Can trophy hunting hinder your enjoyment of gaming?

[MaRo-1000]

For me... Yes.

 

Because i have to force myself to look up the missable Trophys and those are alot of spoilers.

 

and if iam stuck on like 2-3 trophys left for platin i alos force myslef to get them and in that time maybe new games come up and i cant play them..

 

 

[Doctor_Gunner]

for me, absolutely not. only play games i like or have extremely easy platinums, even if they are free on plus. for example i never played god of war or saints row, even though plats are easy, cause i hate them as games

[TheDarkKratos]

57 minutes ago, Doctor_Gunner said:

i never played god of war

You mean the 2018 God of War, right? I preferred the original (2005) myself.

[the1andonly654]

Definitely. If there are trophies that require you to pick up a phone or look at a laptop every now and then, it just ruins the experience. So basically collectibles, especially missable ones, or just missable trophies in general. An example - Disco Elysium. The amount of missable trophies means that I'll be annoyed af playing this game, therefore I'll probably just play it on an alt without caring for the trophies at all. 

 

Or trophies for different choices and outcomes in interactive movie type of games, like Detroit or Until Dawn. I've played The Quarry recently, also on an alt. I liked it, but I'm not gonna watch a basically 9 hour movie 3 times. I could, but it would be purely for trophies and I wouldn't have fun at all anymore. 

 

Trophies tied to playing a game for x amount of hours or requiring you to go back to the game after being done with it. I loved Rainbow Moon, but a trophy for 100 hours of playtime in a 60 hours long game is simply dumb and it literally affects the enjoyment of other games simply because you can't play them while you passively "grind".

 

Generally if a game overstays it's welcome with trophies, like the utterly retarded end game stuff in Far Cry 6, or trophies force me to play an open-ended game in a certain way, it just makes me enjoy it much less. 

[Doctor_Gunner]

both that and 3 were free at some point. i don't like god of war in general. i am very close to dbd plat and it has taken me 6 years. i didn't rush and enjoyed every moment of it

1 hour ago, TheDarkKratos said:

You mean the 2018 God of War, right? I preferred the original (2005) myself.

Edited October 19, 2023 by Doctor_Gunner

[Gisquared09]

It definitely can, I try to platinum every game I play but I don’t always follow through with it. The resident evil series is a good example of trophy hunting that can ruin the experience since they require you to play through the game multiple times doing just a knife play through or speed run. I fucking hate speed running games with a passion. So great games can be ruined with bad/challenging trophy lists. 

[Crusad3rp]

Imo it definetly might hinder enjoyment of gaming. Why? Because ppl who are chasing for platinums don't enjoy playing those games in the same way like regular gamer do.  First reason is that they don't want to spend more time in particular game than it's needed. All they care about is to earn platinum fast (or get 100%), uninstall the game and forget about it's existance. Sad, but true. My last point mostly refers to players who prefer physical copies, because they also expect to retreive as much money as it's possible.

[Marilagi]

100% it can. Sometimes I'll go to play an old game I had in a backlog of mine and before starting I'd check the trophy list then pop up a guide for missables etc. I've gotten out of that habit now but unfortunately it really can mess with your overall experience. Great games need to be played through normally on a playthrough then the next time get a guide out or something.

 

Ever since I started playing through games blind I've been feeling a lot more satisfied when I finish/platinum them. I'd pop trophies that normally I'd look up a guide for and overall I feel like I'm not doing chores anymore. So yeah it does hinder my enjoyment, and I'm glad i got out of it

[Ninjise]

Sadly it does hinder at the times, games where you have the grinding type of trophy, it can turn easily enjoyment to frustation and boredom, looking at you FF XIV.

[Kraklano]

It absolutely does, depending on the title.

I suffer from OCD(actual OCD, not that "hehe I'm a neat freak" fake OCD) and one of the way it exhibits itself is through having me fully exhaust everything there is to do with everything I do, with a major focus on whatever the task is. If I'm watching a TV show, I cannot watch any show other than that one, until I fully finish it. With games, it's *usually* to completion. I've found that games that are very slow burns or very tedious can make my OCD tap out on credits rolling, but it takes a LOT for it to reach that point. And if it does? That doesn't even mean I'm done. Sometimes it will call me back to a game years later. But if my OCD does let me leave a game, I don't question it, I jump ship ASAP. Tears of the Kingdom let me leave on credits roll after basically doing everything but Korok Seeds(yes I did them in BotW), and Lies of P let me leave when my gifted Game Pass subscription expired the day I beat it(unfortunately it's actually already starting to call to me, but I don't really have the means to purchase for now, but I may have to sell some games soon to get it on PS5).

 

This isn't all to say that I have a miserable time trophy hunting. I actually generally enjoy it! So the way I appease my OCD while also getting the most personal enjoyment out of games, is that under no circumstances do I cheapen my first playthrough with a walkthrough. Before I play any game, I will look up if there are missable trophies(collectibles, endings, etc.), but I will not look at the list of a new game. The furthest I'll go is having a collectible supplement up if that's a thing for a game, but never beyond that. It's important to my experience of a game that my full first playthrough is legitimate from start to finish. After I do everything I can do in that run(since I like to do that anyway), I will check the list to see what all I'm missing, and that's when I transition into trophy hunting. Most games, I'd say I've enjoyed playing and completing, but there are a few outliers that REALLY made me wanna jump off a bridge.

My worst trophy hunting experiences:

-MGS2HD. VR Missions. Need I say more?

-Toodee And Topdee. I'm not super great at platformers in general. I did the Crash Trilogy to prove to myself that I could. But this game's platinum requires a rather grueling amount of effort from you, including beating every world from start to finish(20 levels consecutively) without dying. Which is a lot tougher than I'm making it sound. I actually appear to, based on the game stats, be the only holder of the platinum trophy in the world(It went from 0.0% to 0.1% when I got mine, and I'm the only one on this site with it registered).

-Monster Hunter World/Iceborne. My white whale! I'm a big MH guy and played it well before World. So I knew off the rip that crown trophies were going to be basically impossible for my unlucky ass. Still tried. Still failed because even my OCD said "screw that!".

-Tomb Raider Definitive. Multiplayer bullshit sucks.

 

Anyway, ending my novel here lol

[iTrogo85]

It certainly can and probably will if you can't let go off a game that you don't enjoy playing but keep doing it only for the trophies/platinum. Also I'm sure most of us check beforehand for missable trophies which can reveal spoilers. Not to mention if you plan to use a guide for collectibles simultaneously while playing. How can you immerse yourself in a game if you share your attention with a phone screen during an entire playthrough?

 

A common mindset here is for sure OCD & FOMO (fear of missing out) which puts players on edge, for example if they find out multiplayer trophies are about to become unattainable (such as in Gran Turismo Sport). As much as I respect and admire them, I can't imagine someone having fun or a good time by maintaining a 100% completion profile especially in games that require you to do multiple playthroughs, playing hard games with lower percentage of completion that make you feel frustrated most of times, grindy and tedious multiplayer trophies (such as in RDR 2 and GTA V) or just games with buggy trophies.

 

I envy players that just play for fun, go into most games fully blind, don't care about their completion rate or number of platinums, dare to play harder games but quit any time if it becomes too hard and move on. Please tell me your secret if you play like that. I'd like to start playing games such as RDR 2, Days Gone, Mass Effect Trilogy, Mad Max (one unattainable trophy), Elden Ring, Demon's Souls, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, Crash Bandicoot 4, Wolfenstein and Yakuza series, Baldur’s Gate III, Diablo II: Resurrected, Cuphead, hell... maybe even Super Meat Boy but they all are postponed indefinitely because I always focus on other games which are easier to platinum/100% and much less of a grind.

Edited October 20, 2023 by iTrogo85

[TrophyChief]

It hasn’t yet even after years in the hunt. 

[Mr_Fluffy_Pants_]

For me it’s a two sided coin, a double edged sword? 
 

I find myself sometimes not playing games I would have otherwise played, because they either don’t have a platinum, or maybe I think the platinum is too hard or too time consuming. So in that way I guess it does hinder my enjoyment a bit.

 

The other side of the coin is that it adds a sense of accomplishment and purpose to gaming, which I wouldn’t get otherwise. 
 

[TheDarkKratos]

On 10/19/2023 at 3:14 PM, Jelly Soup said:

It can, but not for just completionist/OCD reasons.

I'm not trying to single out any players here - but IMHO serious trophy-hunting and OCD don't mix well together, for obvious reasons.

I have always been inclined to think that way. It's kinda like being a Diabetic who craves sugar 24/7 - Not good. Potentially dangerous😕

[ZanFear]

It certainly can. Simply put: our gaming hobby becomes a job. I’m almost at 100 platinums after 15 years (finally lol) and for a while now I’ve been very particular if a game has collectibles or not because after playing so many games with collectibles it just becomes a chore. Unless the collectibles provide lore or you unlock something, I honestly feel that they’re pointless.

[Jelly Soup]

12 hours ago, TheDarkKratos said:

I'm not trying to single out any players here - but IMHO serious trophy-hunting and OCD don't mix well together, for obvious reasons.

I have always been inclined to think that way. It's kinda like being a Diabetic who craves sugar 24/7 - Not good. Potentially dangerous😕

 

Oh yeah, it takes a certain level of restraint to keep it all inline. In my case, I multiplatform achievement hunt. So I also have Steam, XBox, WoW and a couple other things to contend with. Oddly I find it easier to manage OCD wise having so much. Since there are so many goals with only so much time, it forces to me focus on one title at a time. Granted this can become over focus, but still.

[espjh2]

I'm in my 40s and as a general comment, I am pressed for time and do not game that much these days. Some thoughts below.

 

- A trophy list will impact my decision to purchase a game or not. It's not definitive but it is rare that I will just purchase a game without trophies in mind.

- If there are collectibles, I will have a walk through video going as soon as I play. Does this diminish the game experience? Likely. Does this avoid unnecessary time / another play through at my end? Absolutely.

- Will absolutely play the PS4 version first if it will auto pop on the PS5. I honestly don't see much of a difference to be honest.

- Anyone from the PS3 days will tell you that trophy lists are a lot easier these days (I'm not complaining). My perfect trophy list is playing through the game to experience all it has to offer. Campaign trophies, miscellaneous trophies, try out MP if available.

[Lava_Yuki]

For me it depends on the game. If the game has an enjoyable trophy list that isn't overly repetitive or grindy where it just gets you to explore the game fully, i think trophies add to the motivation and enjoyment. Games that did this well were some Tales games like Arise, Xillia, Ghostwire Tokyo, Ys 8 and 9, FFX-2, VIII, XII and the persona and the newer Atelier games.

 

I think games that have a lot of pain in the butt trophies or require multiple playthroughs, online, or are overly time consuming are not enjoyable. Examples of games I thought whereby trophies suck the enjoyment out of it were Tales of Symphonia, Disgaea games esp. 3 and 4, FF9 and Beyond two souls (super boring). I

[insaneeeRob]

It depends tbh. Years ago I used to play anything and now I do that too but not after checking the trophy list🫣 I still play stuff without worrying about trophies (dragon age: inquisiton, old ps3 games with closed servers and all that stuff) but it's true that trophies is one of the main factor to play something. I'm always thinking what plat comes next or what game I should play soon but I don't get crazy with earning little pixels. It's fun and that's what matters.

[VigilantCrow]

Gaming and trophy hunting are seperate hobbies. There's no reason for trophies to impact a gamer.

[Copanele]

I see trophy hunting as an "extension" to my gaming if you will. I played a ton of games before, trophy hunting is just that little extra that I deal with now  so if anything, it actually improved my enjoyment of gaming.

The only exceptions are when I truly force myself to finish a list of a crappy game, that's when I think that trophy hunting kinda stinks sometimes. But those instances are rare.