What do you think about these trophy hunter types?

[Quin-Lann]

Do you agree with Mikael Jakobsson, when he say that all players can be categorized as one of these player types, when it comes to their relationship with trophies?

 

Trophy casuals

These players do not care about trophies, they will not go for a trophy unless the task that needs to be done is one that they were planning on doing anyway.

 

Trophy hunters

These players are the ones that play games to get more trophies. In extreme occasions they tend to cheat by getting saved games from other players or by playing the same game from two different regions to get the same trophy twice.

 

Trophy completists

These do not feel that they have finished a game before they have collected everything in the game including all the trophies. These players tend to like the Platinum trophies because they mark a complete collection of all the trophies in a game.

 

(His article on the matter is called "The Achievement Machine: Understanding Xbox 360 Achievements in Gaming Practices" and can be found on "gamestudies" if anyone is interested)

 

But the interesting question is whether you agree with him or not?

Edited June 11, 2014 by Quin-Lann

[Cobby]

No, I'd had to add a seperate category. I don't play games solely based on trophies. I play a game, complete it and then I focus on the trophies, and if there is a game that is too hard to platinum i leave it... I guess it is kind of casual, but I do enjoy actually collecting the trophys, so it's kind of a mix between the first 2...

[StrickenBiged]

Could you link to the article? I'd be interested in reading it.

 

On the face of it I think Trophy Hunters should be split into 2: White Trophy Hunters who would never cheat, and Black Trophy Hunters who would. That way the White can still include the more extreme non-cheaters, i.e. those who will play the same game multiple times on different platforms, play games that they do not enjoy, exploit cross-save popping, etc, without the reference to cheaters.

 

Completionists could also be split into 2. Some games do not require 100% completion to get 100% of the trophies.

Edited June 11, 2014 by StrickenBiged

[Jon-Patrick-S]

On the trophy hunter category, I wouldn't view it as cheating to get the same game from multiple regions for additional trophies. Some might see it as cheap perhaps, but even then it's not like you don't have to put in the work to get the trophies twice. Games with cross save and multiple trophy lists would probably be a better example, and even then it's still not really cheating.

[skateak]

Could you link to the article? I'd be interested in reading it.

 

On the face of it I think Trophy Hunters should be split into 2: White Trophy Hunters who would never cheat, and Black Trophy Hunters who would. That way the White can still include the more extreme non-cheaters, i.e. those who will play the same game multiple times on different platforms, play games that they do not enjoy, exploit cross-save popping, etc, without the reference to cheaters.

 

Completionists could also be split into 2. Some games do not require 100% completion to get 100% of the trophies.

Haha. Like Trophy Tendency. 

[Dragon-Archon]

You should definitely split the trophy hunters into 2 categories. I really like Strickenbiged's suggestion.

Edited June 11, 2014 by Dragon-Archon

[StrickenBiged]

Haha. Like Trophy Tendency. 

 

Huh?

 

*Googles it...*

 

Oooooh...

 

I was thinking like white-hat and black-hat hackers actually.

[Yami]

No, I'd had to add a seperate category. I don't play games solely based on trophies. I play a game, complete it and then I focus on the trophies, and if there is a game that is too hard to platinum i leave it... I guess it is kind of casual, but I do enjoy actually collecting the trophys, so it's kind of a mix between the first 2...

Exactly my thoughts

[skateak]

Huh?

 

*Googles it...*

 

Oooooh...

 

I was thinking like white-hat and black-hat hackers actually.

Google probably didn't do a good job at explaining what I mean. In Demon Souls there is a Pure White Tendency and a Pure Black Tendency. The enemies change depending on the tendency, What you said was reminding me of that. So it's like Trophy Tendency.

Edited June 11, 2014 by skateak

[StrickenBiged]

Google probably didn't do a good job at explaining what I mean. In Demon Souls there is a Pure White Tendency and a Pure Black Tendency. The enemies change depending on the tendency, What you said was reminding me of that. So it's like Trophy Tendency.

 

No, that's what I got from Google... I haven't played the game, but Google knew what I wanted.

[Beyondthegrave07]

Should be a category called trophy collector. People who like earning trophies but refuse to play games solely for platinums and are not afraid to leave games they don't like.

[delboy_rules]

Good article, thanks for pointing it out.

[SitusKiss]

I could see these categories summing it up. However, there are a few issues with the descriptions. They don't really cover all gamers.

 

"Trophy Whore" is commonly included as a 4th category. Basically people that play multiple region plats, instant plats through cloud sync, easy/quick games, etc. Essentially playing anything that will not take much time/effort and increase their trophy count.

 

I also don't think that you can lump cheaters or hackers into the Trophy Hunters category. IMO, they would either be a separate category or fit more appropriately into the "Trophy Whore" category.

 

There is also a lot of controversy over the term "cheaters" as well. Some people are more strict in these terms whereby you are considered a cheater if you boost a trophy or use an in-game exploit to earn a trophy easier than it was intended.

 

I guess after considering all the above, I don't actually agree with those categories

[Lion-Lhasa]

I don't really agree with these categories either, other people have explained it better than I could though.

Trophy Whore and cheaters should be lumped into their own categories but as bmj said, people have wide ranging views on what constitutes as 'cheating'.

[Quin-Lann]

You can read the article her:
http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/jakobsson

 

To sum up:

As I see it so far there are these types of players:

 

Trophy casuals

"Normal" players who pursue trophies only if they think the game is fun

 

Trophy hunters

White hunters (non-cheaters)

Black hunters (cheaters)

 

Trophy completists

100% completion

Platinum completion

 

Trophy whores

Players who only play games to get more trophies

 

Agree? 

 

One thing I don't get though is, what methods are considered "cheating", which methods do the "white hunters" not want to use? How are these methods different from unlocking a trophy the "normal" way?

Edited June 11, 2014 by Quin-Lann

[ChickenExotic]

I prefer Trophy Slut = Trophy Completist

[SitusKiss]

You can read the article her:

http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/jakobsson

 

To sum up:

As I see it so far there are these types of players:

 

Trophy casuals

"Normal" players who pursue trophies only if they think the game is fun

 

Trophy hunters

White hunters (non-cheaters)

Black hunters (cheaters)

 

Trophy completists

100% completion

Platinum completion

 

Trophy whores

Players who only play games to get more trophies

 

Agree? 

 

One thing I don't get though is, what methods are considered "cheating", which methods do the "white hunters" not want to use? How are these methods different from unlocking a trophy the "normal" way?

 

I agree more with your modified version than the previous, but it is still a bit open to debate

[Stevieboy]

As different people have different definitions as what cheating is, I think it would be a good idea to expand the "Trophy Hunter" section. Instead of "White" and "Black", or "Non-cheater" or "Cheater" I would suggest:

 

Legit Hunter - Someone who earns trophies "legit". i.e. without the help of others (boosting), or using game glitches or other unintentional means.

Glitcher Hunter - Someone like the Legit Hunter but is fine with using game glitches.

Booster Hunter - Someone like the Legit Hunter but is fine with boosting trophies.

Cheater Hunter - Someone who uses any means available to get the trophy, such as game saves and external software (e.g. Xploder, CFW).

 

Someone else may come up with better names or descriptions, but that's the gist of it.

[GoldenShaka]

I'm not totally agree with this one: 

 

Trophy casuals

"Normal" players who pursue trophies only if they think the game is fun

 

Because even when sometimes the game is really fun, that does not mean that the road to the platinum is easy as pie.

 

And, yes I point out "Platinum" and not just "trophies" because a lot of times we get trophies by accident.

 

My brother bought Saw, I like the movie so I gave it a try, after i finished i found that the trophy list wasn't demanding/time consuming, I tried and got the Plat.

It wasn't because i loved the game.

And i don't look for games like Hanna montana just to get a plat. So i think after Normal and before White/black hunter it should be another category hehehe.

Edited June 11, 2014 by GoldenShaka

[demonoid321]

In my opinion its not cheating when you play a game 2s because it has seperate trophy lists in a different region. They are made for that and its not cheating if you do cross sync because the games a made for that..

[xZoneHunter]

I don't really like being labelled. I'm just a gamer who likes to earn trophies like everyone else here.

[JamnLycan_US]

If we talk about players in general we should include casual gamers, gamers that do not care about trophies or even complete the game itself, just play for fun if they like a game, they finish it; if they do not like the game they leave it, sell it or trade for something else.

 

I remember that in my PS1 era where I just play a game to see what it was and just play for fun.

 

Today I still play for fun, but seeing the trophies there give me a plus, but in the Nintendo I still play a game just for fun

[GREAT_HAVOK]

 

On the face of it I think Trophy Hunters should be split into 2: White Trophy Hunters who would never cheat, and Black Trophy Hunters who would. That way the White can still include the more extreme non-cheaters, i.e. those who will play the same game multiple times on different platforms, play games that they do not enjoy, exploit cross-save popping, etc, without the reference to cheaters.

 

Completionists could also be split into 2. Some games do not require 100% completion to get 100% of the trophies.

 

Nah, don't get me wrong Strick but I think it would be better if you don't use those two color as it may appear like somewhat of a (what's that word?....) "stereotype" remark. I'd rather go red or blue, though it doesn't sound good. Okay then, I'll go with Elite trophy hunter and a Rogue trophy hunter. Sounds better? Lol.

You should definitely split the trophy hunters into 2 categories. I really like Strickenbiged's suggestion.

 

Better not to use "color" as I've said before.

[Quin-Lann]

Would it make any sense to define these trophy hunter types according to the time spend on hunting or the amount of trophies you have unlocked?

[StrickenBiged]

Nah, don't get me wrong Strick but I think it would be better if you don't use those two color as it may appear like somewhat of a (what's that word?....) "stereotype" remark. I'd rather go red or blue, though it doesn't sound good. Okay then, I'll go with Elite trophy hunter and a Rogue trophy hunter. Sounds better? Lol.

Better not to use "color" as I've said before.

I didn't mean any racial connotations! It didn't even cross my mind! Clean and Dirty might be better labels than white or black then...?

Would it make any sense to define these trophy hunter types according to the time spend on hunting or the amount of trophies you have unlocked?

I don't think so. Some people don't have as much time to play as others. Some have made a career out of it. But maybe that could be a different category; Career Trophy Hunters.