Completionist vs Trophy Hunter

[Zolkovo]

I’ve had a lot of people ask me why I like trophy hunting and what keeps me motivated. Despite appearances, truth is I don’t hunt trophies. In fact I'm a new kid on the block. I simply feel compelled to complete all my games in every sense of the word. Now some may muse what the difference is or confuse the two as the same thing so here are my thoughts on what I consider distinguishes completionists from trophy hunters and vice versa.

 

Completionists

• Tend to explore every aspect of a game, far beyond the platinum where applicable
• Go for a "perfect save" and a complete trophy list is a part of that journey
• The game isn’t over when the platinum dings (most of the time)
• If you like a game, instead of spending money buying region/platform stacks (excluding remasters), you keep playing the exact same game using the non-defective copy you already own
• Tend not to shy away from difficult trophies as trophies/day ratio is largely irrelevant. The satisfaction of working on a challenge and overcoming it is far greater
• Have the fortitude to tackle and endure most grinds
• Will rarely let a trophy list influence your choice in playing a game
• Happy to play on any platform e.g. PC/Xbox/PS for the most optimal experience depending on the game
  • e.g. Playing Cities Skylines on PC with access to 1000s of custom workshop content that adds a lot to the experience, not to mention far superior performance
• Only buy games that appear fun to you, but will endure the bad eggs through to the end too

 

Trophy Hunters

• Tend to play the bare minimum needed for a platinum/100% trophy list
• A dinged platinum signals the lifetime shelving of almost all titles
• Enjoy region/platform stacking
• Will pick up pretty much any game regardless of difficulty or fun-factor as long as it has a platinum
  • This works both ways for those who hunt URs as well as those who like EZPZs
• Trophy lists are likely to be a deciding factor with many purchases
  • Again applies to both UR enthusiasts and the numbers game
• May get more satisfaction from obtaining trophies/platinums as opposed to the gameplay
• Mostly stick to the PlayStation family of consoles
• Open to playing multiple games simultaneously and forfeiting some of the game-play experience e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY2B1njf2uo

 

The Cross Breeds

• Tend to consider a platinum/100% trophy list as completing a game
• Occasionally spend additional time on a game beyond the platinum
• May avoid games that have platinums walled behind difficulty so as not to jeopardise completion %
• May tailor your profiles to maintain high completion rates e.g. avoiding games with large amounts of online trophies

 

The Casuals (probably the way to be)

• Play a game until you stop having fun with it
• Only buy games you like the look of, irrespective of length/difficulty
• You won't go out of your way and put yourselves through hell just for pixels
• Not too bothered about trophies; consider them a bonus

 

The Bullstomps (aka Hardcore Gamers)

• Strive to be the best
• Proficient on any platform
• Take trophies and any kind of achievement system very seriously
• Highly competitive
• Not afraid to tackle any game

 

So where do you fall? Is there anything you would add to any of the categories? Is there anything you disagree with? Obviously not every single point will apply to you and it's more of a subjective generalisation so take it with a pinch of salt! Perhaps I have an obtuse way of looking at things but I've always tried to categorise the different types of gamers on PSNP and what drives each of you.

Edited August 11, 2018 by Zolkovo

[audiopile]

I mostly fit in the trophy hunter category, but do restrict myself to games with difficulty under 7-8 depending on the genre, and only buy DLC for games I really enjoyed, or if it goes on sale. Also I don't bother with international trophy lists, but will play the same game for multiple plats on different consoles. Trophies FTW!

I consider it a bonus when I can have my Vita and PS running at the same time!

 

Edit - I will try to finish every game I start, and should also mention I will not just buy easy games for trophies to inflate my count, unless I think I’ll like enjoy them to some degree. Magus taught me that horrible but important lesson. So no “I am Mayo” and the likes unless i get them through PS+. 

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by audiopile

[Cassylvania]

I guess I fit into the completionist category, as you've defined it. I'd never buy a game just for the trophies, but I do try to 100% all of the games I buy, because I buy stuff that I think I'll enjoy. Thus, I generally don't care if a game is long or difficult, because that just means more bang for my buck. I suppose what keeps me from being casual is that I'll keep playing the stuff that I didn't enjoy, but that's mostly because I don't want the game to think it got the best of me.

 

That's right. Shitty games are out to get me.

[thefourfoldroot]

To me a completionist is someone who does everything the developer asks of them, including getting trophies; a trophy hunter only cares about the trophy challenges; and then you have those strange creatures who keep setting themselves challenges not envisioned by the dev at all (such as finishing a level without killing anything, or whatever). 

 

Of these I'm more a trophy hunter I guess, but with a first priority to having fun experiences regardless and then moving to trophies. 

 

Probably a mixture of cross breed and casual by your definition though. 

Edited August 8, 2018 by thefourfoldroot

[MidnightDragon]

I’m a cross breed/completionist/casual hybrid.  Would’ve voted “other” if I had seen it.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Spyro

[Zolkovo]

8 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

I guess I fit into the completionist category, as you've defined it. I'd never buy a game just for the trophies, but I do try to 100% all of the games I buy, because I buy stuff that I think I'll enjoy. Thus, I generally don't care if a game is long or difficult, because that just means more bang for my buck. I suppose what keeps me from being casual is that I'll keep playing the stuff that I didn't enjoy, but that's mostly because I don't want the game to think it got the best of me.

 

That's right. Shitty games are out to get me.

 

Oh that's really nicely put, I've added that in because I agree with that notion too.

[Guest]

I’ve evolved over the course of several profiles on several systems. I’ve considered all of those aspects and dabbled as well. 

 

I now enjoy my spot at the bottom of the dung heap where there is no pressure. Free to do whatever the flip I want, regardless of appearances. 

 

Livin the good life  - trophies, plats, 100%s - or not. 

 

Life and people first, games and profiles second. 

[Zolkovo]

3 minutes ago, journaltalk said:

[...]

I now enjoy my spot at the bottom of the dung heap where there is no pressure. [...]

 

I consider it the top of the pyramid

[acasser]

I'm largely a cross-breed.  My "litmus test" isn't how difficult a game is, if my profile is any indication, but I will avoid games with immense amounts of online like the plague because I simply don't enjoy it .... and because I have a large enough backlog that I won't run out of things to play for quite some time even when I deliberately won't acquire certain titles I might otherwise enjoy.

 

But I also have a lot of completionist tendencies.

[Kristycism]

I have always considered myself a completionist, trophies to me are just like a public badge of "I completed this game" (once I get the plat/100%), but I'd still play the games to completion whether they had trophies or not. And if obtaining full completion takes me long past the trophies, I'll continue with the game until I have done everything it has to offer even if there's no "public trophy badge" to show I did it (eg all the side quests in Witcher 3).

 

Although I don't really fit on the last two definitions in your list - I only play on my PS, because I hate the Xbox controller (I have little hands) and I just can't use KB+M at all. I'm used to my PS controllers, all the way from the PS1, so I tend to only play on my PS4 purely for the controller. Unless the game isn't available on PS4, then I just suck it up and use another system. 

 

Also I play games I don't enjoy all the time. Either because they were free on PS+ and I foolishly thought I'd give it a go, or because I was fooled by the pretty cover image/fun store description and thought I was gonna play a good game which turned out to be all lies. I've never bought a game thinking I'd hate it though, I just don't look at gameplay videos enough (or at all). If I start a game and hate it I'll still play to completion though because I refuse to let a game win against me. I don't mind losing against other people at things, but I'm not losing to a bunch of coding. I should probably get over that.

 

I've also never bought a game just for the trophy list. That's not to say I haven't played games with easy trophies, but I'd have bought/played the same game even if it was the hardest trophy list in any game I've played to date. They're just not a factor in my (largely impulsive) purchase decisions.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Kristycism

[Muur1993]

I don't get games just for trophies and get games I'm interested in. I then trophy whore myself out to get the trophies on said games

[StiffTripple_X]

4 minutes ago, Muur1993 said:

I don't get games just for trophies and get games I'm interested in. I then trophy whore myself out to get the trophies on said games

 

Same. It is really nice that Sony reward now rewards points for getting trophies now though.

[AJ_Radio]

I followed the "Trophy Whore" path for a little while. Stacked Sound Shapes, Murdered: Soul Suspect, My Name Is Mayo and played some trash games like Energy Cycle and Orc Slayer.

 

I wasn't having fun and it was just miserable. So I've taken to games I've been wanting to get for months, if not years and I feel much happier for it.

 

My opinion is if you have a 95 percent completion rate or higher, YOU ARE A COMPLETIONIST. 90 - 95 percent is pretty good too, practically anything above 90 percent is usually solid.

 

Platinum hunters only go for the platinum and move on to the next game. I see tons of accounts where they only complete the base game and they don't bother at all with the DLC. Yes, DLC costs money and if you buy the Season Pass you are shelling out $90 - 100+ dollars for just one game. But when I see people with several hundred games on their lists, they are more than able to buy DLC.

 

50 to 80 percent, you aren't really a completionist. I wouldn't even consider you a trophy hunter if you're below 30 - 40 percent, you just play games purely for fun. Which is fine too, everyone has different tastes and wants.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Spaz

[Zolkovo]

47 minutes ago, Spaz said:

My opinion is if you have a 95 percent completion rate or higher, YOU ARE A COMPLETIONIST. 90 - 95 percent is pretty good too, practically anything above 90 percent is usually solid.

 

I don't think it's as back and white as that. For instance, you can 100% Skyrim in about 30 hours, probably less. Now that involves skipping about 80% of the game's content, but on paper both the speed-runner and someone who's fully explored the game with about 150 hours playtime will look the same. Would you still hold them both under the same umbrella? I also think you can be a completionist even without shelling out on DLC as long as you are exploring everything the base game has to offer beyond the trophy list. This in turn could mean that you'd have a profile sitting in the 80% range but as far as I'm concerned if they've played all their games to death but weren't able to buy DLC or weren't interested in them, they are still completionists.

 

From what I've read in some of your threads, even without looking at your profile I'd say you're a completionist because you do like to get the most out of your games and you're certainly not afraid to challenge yourself (for better or worse). You're also happy to enjoy the game as you see fit rather than take easy routes e.g. The Witcher 3 where you were enjoying the side quests alongside the main story on the hardest difficulty. Now a trophy hunter (or a hybrid) would approach it very differently (imo) and take the most efficient route to the plat. That's the difference I see which goes beyond numbers.

 

Of course I'm aware that's my subjective definition of it but it makes more sense to me.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Zolkovo

[Beyondthegrave07]

I put casual. I will go after a platinum if it is fun, not too time-consuming, and not too difficult/too much of a pain. If you actually look at my list, 80-90% of my platinums are easy to medium difficulty depending on who you ask. If I can't get the platinum, I get as many easy ones that I can get without too much difficulty and move on. I always try to get at least the story-related ones, but I will leave the game if I get bored and play something else and eventually come back to it when I feel like it... Maybe.

 

I'm not full-on casual (I don't just play CoD and FIFA if you get what I'm saying), but I'm closer to that than a cross breed.

[majob]

I'm definitely a casual. I only buy games I'm interested in and I really only tend to go platinum for games that don't have insane requirements or online trophies since I'm not a fan of online and I tend to play only when I'm in the mood to do so. My work schedule is erratic so my time for gaming can be slim some days so I just do what I can when I can.

[AJ_Radio]

10 minutes ago, Zolkovo said:

I don't think it's as back and white as that. For instance, I won't name anyone but I've seen a profile with 60+ plats and it's at 99%. This person has more trophies and plats and a higher completion % than me but I still wouldn't label them as such because every single one of their games was around 2 hours or less. I think they had a couple of VNs which were like 7-8 hours but that is definitely not my definition of a completionist. I also think you can be a completionist even without shelling out on DLC as long as you are exploring everything the base game has to offer. This in turn could mean that you'd have a profile sitting in the 80% range but as far as I'm concerned if they've played all their games to death but weren't able to buy DLC or weren't interested in them, they are still completionists.

 

From what I've read in some of your threads, even without looking at your profile I'd say you're a completionist because you do like to get the most out of your games and you're certainly not afraid to challenge yourself (for better or worse). You're also happy to enjoy the game as you see fit rather than take easy routes e.g. The Witcher 3 where you were enjoying the side quests alongside the main story on the hardest difficulty. Now a trophy hunter (or a hybrid) would approach it very differently (imo) and take the most efficient route to the plat. That's the difference I see which goes beyond numbers.

 

Of course I'm aware that's my subjective definition of it but it makes more sense to me.

 

Well to be frank I mostly just put what games I want on my list. I have a throwaway account for games I'm a bit nervous on putting. I played Super Meat Boy two months before I put it on my main account, and since I'm not too far from the platinum, I might as well go for it. Eventually, just not in the mood to do Cotton Alley too seriously for the time being.

 

I am not a guy who plays mostly difficult games. Personally I get far too frustrated with some games, while I will play a game that is more difficult than average, or a game most people probably can't complete, I like a fair balance. But I do like the challenge. There are games like Dead Space 2 and Vanquish that I wholeheartedly intend to play and platinum, which are difficult, one because it has Hardcore difficulty where you can only save three times, the other because of the challenges which I guess a lot of people can't do.

 

People like Hakoom and Roughdawg4 play a numbers game. Personally I think stacking 100s of Japanese visual novels isn't my idea of fun or accomplishment, it's simply mashing buttons to get through them as quick as possible, just for the platinum trophies. The people who have games that are difficult, games that require hundreds of hours to complete, or games that require a great deal of online boosting and whom have a high completion rate are those I respect. You look at those who just play for trophies in a different way than those who want to play the games they've been wanting to play. I see them both as completionists, but one deserves more respect than the other.

 

I enjoyed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and it's my longest game so far, clocking in at around 135 hours to get all the trophies in it. I probably could of cut that time in half if I were a speed runner, but I am not a speed runner and thus I try my best to get the most enjoyment out of the games I play. Not all trophy hunters are those who play exclusively for the trophies.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Spaz

[Zolkovo]

13 minutes ago, Spaz said:

[...] Not all trophy hunters are those who play exclusively for the trophies.

 

That's exactly the point  I'm simply calling your definition of trophy hunter something else.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Zolkovo

[majob]

15 minutes ago, Zolkovo said:

 

I don't think it's as back and white as that. For instance, I won't name anyone but I've seen a profile with 60+ plats and it's at 99%. This person has more trophies and plats and a higher completion % than me but I still wouldn't label them as such because every single one of their games was around 2 hours or less. I think they had a couple of VNs which were like 7-8 hours but that is definitely not my definition of a completionist. I also think you can be a completionist even without shelling out on DLC as long as you are exploring everything the base game has to offer beyond the trophy list. This in turn could mean that you'd have a profile sitting in the 80% range but as far as I'm concerned if they've played all their games to death but weren't able to buy DLC or weren't interested in them, they are still completionists.

 

From what I've read in some of your threads, even without looking at your profile I'd say you're a completionist because you do like to get the most out of your games and you're certainly not afraid to challenge yourself (for better or worse). You're also happy to enjoy the game as you see fit rather than take easy routes e.g. The Witcher 3 where you were enjoying the side quests alongside the main story on the hardest difficulty. Now a trophy hunter (or a hybrid) would approach it very differently (imo) and take the most efficient route to the plat. That's the difference I see which goes beyond numbers.

 

Of course I'm aware that's my subjective definition of it but it makes more sense to me.

Just playing Devils Advocate but what if that person just really likes VN's and Adventure games and how does the type of game they play make their efforts any less valid?

[Zolkovo]

14 minutes ago, majob said:

Just playing Devils Advocate but what if that person just really likes VN's and Adventure games and how does the type of game they play make their efforts any less valid?

 

Nothing wrong with it at all, fair play to them. But when it's all done in the space of three days with half of them being stacks it makes you wonder what the motive really was. Also that user seems to have removed themselves since I last checked 

 

I changed the example to a more suitable one in any case.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Zolkovo

[majob]

10 minutes ago, Zolkovo said:

 

Nothing wrong with it at all, fair play to them. But when it's all done in the space of three days with half of them being stacks it makes you wonder what the motive really was. Also that user seems to have removed themselves since I last checked  

Welp that says everything then ?

[Lum]

According to your definitions I would classify myself as a hybrid among the first three, but I think the general consensus would look at my trophy list and would consider me a completionist (trophy wise anyway), which I think of myself as well.

 

Depending on how much I enjoy a game, I may keep playing past the 100% trophy mark if I feel there's anything left I would want to do, even though there is clearly more that I could finish/attain/etc. So in a way I'm probably not a "true completionist" then to some people's standards. Even though this seems like I'm not experiencing all of what the game has to offer, this may not be a bad thing because this let's me move on to other games sooner (and lets face it, there are so many other games out there to experience with the limited time we have).

[crft555]

If you looked at my profile

I believe you would get a different opinion of what I am, to what I believe I am?

 

Anyone want to have a guess, before I state what I think?

[Zolkovo]

6 minutes ago, crft555 said:

If you looked at my profile

I believe you would get a different opinion of what I am, to what I believe I am?

 

Anyone want to have a guess, before I state what I think?

 

It's always difficult to say just based on someone's profile, which is kinda the underlying point of this thread. But if I were to hazard a guess it seems to me like you play any game that you find enjoyable until you don't

[Lum]

14 minutes ago, crft555 said:

If you looked at my profile

I believe you would get a different opinion of what I am, to what I believe I am?

 

Anyone want to have a guess, before I state what I think?

Casual with a hint of cross breed?