How I Learned to Stop Complaining and Love the Achievement

No, seriously, you can earn an achievement for anything.

When I was first introduced to the Xbox 360, one of the first things I noticed (aside from the jump in graphics quality and the sheer size of the console) was the weird pop-up that would blare across the screen telling me that I completed some menial task:

"Okay, let me start this game.  Where's the start button? Oh, here it is..."
*DING* "Achievement unlocked! You pressed start to play!
"What was that? Ok, I guess I'll watch this intro video here..."
*DING* "Achievement unlocked! You watched the intro movie!"
"Really? Ok, now let me figure out these controls on this massive controller.  Oh, cool, pop-ups with instructions.  Press A to..."
*DING* "Achievement unlocked! You jumped!"
"What the hell!?" *throws controller against wall*
*DING* "Achievement unlocked! You broke a..."
*smashes the Xbox 360*

Perhaps it didn't quite go like that, but that's how it felt.  I didn't see a necessity for these achievements, and I failed to understand why people would try to earn as many of these as possible.  I recall message board threads listing games with easily unlockable achievements and the amount of Gamerscore points up for grabs.  Why anyone would buy or rent a terrible game just to get 1,000G in two minutes was beyond my understanding of the current state of the video game industry.

That was, until I became one of those people.

Once I finally bought a PC powerful enough to play newly released games, one of the first things I did was install Steam.  I wasn't long until I went crazy during their summer sale (which should be coming up again very soon) and bought some cheap games.  Alongside both the summer and winter sales, Steam also ran a contest where you could gain additional entries by earning certain achievements in games.  While I never bought a game outright just to earn an achievement, I found myself finally installing some of the games from the various indie bundles so I could get the associated achievement.  Most of those games I haven't played since, but at least it game me a reason to try them out.  (And depending on the difficulty/length of time required to get the achievement, I didn't bother to get some of them if I didn't particularly like the game so far.)

I'm in favor of achievements in games where completing a certain task can earn you bragging rights.  Sure, back when the original Final Fantasy was released on the NES you could easily tell your friends that you defeated Warmech, but aside from your friends witnessing it firsthand or you recording it, you had no proof of your achievement.  Later games in the series had the superbosses drop an exclusive item as a trophy, so the achievement can be seen as a successor to that system.

Another area where I see the benefit of achievements is in open-ended games like Skyrim.  In looking at a player's profile, you can see a summary of that person's play style and their journey through the game.  Here's what my list of Skyrim achievements say about how I played the game:

• I decided to join the Companions, College of Winterhold, and Thieves Guild, but thought I was too good for the Dark Brotherhood.
• I took a side in the Civil War instead of remaining neutral.
• I never completed the main quest line and instead opted for side quests and miscellaneous objectives.
• I bought a house and eloped with an NPC.
• I ransacked 50 dungeons and filled in 100 locations on my map.
• I read 50 skill books and got at least one of my skills up to level 100.
• I fell under the influence of the Daedric Princes and acquired some of their artifacts.
• I Fus Ro Dah'ed at least 20 dragons and absorbed their souls.
• I put enough hours into the game where I reached level 50.
• I never had to escape from jail and I don't hoard all of my gold.

While I started out as an opponent to the idea of earning achievements, in the past year I've grown to embrace it.  From showing that I finally completed "Odyssey" in BIT.TRIP RUNNER to successfully getting that basketball in the hoop for a secret achievement in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, achievements offer that little extra goal to reach in a game beyond simply defeating the final boss, regardless of the points it adds to your Gamerscore.

Image template credit to Timon1771 at Deviant Art.