, despite losing streaks all the time. This is not me saying I am better than others for whatever reason, but why I don't think trophies are addictive.  

 

It can also be said that the achievement/trophy system was implemented in the worse design/system it could have been. 

Edited February 18, 2023 by DanteIshimura

[Umdytr]

I've never felt like trophies/achievements ruined, or even changed anything for me. Ever since I was a little kid with my first Game Boy Color, fully completing games is the way I've liked playing my stuff. If I start a game I stick with it and see it through, it's pretty much just how I've always been. Achievements and trophies are basically just an extension of that. Played this way on Nintendo systems most of my life until I switched to Steam several years ago, did the exact same thing there, and ever since late 2020 I've been on PS.

 

The bottom line is I play what I want to play no matter the console or surrounding features. Completing stuff comes naturally and I never feel like I'm forcing myself. I may burn out temporarily on the hobby from time to time (like with any hobby done continuously for long enough) but I don't see myself ever getting sick of it, and as long as trophies are a part of the experience I'll do 'em.

[Evertdina]

Hey dear friend,

 

I read your entire message, and I’m happy there are more people like me. I also struggle with trophy addiction, but gaming addiction in general. I have given my life to Christ, and that helped me a lot. 
I platinumed gams like RDR2, all GTA’s, and many more. It’s time consuming, and I failed on my studies. I have to start all over again. It’s so sad to see myself sliding away in life. No friends, no future, no girlfriend, no nothing. I just hate that I became addicted to this trophy thing. While it was fun, it never got me anything besides virtual points. My studies are more important of course for my future, but in the moment you don’t see it that way. 

Man, I was wasting my life away with my controller in one hand and porn in the background. Bro I was so miserable. Life is so pointless with a controller in your hand. What even is the point of trophies? Nobody will brag about it when they’re 50. The moments you will remember are with friends and family. I have none 😭. Life is too short to waste it away with video games. 

 

I’m starting over in life. Don’t go trophy hunting, especially if you’re prone to addiction in general.

 I love y’all ❤️

[Don_Chipotle]

I think every case of why are you not feeling ok is different, and everyone needs total respect, because trophies and anything in life can give you a hard time if you make it the whole center of your life, its important to know that there are many things more important like work, school, friends, couple, obligations and duties at home and well, in life.

 

I consider that the hobbie of gaming and trophy hunting is something that maybe we will carry many of us in a long part of our lifes because it gives us fun, makes us meet people, gives us a way to remove worries and stress, and the interesting part is that trophy hunting keeps evolving too, its not the same to hunt trophies when you are at your 20s, and thats ok, its part of life to understand that maybe you dont have to play quantity, but quality, in games that you really want to enjoy from start to finish.

 

Its ok to have goals, people in the forums posted in the 2024 goals topics to spend less cash and play more the things you actually own from long ago, and i consider thats an excellent purpose, its also ok to not make trophy hunting the most important thing in your life, unless you want to make a living of that like channels like PowerPix, or try a youtube carreer related to trophies, but in those cases there are many things to consider, like, what style do you want, what audience you want to target, how do you feel when using a mic or being in front of a camera, but yeah, its ok to say you need to quit something, and knowing you have a lifestyle or pattern you dont like, and want to change that, its something brave and i know its matter of respect.

 

Best wishes for everyone and thanks for sharing your stories

[DeidaraSasori]

I think there is a right way and a wrong way to go about this. I once was too in that point where what mattered to me most was completing the game no matter what, just like you before even starting the game I already read all the guides and roadmaps for the plat.

 

For me Elden Ring was the tipping point. Elden Ring is an amazing game and it's meant for you to explore the world and kinda make your own adventure making it less linear than other souls like. I knew this but because there were some missables I just followed step by step the 100% guide of FightingCowboy ( great youtuber btw recommend if you arent into walkthrous and lets play) so before seeing the world for myself I already knew what was going to happen, who I was going to fight, where to go to find that hidden piece of loot. Needless to say it took a decent chunk of the enjoyment ( not all because it was a really great game). Also with all the tips he gave in his video Elden Ring was the easiest souls game by far especially with the phantoms, doesnt help that Im very familiar with souls games. So I didnt get that gratification of finally killing that boss after 1-2h of struggle, I did them all 1st try some of them took up to 3 attempts.

 

After this I changed how I would go about trophy hunting. If the game is story driven and theres secrets and places to explore I always do my 1st playthrough blind to get the maximum enjoyment I possibly can (I still read some guides especially if they have missables lol). I found this helped a lot. Maybe you should try this see if it works for you.

 

Its funny because I started trophy hunting because I was finding gaming boring, not really knowing what to do. Trophy hunting changed that and brought me back into gaming but it can be bad if you start getting obcessed over it like doing the things you mentioned because it can just as easily have the opposite effect. Moderation is key. Hope this helps some of you