Hey everyone!

I was thinking about how PC gaming changed my perception of achievements today. After years of being a console player, I decided to move to PC as my main gaming platform recently and realized achievements don't really matter much to me anymore.

Back when I was more invested in the Xbox ecosystem, achievements felt like fun challenges (most of the time) that helped increase a game's playability. I'm usually more story-oriented, so my go-to difficulty level is "normal", but I've played games on harder difficulties, sometimes depriving myself from doing this or that in the game in order to bag multiple achievements at once and all that.

However, playing PC games I felt like I couldn't be bothered to put myself through that for Steam/GOG achievements. For instance, I'm playing The Bureau: Xcom declassified and while it is an interesting take on the xcom franchise, both from gameplay and storytelling perspectives, I kinda wanna be over with it soon, and I realized I missed doing a side mission that would cost me an achievement. Back in my console days, I'd put myself through it again to get it, but nowadays? Nah.

My guess is that Xbox achievements have some fanfare to them. A nice pop-up animation, a sound cue and a points system all collaborate to make it something attractive, not to mention having your friends' gamerscores being shown to you constantly, which stimulates competition. However, those things are absent from the PC experience.

So, what is your take on this? Anyone feels the same, or the opposite?

Half an hour ago I started a game to unlocked an achievement. But I didn't do it for the achievement... I just did it for the reward that comes with the achievement. (The Butcher as a pet in Diablo 3 - pets in games are almost as useless as achievements)

Achievements were always really kinda pointless to me. No matter if on PC or Xbox 360. Did they change anything about the Gamerscore since they introduced it? Is it good for anything now? Or are Xbox achievements still just an immersion breaking effect that raises a (useless?) number?

I don't know anything about GOG achievements, but on Steam they have pop ups for achievements too. They look rather boring compared to the ones from the Xbox, but they are there if you want. And they do sounds too, if I remember correctly (I turned them off). And isn't your Steam level tied to achievements? I really don't know, since I never visit my own profile...

not a console player here so maybe that may be why, but i have never enjoyed achievements, in fact I find the popup notifications annoying and game immersion breaking. I never check the list after a game is done, I do enjoy collectibles and finding those if that counts.

I was only ever a PC gamer, and I never gave a flying, swimming or bicycle riding fuck about achievements and consider them utterly ridiculous.

**** achievements.

I don't need a little circle or square to tell me I beat a game. I just beat the game. You want achievements? Beat a game, then write "You beat the game" on a sticky note and stick it to your monitor. Boom. Done. Same effect.

I've never really cared for achievements (meaning the "external" achievements that are usually provided by the game clients and services (like Steam and Galaxy) on top of the actual game, because to me such achievements appear kinda silly, in a way trying to make you do very specific things, just because.

Like in e.g. Portal, one achievement was about placing two portals so that you'd constantly drop between them so that your dropping speed would accelerate, and when it accelerated enough => achievement. It didn't have much of relevance to the rest of the game.

In-game "achievements" like different subquests or secondary objectives feel more integral to the games, and for them I care more. Usually they also give you some real bonuses within the game, like extra items or at least extra experience.

In online multiplayer games (like TeamFortress 2) I even hate the achievements (or "contracts" or whatever) because they seem to shift other team members' interest from team objectives to completely useless tasks, just so that they could reach some achievement. So people are not trying to defend the base or go capture the enemy flag because they are busy doing something silly like "kill five enemies by slapping them with your hand without dying in between". Meh.

I'm afraid I know very little about Steam achievements, but it seems to me they have no value whatsoever, but then again, I'm not entirely sure.
But your point about getting a pet in Diablo is a good one, it's somewhat meaningful to the game. Even though there are achievements tied to it, I'd be willing to go hunting for those audio diaries in Bioshock games (for example) not because of the achievements, but because they add something meaningful to the story, allowing the players to make sense of the world around them.

Nope, still feel they aren't for me,
Doesn't enhance the game/s that have had them or even extend the longevity.
Lost on me for sure...

The thing about the Diablo example is that the achievement isn't tied to the pet, but the pet is tied to the achievement xP You get the pet for getting the achievement (not an achievement for getting the pet). I know, it's hair splitting... But it tells a lot about how Blizzard sees achievements. They reward you for getting them instead of giving you achievements for getting certain rewards.

edit: by the way, this is the little sucker :P

I left consoles after Playstation 2 and achievements were not a thing by then.

Today, I sometimes catch myself "going back" to a game, but I never see them as a challenge, which means, if it takes big effort to get that achievement, I will leave it. Also the game has to be good! The last game (and probably first) where I wanted to get 100% of achievements was probably The Witcher 3 in 2016. I finished the second expansions for the second time and it was so good, that I went to GOG Galaxy, checked the achievements and went back into the game, to get all of them.

I also finished Cuphead on normal a week ago and love it,too. I saw that a few achievements were things like "find all hidden coins" or "buy all items in the shop", so I went back for 5 minutes and got them. I would probably NEVER play Cuphead again on HARD or play until I get S ranks in all bosses, just to get all achievements in the game.



So I would describe myself as: I don't care about them at all, except once a year, when a game is really good and I want to spend more time in it.

Haha that is awesome!

Apparently some of the achievements for The Witcher 3 are still broken on console from what I've heard, so I assume they work well on the PC!

Pretty much this.

Fuck 'em hard! ;)

I dislike achievements as much as anyone else, but I wonder what is it about them that makes us so passionately about not liking them?

You know, I'm actually surprised to learn there are people who actually hate achievements. I thought people either liked them or felt indifferent, but maybe it's because I've only experienced those two feelings about them haha