Is Trophy/Achievement Hunting on a Downwards Spiral?

[Flop]

1 hour ago, Conker said:

How about you play what you like and enjoy it and don’t worry about trophys.

 

This really seems you have nothing else in your life but trophys 

 

pps How about we go back to the days of gaming with no trophies  

 

ND worst company.........you must be on some heavy drugs or incredibly dumb 

3

How does this thread showcase that he enjoys nothing but attaining trophies in his life? This is a site regarding Playstation trophies, and the OP posted this topic that is a conversation about the current state of Trophy/Achievement hunting in a, YOU GUESSED IT, a forum thread regarding Playstation trophies/trophy hunting. You're looking into something else that has nothing to do with a conversation that the OP is trying to have members of this site engage in.

Due to responses like that, a lot of you folks here in the forums have me think and make me want to wish that trophies/achievements were never a thing, that they should have never been implemented, or, due to them currently existing, that they should go and cease to exist. Going back to the "days of gaming with no trophies" is honestly an intermittent statement. Back then, yeah, we had no trophies/achievements, but games still had instated forms of systems that offered challenges for players, be it meeting criteria of completion via simple stats, or a system in which you were rewarded with in-game medals, or of that sort. We still see such applicable features exist in games today, only now trophies/achievements can be part of such system, or replace the system as a whole in some instances even. Hell, we don't need games to create a system for us to partake in, we can make up our very own if need be, be it via our own very visualization, or have it be put in some other type of effect.

You say that the OP must be on "some heavy drugs", or that he might just be "incredibly dumb" based off some inconclusive "statement" from some other user? You're dismissing the arguments/beliefs that the OP made in this thread that he took out of his time to write down and try to analyze with the community of this site. I'd go and think that maybe you've seen the OP's opinions regarding his views on Naughty Dog, but all I see is you assuming that the OP must be dense or delusional based on someone else's "statement". Why should we go back "to the days of gaming with no trophies", as you put it? Well, you didn't really put it in any way, you just "suggested" that with no exact or real superior reasoning as to why we should. Why do you suggest that we should go back to when trophies were non-existent in games? The same question of mine goes for why do you suggest that should he not worry about trophies. Why should he go and do that?
At least the OP stated why he believes the way he thinks about the state of trophy/achievements hunting via his own knowledge. Y'all's responses are wack. 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Ruhkillmeez

[Cobby_]

1 minute ago, Ruhkillmeez said:

Due to responses like that, a lot of you folks here in the forums have me think and make me want to wish that trophies/achievements were never a thing, that they should have never been implemented, or, due to them currently existing, that they should go and cease to exist.

 

The fact that this thread exists has me thinking the same type of crap. He didn't even say anything bad. Get a grip on reality.

[starcrunch061]

I don't really think so. Yeah - there are some games out there that give you a plat in a few minutes, but honestly, there have always been easy plats out there. 

 

I don't know - my enjoyment of trophy hunting hasn't declined in the least with these easy plats, or the cheating, or the petitions to change trophies. I still enjoy it as much as ever (maybe even more now).

 

7 hours ago, Ruhkillmeez said:

At least the OP stated why he believes the way he thinks about the state of trophy/achievements hunting via his own knowledge. Y'all's responses are wack. 

 

It's becoming all too common for a mob to descend on any thread that might generate discussion. It would be one thing if that mob had some sort of opinion besides, "You're wrong and stupid". But, this is the level of discourse here nowadays.

Edited April 15, 2018 by starcrunch061

[TerraTanium]

It's too bad we have people like @Gage , @Green , @Oowa and @Conker here who feel the need to leave replies about not caring about trophies yet attacking buk even making personal remarks then like every negative post toward him.

Buk is passionate about the system he has worked on for years like many others and he raises valid points about it. Maybe leave an actual reply to his post instead of making nonsense replies to tank your fake likes on a trophy forum.

As for the points made
3: I think a lot of people also migrated to discord servers since 2015 including myself. It's sad but logical to see less popularity for trophy hunting as years go on. Unless ofcourse they bring some cool new things to it.
 

4: Steam achievements can just be edited in with a tool called SteamAchievementManager and you won't even get a warning or ban for it. This is a system where you really don't want to spend time because of 0 value.

5: If only we had trophy tracking that would truly put this system a step above.

7: I think being above level 50 still shows an amount of ambition and dedication even if it is just ezpz games. You can raise a similar point for people who purposely avoid games because 1 trophy is glitched or unobtainable

8: If you atleast try out the VN before skipping it then imo no harm done. VN's aren't really games anyway

11: Getting paid for a hobby that i spend a lot of time on? Yes please

[LordNeet-]

19 hours ago, madbuk said:

This is something I've been feeling for the past year or two, and it's rather sad. So I decided it could be an interesting topic to discuss.

1. Less activity across all trophy forums

 

Well yeah, when the mods delete all unpopular opinions/facts, of course there is less activity on the forums LOL!!!

Edited April 15, 2018 by LordNeet-

[TJ_Solo]

Spinning a narrative? Cool.

[Brawler]

4 hours ago, TerraTanium said:

It's too bad we have people like @Gage , @Green , @Oowa and @Conker here who feel the need to leave replies about not caring about trophies yet attacking buk even making personal remarks then like every negative post toward him.

Buk is passionate about the system he has worked on for years like many others and he raises valid points about it. Maybe leave an actual reply to his post instead of making nonsense replies to tank your fake likes on a trophy forum.

As for the points made
3: I think a lot of people also migrated to discord servers since 2015 including myself. It's sad but logical to see less popularity for trophy hunting as years go on. Unless ofcourse they bring some cool new things to it.
 

4: Steam achievements can just be edited in with a tool called SteamAchievementManager and you won't even get a warning or ban for it. This is a system where you really don't want to spend time because of 0 value.

5: If only we had trophy tracking that would truly put this system a step above.

7: I think being above level 50 still shows an amount of ambition and dedication even if it is just ezpz games. You can raise a similar point for people who purposely avoid games because 1 trophy is glitched or unobtainable

8: If you atleast try out the VN before skipping it then imo no harm done. VN's aren't really games anyway

11: Getting paid for a hobby that i spend a lot of time on? Yes please

 

Gage didn't attack Buk at all. Your post has no more substance than his did, it simply offers a differing viewpoint. If anything it's "too bad" that you consider this an attack rather than someone engaging in the conversation. 

 

 Personally, I'm inclined to agree with what he's saying. All of the points Buk has mentioned have been a factor in some capacity since trophies were first added, Xbox One 1k Gamerscore aside. They're only as big of a "problem" as you allow them to be. Personally, I don't care about any of these points as it has no effect on how I approach the games on my card and as a result I haven't been discouraged. I've been telling Buk he should spend less time worrying about things beyond his control for years. I don't think he's crazy, but I think he would benefit greatly from worrying less about the things listed and instead put that energy in to his own profile.

[Gage]

5 hours ago, TerraTanium said:

It's too bad we have people like @Gage , @Green , @Oowa and @Conker here who feel the need to leave replies about not caring about trophies yet attacking buk even making personal remarks then like every negative post toward him.

Buk is passionate about the system he has worked on for years like many others and he raises valid points about it. Maybe leave an actual reply to his post instead of making nonsense replies to tank your fake likes on a trophy forum.

 

Says people are attacking Madbuk, while specifically naming and (basically by your definition considering you named me) attacking said people. 

 

I'm "passionate" about the system too, which I would think is obvious from the amount of trophies I have. But I've come to the realization that writing out an essay on a forum about a system that you have no control over whatsoever is a waste of time, so it's better to change your own perception on it instead moaning about it. Most people who do this sort of thing would have a much better time with it if they worried less about the "value" of the system, when there has never been any value to begin with as it's all personal perception. 

[Cassylvania]

Regardless of what this thread has turned into, I thought this was a good read. I always thought it'd make more sense if "trophies" were points instead (like on Xbox) and earning 100% in a game would reward you with a trophy that has a color indicative of a game's length or difficulty. For example, games like Mayo and Hannah Montana would give you a bronze trophy, while Super Meat Boy and Injustice would give you a platinum. Sony would have to set standards to do this, but it would address a lot of the points you made.

 

Unfortunately, like PSN IDs, Sony didn't have the foresight to create a system that could easily be changed, so we're not likely to see improvements until something else comes along.

[Undead Wolf]

I haven't been trophy hunting for as long as some of you guys (I played 360 for most of the last generation), but I've definitely seen trophy hunting change for the worse since I've been apart of the community. The biggest issue for me is Sony's lack of quality control, resulting in all of these "quick & easy platinum" games flooding the store. Most of these games have no business even being allowed onto the store due to their abyssal quality, let alone allowed to have a platinum trophy. It devalues the system as a whole for reasons previously mentioned. Years ago I would have seen someone with 50 plats and thought "wow, that's a lot!", but these days you could start a new account and get that amount in like a month easily putting in next to no effort. 

 

Quite honestly, it's somewhat embarrassing being apart of the trophy hunting community sometimes when you see these absolute trash games like Little Adventure on the Prairie, 1000 Top Rated, etc, on the 'Popular Games This Week' tab on the main page as people are salivating at the mouth just thinking about an easy plat. Is this what it means to be a trophy hunter these days? Before My Name is Mayo came to Europe, I remember people kept posting in that thread asking for updates on when it was coming to that region. Like guys... there are FAR better games to dedicate your attention to. They may be cheap, but it adds up. After getting a few games of that ilk, you could have bought a genuinely great indie game on sale, but nope, you support these con artists instead who are taking advantage of you instead.

 

I did find that Wolfenstein II petition to be quite strange. I feel like you have to be pretty entitled to demand that every game you're interested in has a straightforward and easy trophy list. I mean games like that are fine, but so are games with some challenge. If trophy hunting was that easy all the time, then what would even be the point? It would be boring.

 

It's not like these things keep me up at night, though, as ultimately, I only really care about what I do with my own profile. Being a member of this site means we're part of a community, though, so I don't see the issue with discussing changes in the community and trophy hunting as a whole if we perceive them to be negative. I hope that makes sense.

[AJ_Radio]

49 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

Regardless of what this thread has turned into, I thought this was a good read. I always thought it'd make more sense if "trophies" were points instead (like on Xbox) and earning 100% in a game would reward you with a trophy that has a color indicative of a game's length or difficulty. For example, games like Mayo and Hannah Montana would give you a bronze trophy, while Super Meat Boy and Injustice would give you a platinum. Sony would have to set standards to do this, but it would address a lot of the points you made.

 

Unfortunately, like PSN IDs, Sony didn't have the foresight to create a system that could easily be changed, so we're not likely to see improvements until something else comes along.

 

Sony still has the most legit, fair achievement system out of all the platforms.

 

As someone mentioned, you can use an editing program to get Steam achievements for you. That coupled with some titles getting a ridiculous amount of achievements makes the entire system pointless.

 

Xbox is also heading in that direction with 1000G with every game that comes out on Microsoft's console. I personally never cared for Xbox achievements, since I think they are far inferior to what you're getting out of trophies on Sony's platforms. But Microsoft has greatly cheapened Xbox achievements, so they too aren't really worth much value anymore.

 

My main issue is Sony is starting to put things out of balance. There are dozens of games out there these days that can be easily finished in less than two hours, all with a platinum trophy for your efforts. A game like Mega Man 10 on the other hand has a very challenging trophy list but doesn't have a platinum. People complained about Sonic Mania not having a platinum, then a few months later the same ones complained about Wolfenstein II being "too hard" because of Mein Leben.

 

It's if they really only care about ridiculously easy games, while games that people spent months, if not years working on to make them the best they possibly could get throw off to the side. I'm not saying that's how non trophy hunters look at this but if they were to examine what madbuk is saying more closely they would think some of us are crazy.

 

45 minutes ago, Undead Wolf said:

I haven't been trophy hunting for as long as some of you guys (I played 360 for most of the last generation), but I've definitely seen trophy hunting change for the worse since I've been apart of the community. The biggest issue for me is Sony's lack of quality control, resulting in all of these "quick & easy platinum" games flooding the store. Most of these games have no business even being allowed onto the store due to their abyssal quality, let alone allowed to have a platinum trophy. It devalues the system as a whole for reasons previously mentioned. Years ago I would have seen someone with 50 plats and thought "wow, that's a lot!", but these days you could start a new account and get that amount in like a month easily putting in next to no effort. 

 

Quite honestly, it's somewhat embarrassing being apart of the trophy hunting community sometimes when you see these absolute trash games like Little Adventure on the Prairie, 1000 Top Rated, etc, on the 'Popular Games This Week' tab on the main page as people are salivating at the mouth just thinking about an easy plat. Is this what it means to be a trophy hunter these days? Before My Name is Mayo came to Europe, I remember people kept posting in that thread asking for updates on when it was coming to that region. Like guys... there are FAR better games to dedicate your attention to. They may be cheap, but it adds up. After getting a few games of that ilk, you could have bought a genuinely great indie game on sale, but nope, you support these con artists instead who are taking advantage of you instead.

 

I did find that Wolfenstein II petition to be quite strange. I feel like you have to be pretty entitled to demand that every game you're interested in has a straightforward and easy trophy list. I mean games like that are fine, but so are games with some challenge. If trophy hunting was that easy all the time, then what would even be the point? It would be boring.

 

It's not like these things keep me up at night, though, as ultimately, I only really care about what I do with my own profile. Being a member of this site means we're part of a community, though, so I don't see the issue with discussing changes in the community and trophy hunting as a whole if we perceive them to be negative. I hope that makes sense.

 

It's becoming more of a Steam platform.

 

I've been on Steam for a lot longer than I've been trophy hunting and what Steam has turned into disgusts me. I think starting with the Playstation 4 Sony began to simply copy what Steam was doing and therefore a lot of shit is making it's way to the Store.

 

There's a lot of shit indie games out there too, made by con artists who are only in it for a quick buck.

[dmland12]

I do wish there were actual standards for which games get platinums.  It's pretty crazy that a game like Slyde or Mayo gets a platinum, but Mega Man Legacy Collection didn't (it's 6 games plus some difficult challenges!).  I'd feel a lot better about those games that seem to be made just to give braindead trophies/achievements, if they only gave ~300 pts or so and no platinum.

 

I'd like to just be able to say "play whatever you like... everyone can have their own opinion as to what's good/bad, etc."  But, people aren't really doing that.  There are these games out there that no one really enjoys playing, but they're doing it anyway.  Almost no one would be playing them if the trophies weren't so simple.  Too much of this certainly does make trophy hunting in general look bad.

 

Anyway, at the end of the day, I do genuinely enjoy going after trophies, and that's what really matters to me.  I'll keep on doing my thing, I suppose, whatever else happens.

[Honor_Hand]

There are some genuinely valid concerns raised in this thread but I wouldn't go as far as to say as that trophy/achievement hunting is on a downward spiral. I personally feel that it is as popular as ever. Sure, haven't been part of any community in a while as to make a proper comparison but this site, in particular, feels very lively for the few days I have been actively checking it. Previously, I only came looking for some specific information related to a particular game but now that I enter every day and I can attest that there is a very active user base here.

 

While most your concerns are valid, I don't feel as you should worry too much about them since it may actually end up hurting the actual enjoyment you are supposed to get from trophy hunting as a hobby. Sure, the system is not perfect and people are always going to be people. There is nothing we can do about them. Maybe Sony does need to improve their standards. People will always try to inflate their profiles either for personal gain or social recognition by exploiting any loophole in the system or by following the "easy route". Maybe that's something they actually enjoy. Maybe they like to add cheap platinums to their profile, maybe they like to amass VNs and play them in quick succession without caring for the story at all, maybe they don't like to have a challenge, either way, that's how they decided to build their profile. You, on the other hand, are free to build your profile in any way you deem it appropriate.

 

Not sure if I'm the right person as to share an opinion here since I just play games and collect trophies for fun. Not too much into leaderboards and competition. In any case, my personal recommendation goes to not worry about it too much and just enjoy yourself with the games you choose to play and the trophies you choose to hunt for. You are the one that has the power to make a truly unique profile that stands out from the rest, and I'm not talking about numbers but instead sheer personality.

 

Cheers! ?

[xZoneHunter]

I wouldn't necessarily call those easy games a problem per se. They're there if you want them. If you get enjoyment out of playing (shitty) games just for trophies more power to you. I don't see a difference between the ps3 kiddie games of old that take 3-5 hours to plat, vita visual novels or the newer, shitty games that take only an hour to plat. Besides, an easy solution for the "Easy platinums devaluate the system" would be to fix the rarityboard. 

 

And i'm not sure what it matters if "crap games" flutter the store. Asking for Sony to do "quality control" is ridiculous, you don't have to buy those "crap" games. Also how will they evaluate which games can get on the store or not? While for some games it might be obvious that almost no one will enjoy them (Life of black tiger for example) there are too many games that'd fall into a grey area. Mr Massagy is for some people one of those "crap games", while it's imo genuinely a fun game albeit short. If a developer put forth the resources necessary to put their game on the PSN store they should have the chance. PSN has reviews in place, trailers, screenshots. You can easily see whether or not a game is worth your money or not. I do think however, that Sony really needs to implement a refund system for digital titles. Being able to refund a digital title up to one hour ( or 30 minutes) of playtime would be a step in the right direction and maybe even urge developers to make their games better.

 

I do agree with that the whole petition trend was rather silly.

Edited April 16, 2018 by xZoneHunter

[MidnightDragon]

Wasn’t expecting this to still be here.

[Terra]

I've been trophy hunting for eight years and I have noticed a considerable shift. Sometime back in 2012, their were easy platinums to get, but not to the extent their are now! I'll comment on the points you have made:

 

1. Petitions To Change Trophy Requirements 

I remember the Wolfenstein II controversy. Seriously, unless a trophy is broken and doesn't pop as it should, changing it because it's too hard defeats the point of obtaining the trophy. Trophies are meant to be challenging! Why modify something that isn't broken? The trophy isn't going anywhere, just keep trying! (Unless it's online)

 

2. 30 Second Platinums

I was very guilty of this year last year. I did a double stack of My Name Is Mayo, along with 1000 Top Rated, Mr. Massagy, and Albedo, games I really only got because of the quick trophies. After doing that, I refuse to play any easy platinum that doesn't appeal to my interests. So far this year, I've stuck to that. Not all these quick platinums are bad, there are some gems in there like Jazzpunk but others like Slyde and Top Rated? No. There's no really reward for getting a platinum in those for me. At least Hannah Montana felt deserved because I had to beat a broken mess of a game I wouldn't even let my cousin play.

 

3. Less activity on trophy forums

I joined PSNProfiles in 2012 but I really wasn't active until 2015. Therefore, hard for me to comment on this but I'll say compared to 2016, activity has slightly declined. PSTrophies.org, the other site I go on isn't as active as it was when I joined that same year (2012). I would love to see these forums more active, maybe site promotion? 

 

4. 10,000+ Steam Achievements

I only play Steam for Star Wars Battlefront II and a few other older PC titles. Never cared about achievements on there because of how easily they can be exploited. 

 

5. Games Have 1000G On Xbox One

I can see how this is a problem. The achievement system isn't very balanced. Even on the Xbox 360, you games like Avatar The Burning Earth that didn't even require you to finish the game to get all the achievements! Compare that to games like Tony Hawk's American Wasteland achievements or Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and you can see how unbalanced getting all the achievements in the game are. This is one of the reasons I didn't renew Xbox Live this year.

 

6. Discussion on Quick Plats

Can't really comment here.

 

7. Trophy Point Inflation

I never really looked at level to begin with, I just looked at how much rare trophies they had (and still do). I really don't care what people platinum to be honest, to each their own. 

 

8. The Visual Novels

I am a firm visual novel lover and I have MANY of these on my profile and I've enjoyed the majority of them without skipping. Again, I don't think people should skip visual novels because it defeats the purpose of game but I won't force it on others to do so. If someone sees my visual novels and thinks I skipped them, I don't care if they think that. If they ask, I'll just give them a run-down of the story and what I liked and disliked about it. However, I will state that I've seen VN's looked down upon for being only used to get easy trophies. That needs to change. Stories like Steins;Gate, Code:Realize, and Collar X Malice don't deserved to be skipped.

 

9. No standards

Oh god, where is the quality control? Games like Toro, Life of Black Tiger, Horse Racing, these look worse then PS2 games! Why are these getting pumped out and played? I wouldn't touch these even if they were free. 

 

10. Negative reception

Haven't had this happen to me. My trophy hunting actually encouraged my friends to start hunting for their own. Luckily, I suggested to them what games they shouldn't do for easy points.

 

11. Getting paid

I'm part of the program but it really doesn't influence my decision to play really quick and easy plats. If I'm not going to enjoy the game, money isn't going to change my mind. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Terra

[Undead Wolf]

50 minutes ago, xZoneHunter said:

I don't see a difference between the ps3 kiddie games of old that take 3-5 hours to plat, vita visual novels or the newer, shitty games that take only an hour to plat.

 

The difference is that the other two actually have some worth as video games and aren't just there to increase people's platinum count. Kids games are enjoyable for, you guessed it, kids, and there are some amazing visual novels out there with great stories for the people who actually read them. Sure, you get grown-ass adults playing these kids games and people who skip visual novels for quick and easy trophies, but this doesn't apply to everyone who plays them. As for the shitty games that only take an hour to play, literally nobody is playing them except for the sole reason of getting trophies. That's the difference.

 

50 minutes ago, xZoneHunter said:

And i'm not sure what it matters if "crap games" flutter the store. Asking for Sony to do "quality control" is ridiculous, you don't have to buy those "crap" games. Also how will they evaluate which games can get on the store or not? While for some games it might be obvious that almost no one will enjoy them (Life of black tiger for example) there are too many games that'd fall into a grey area. Mr Massagy is for some people one of those "crap games", while it's imo genuinely a fun game albeit short. If a developer put forth the resources necessary to put their game on the PSN store they should have the chance. PSN has reviews in place, trailers, screenshots. You can easily see whether or not a game is worth your money or not.

 

Ridiculous, huh? Quality control only pulled the gaming industry out of the crash of 1983. You know, no big deal or anything...  Nobody's asking Sony to go over every game with a fine tooth comb, but there should be some sort of standard. There are objectively bad games out there like your Life of Black Tiger's. Games that nobody in their right mind would actually enjoy playing. While I wouldn't play something like Mr Massagy, it functions as a game and I could see why some people might like it. There is a difference between something that doesn't suit my tastes and something that wouldn't suit anyone's tastes.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Undead Wolf

[AJ_Radio]

2 hours ago, Honor_Hand said:

There are some genuinely valid concerns raised in this thread but I wouldn't go as far as to say as that trophy/achievement hunting is on a downward spiral. I personally feel that it is as popular as ever. Sure, haven't been part of any community in a while as to make a proper comparison but this site, in particular, feels very lively for the few days I have been actively checking it. Previously, I only came looking for some specific information related to a particular game but now that I enter every day and I can attest that there is a very active user base here.

 

While most your concerns are valid, I don't feel as you should worry too much about them since it may actually end up hurting the actual enjoyment you are supposed to get from trophy hunting as a hobby. Sure, the system is not perfect and people are always going to be people. There is nothing we can do about them. Maybe Sony does need to improve their standards. People will always try to inflate their profiles either for personal gain or social recognition by exploiting any loophole in the system or by following the "easy route". Maybe that's something they actually enjoy. Maybe they like to add cheap platinums to their profile, maybe they like to amass VNs and play them in quick succession without caring for the story at all, maybe they don't like to have a challenge, either way, that's how they decided to build their profile. You, on the other hand, are free to build your profile in any way you deem it appropriate.

 

Not sure if I'm the right person as to share an opinion here since I just play games and collect trophies for fun. Not too much into leaderboards and competition. In any case, my personal recommendation goes to not worry about it too much and just enjoy yourself with the games you choose to play and the trophies you choose to hunt for. You are the one that has the power to make a truly unique profile that stands out from the rest, and I'm not talking about numbers but instead sheer personality.

 

Cheers!

 

I personally couldn't care less what people do with their trophies as long as they didn't outright cheat or hack to earn them.

 

I didn't even know trophy hunting was a "thing" until a few years ago when I started to get into the games I was playing.

 

What people need to understand is nobody can please everybody. Regardless of what I or anyone else thinks there is always someone who is going to disagree on a particular subject. Namely trophy hunting.

 

I like this place more than other websites. I found Playstationtrophies.org to be full of elitist assholes who take everything far too seriously, I only post there every once in a while.

[xZoneHunter]

17 minutes ago, Undead Wolf said:

 

snip

 

Look, i'm not going to argue that there are some people that'd enjoy little adventure on the prairie or life of black tiger. As those games are as you put it, objectively bad. The problem would be where do you draw the line. Unless they do make up an acceptable standard, i don't see a problem with how it is currently. That's why i really think Sony should implement a refund system, the consumer will always have something to fall back on if they do buy one of these, objectively bad games by mistake.

 

It is true that out of the 3 "genres of trophy trash" i mentioned the first two hold more value gameplay wise, but the fact remains that all 3 of them are widely played just for trophies by our community. There isn't much difference in playing prairie or hannah montana purely for a platinum, other then prairie only taking 10 minutes instead of a couple of hours. 

 

17 minutes ago, Undead Wolf said:

 

Ridiculous, huh? Quality control only pulled the gaming industry out of the crash of 1983. You know, no big deal or anything...  

 

Because the gaming industry scene from 1983 and 2018 is oh so comparable. lol

Edited April 16, 2018 by xZoneHunter

[Honor_Hand]

1 hour ago, Spaz said:

 

I personally couldn't care less what people do with their trophies as long as they didn't outright cheat or hack to earn them.

 

I didn't even know trophy hunting was a "thing" until a few years ago when I started to get into the games I was playing.

 

What people need to understand is nobody can please everybody. Regardless of what I or anyone else thinks there is always someone who is going to disagree on a particular subject. Namely trophy hunting.

 

I like this place more than other websites. I found Playstationtrophies.org to be full of elitist assholes who take everything far too seriously, I only post there every once in a while.

Agreed, everyone should be free to fill their profile in whatever way they find desirable. I understand that there are games out there that can be either objectively or subjectively bad depending on how you look at them but really, trying to please everybody as far as trophy hunting seems like going a little too far for me. The most important thing should be to please yourself first ha ha ha.

 

I'm more into it for personal records and just general fun. Don't mind what get throws on my profile. Who knows? I may be able to take a look back at some point in the future and remember all of the good, the bad and the ugly games I went through. Some will be remembered with a smile, some with tears and some will be just for the lols.

 

At the end of the day, I feel this is a situation of different strokes for different folks.

[Redgrave]

To weigh in, I really don't mind how easy or hard Platinums are as long as the game itself is actually good. When it came to Wolfenstein II, while I found the petitions a bit much, I do understand why people were making them considering the requirements needed for that trophy. But at the end of the day it is the developers choice. I know there have been some exceptions, like Social Lubricant in Watch_Dogs that seemed to be reasonable from what I recall. But the idea of petitions for trophies to be changed just because they are hard is ridiculous and makes people sound entitled.

 

With that said, I really do think Sony should have some kind of set standard. It's pretty clear that these "developers" are taking advantage of trophy hunters by making these cheap, poorly made games that look like something the iOS store vomited up. And not only does it set a bad example but it also lets these people get away by doing the bare minimum. Say what you will about Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed being cookie-cutter cash-grabs but at least those games are polished (for the most part, in Assassin's Creed's case), playable, and can be fun. I would much rather play a generic AAA action-shooty game than what looks like some asshole cooked up in a weekend because they knew they could make a quick buck.

 

And it's not even like the standards Sony would have to set would be absurdly high or anything. Just some kind of guideline saying that the game needs to be playable, polished, and doesn't look like an eyesore like that Spear of Destiny and the other game that came after it. Remember when Nintendo allowed this unholy travesty on the Wii U? It got removed eventually but the fact it even got allowed on there to begin with is baffling, like nobody at Nintendo even looked at it. It's starting to feel the same way with PSN and I would really rather it not come down to that.

 

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, a game having a hard or easy Platinum doesn't bother me as long as the game itself is good. The issue I know has been expressed and definitely agree with are these shameless low-effort garbage games that for some reason get approved that seem to devalue not only the trophy system but let people that make them get away with being lazy because they know people that want to get their Platinum numbers up will pay for it.

[AJ_Radio]

2 hours ago, xZoneHunter said:

 

Look, i'm not going to argue that there are some people that'd enjoy little adventure on the prairie or life of black tiger. As those games are as you put it, objectively bad. The problem would be where do you draw the line. Unless they do make up an acceptable standard, i don't see a problem with how it is currently. That's why i really think Sony should implement a refund system, the consumer will always have something to fall back on if they do buy one of these, objectively bad games by mistake.

 

It is true that out of the 3 "genres of trophy trash" i mentioned the first two hold more value gameplay wise, but the fact remains that all 3 of them are widely played just for trophies by our community. There isn't much difference in playing prairie or hannah montana purely for a platinum, other then prairie only taking 10 minutes instead of a couple of hours.

 

To be frank shit games that are "easy" only make up one half. There are shit games that are "difficult", but you never really hear about those since people in general well, don't play them.

 

Hell I would settle for an easy game that is "shit" rather than a game that is terrible and I have to invest dozens of hours in to get the platinum.

 

A refund system would be nice for these digital only games, but we're probably not going to see that anytime soon. Sony has gotten overly greedy since the start of the Playstation 4. Microsoft and Nintendo don't come anywhere close to the sales Sony has made over the past four years.

 

2 hours ago, xZoneHunter said:

Because the gaming industry scene from 1983 and 2018 is oh so comparable. lol

 

ET and a slew of crappy Atari games for the 2600 lead to the video game crash. Nintendo revived the industry with it's flagship title Super Mario Bros, and within a couple years the NES was a hugely successful system that retro gamers still appreciate to this day.

 

Things have changed so much since 1983 that I think it's dumb to make a comparison of the going ons today to what had happened back then.

[Warlord99956]

Trophy hunters are a relatively small percentage of PlayStation users. This fact alone negates some of the concerns raised in the original post. For example people shying away from games because they are hard. A casual gamer isn’t going to care about that and will buy the game anyway. Also exposure for indie titles was mentioned. I think this is down to the the publisher. They can’t rely on a trophy hunting website to market their product for them! It’s a trophy hunting forum. The goal is to earn trophies so of course the easiest, shortest games will generate the most interest here. 

 

VNs are hugely popular in the far eastern markets where they are played as intended. Of course they appeal to a trophy hunter as they are quick and easy but hunters are not the primary market. 

 

I think high level profiles are still impressive but trophy hunting is a simple numbers game. It comes down to time and resources. Even with unlimited time and money it would still take a couple of years to reach level 100. To a casual gamer a high level is impressive in itself. To a trophy hunter who might look at a profile in more detail it’s easy to spot a player who is more skilled and has taken on harder plats. A quick look at the trophy cabinet or milestone list is usually enough. 

 

I think trophy hunting is about playing at a level and creating a profile that you are happy with. I play a lot of short easy plats to raise my leaderboard rank but I also play a lot of longer more challenging games. I don’t play anything that has a list in a non English language either as I don’t see the point in playing something I don’t understand but I still have respect for people who are willing to invest thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours to do JP VNs. They just have a different style of gaming to me and if that’s how they want to make their profile then that’s fine!

 

The inclusion of a rarity adjusted leaderboard (like another trophy website we all know about) could help to restore some balance between easy and hard plats. The only problem is deciding on a difficulty level or rarity stat. So extremely hard games don’t have ultra rare plats due to the low amount of game owners. Difficulty is also a personal thing. What is a hard game for one person may be easy for another. 

 

[crft555]

Trophy Hunters really come in a variety of forms, some are trying to get as many trophies as they can, others as many plats, others 100% completion etc. Its all down to personal preference what your goals and aims are, mine are to enjoy a game and complete them as much as I can.

To me anyone who is buying a game just for the trophies is paying money for something they see as a virtual benefit. Myself I wouldn't do that as I see no value in it and prefer to buy games that I expect I will like when they are on sale as a better use of my money.

 

Personally I find that looking at a person's individual trophies to gauge is better; better still comparing myself directly to them on games that both own lets me understand their focus. Some bronze trophies are much harder to achieve than platinum's now and seeing some hard bronzes over a My Name is Mayo tells me a lot about a person. Just going for platinums to be isn't as worthy as it once was.

 

One of my biggest issues with the trophy system is the trophies no longer can be easily used as a proof of skill, while some games have difficulty settings built into trophies, a lot don't. One of my few Platinum's Is Diablo 3, this platinum is quite easy if you have the time or like the game enough to grind, for this platinum I actually ran every character on Hardcore mode just because I wanted a little bit of an extra challenge. Adding In a really difficult trophy like for example complete a rift on Torment 4 with a Hardcore character would have separated the casuals from the truly good players.

[Satoshi Ookami]

On 4/15/2018 at 2:38 AM, madbuk said:

This is a big one I wanted to cover. Visual novels had always had a bit of a negative connotation associated with them in the trophy hunting circles, but it has escalated to the point where almost everyone seems to look down upon them. This is very harmful because they're already niche products that need as much support as they can get, and the negative reception could cause pressure on people to avoid them to 'preserve' their profile. A lot of visual novels are genuinely good and worth playing - just like there are many books out there that are genuinely good and worth reading. But so many people are skipping VNs these days, that people see a VN on your profile and just assume you're 'trophy whoring' rather than actually reading, regardless of the timestamps. VNs don't deserve this reputation because a lot of work is put into developing them. In regards to stacks, I question the people who look down on them so much. Okay, stacking a game like My Name is Mayo is pretty iffy, but where's the problem with replaying a genuinely great game? For example, I loved Kingdom Hearts and Tales of Xillia 1 when I first played them, so I wanted to replay them at some point. Why not get extra trophies while I do so? It costs extra money but that just simply isn't a big deal to some people, and there will always be sales. Having stacks on your profile doesn't automatically make you a trophy whore no matter how much certain people believe otherwise.

 

Nuff said.

I keep saying this all the time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

18 hours ago, TerraTanium said:

VN's aren't really games anyway

Get 

the

hell

out

#SkippersDeserveToBurn