More on “achievements”.

In August, we commented on the achievement system as popularized by Microsoft’s XBox 360. In short: we hate it. Despite gamers the world-over loving these kinds of systems, from the 360 to World of Warcraft (WoW), we’re not alone in our distaste for what amounts to a “collect ‘em all” mentality. Wolfshead commented on the matter earlier today, noting that the way achievements are handled is just as poor as the achievements themselves.

For my part, I like MMOs that don’t insult my intelligence. The Achievement System lacks originality, imagination, context, harmony and cohesion. Blizzard would have done well to study Warhammer’s Tome of Knowledge for an example of an achievement system done right. Honestly, it just feels like it was retrofitted into the game with a hammer and nails.

That’s because it was retrofitted into the game in a sloppy manner, just as Blizzard applies band-aids to every other problem area of the game. Only in this case, a lack of achievements wasn’t a problem, only a perceived problem in light of Warhammer’s achievement system. God forbid WoW not have a feature a competitor sports.

Wolfshead is particularly right in regards to achievements, if handled at all, being left to the in-character world, rather than the out-of-character game engine. While achievements may keep addicted gamers subscribing, the completion of certain achievements should have a direct correlation on the respective characters world, even if the end result is more vanity items or other in-game aesthetic changes. In other words, the achievement system could directly support hardcore gamers, without making casual gamers feel like they’re missing out on something important. After all, these achievements really aren’t important, so why should the game declare them so obnoxiously?

Tagged as: design, gaming, mendax.org, mmogs