What do achievements achieve?

[Rolf N]

Strictly in a business sense. What does having achievements mean for the platform holder and for game publishers?

As I understand it achievements on the 360 reward players for doing basically the kind of thing we use the "replay value" moniker for. I.e. beat the high-score, play certain levels very well, be fast, find all the secrets, spend time with different game modes etc. You get points for being a completionist and can later exchange them for goodies.

Assuming that the player takes that bait, what does this mean for the game? Actually we should consider several spheres of interest, namely the development team, the publisher, perhaps the whole platform and of course the multiverse as a whole

Obviously, people play the game longer, because there is still incentive to play on even after the ending has been seen.
And this is my point. It spins both ways IMO.
+ The game sticks in mind longer. Owners will probably talk about it more on the intarwebs or their secret geek friends, which constitutes free advertising.

- The game keeps you busy longer. They will not play as many different games, which means potentially less sales overall (not of the game, but of other games, from the same publisher or not).

What weighs more and for whom? Who benefits (or who doesn't), and in which way?
Please share your thoughts. It seems inevitable that some of us will wonder if and how achievements should be imitated by other companies, but for this topic IMO there's no need to mention certain other platforms and I'd like to ask that you please refrain. I know I will

 

[nintenho]

I think Microsoft forces games to have achievements. some are just easy to tack on but some games are harder. at the end it's just showing off and you look to see what games you could get the easiest achievements from. At least for me.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Actually, its entirely up to the the developer (or publisher) as to how the Achiements are dished out - some merely give you the achiements for playing through and completing the game, which you are likely to do anyway, others (such as in sports games) can be done by getting certain combinations of things that you may never do playing the game normally (and getting those combos can be done quite quickly in certain cases). So, dependant on how its implemented, it doesn't necessarily relate to longer lasting gameplay (if you are shooting for the achiements).

One obvious, but slightly sly, benefit, is to make the achievements a little easier to get on some not-so-great games and that will certainly gain notoriety amongst the achievement hunters and raise its profile a little.

A lot of games appear to tag achiements to playing online, however the benefit here appear to be going to MS (unless MS give some payback to the developers whose games are used more on live).

(Speaking as someone that has a little knowledge on achievements! )

 

[Crayon]

To me it's just an easy, creative way to take advantage of the network infrastructure to improve teh product. Simple as that.

 

[Liberty City King]

I believe that achievements can work as a great sale closing tool in some instances.

The main reason for such role is that once a gamer "jump in" the achievements bandwagon he/she can constantly check on "compare games' and realize what games his friends have been playing. For some it's a huge factor in deciding wich game to get next.

I believe the process goes like this:

1. Gamer check on his/her friend's achievement points
2. Gamer realize friend has more/less points than him/her.
3. Gamer go to investigate why so much/so little by "compare games"
4. Gamer find out that friend has a lot of A.P. on a game that he/she don't have OR that friend doesn't have a game that gamer is really into and got a lot of A.P. from..
5. Next time gamer talks to friend ask about/tell about the game that gamer don't have/friend don't have.
6. A decision about the purchase is made either by the gamer or the friend right here: Either cause of good impressions about the single player were communicated, because of easy A.P. (for some A.P. is an ego issue that has a major role in the community values), to play MP with friend.

Of course regular advertising and publicity obtained on sites and magazine by release of pics, previews, reviews is the main force driving the interest on the title.

That's only one of the free gifts that achievements give to publishers.

Another is when an achievement is too hard to get, it's generate post, messages, communications between gamers to "solve the puzzle". Besides keeping the awareness of the title on forums and to individual it's free publicity by the best media:mouth to mouth.

Another one is that when well done achievements tease you to try the game in deep like giving 20-40% of the 1000 average A.P. to playing on the hard mode or any ohter mode different that the one that the player usually tries. This can generate more time on the "John Doe is playing "Game X" on your friends list wich is also free publicity.

Take my example. I rented Tomb Raider. I enjoyed the game but it was fairly short and I didn't fall in love with it. If was not for the achievements I would be done with the game. BUT...

I saw that I got almost 500 A.P. for finishing on medium dificulty and that the game was fairly easy on that mode. Completing it on hard would give me another ~200, getting all idols required some ~100 and completing the game on time trial another ~200. Because of the achievements I kept playing the game for another month to get all 1000 points and actually fell in love with it as I deep explored it to get the points.

Several people on my friends lists sent me messages and asked me on MP chat why I was playing TR that much (they were seeing my tag on their friends list saying "playing Tomb Raider...") and I told them how I was in love with the game on my quest for the 1000 A.P. One of my friends bought the game as result of my impressions on it AFTER finishing and going for the 1000 A.P. Touché!

Another one is NBA 2K6. I would never buy an NBA Game as I'm not fan of the sport. I got a copy purely to get the easy 1000 A.P. and actually liked the game! I'm now totally decided on getting NBA 2K7 on the lauch, thanks to the love to the series I developed 'by accident" on my quest for easy 1000 A.P.

I think Achievements can be an excelent tool for publishers when well used and can be used to match the marketing plan for each title.

 

[Dave Baumann]

For the platform case, one is very easy: its another hook to get software sales on the platform. If a user (that gives some kind of a shit about the achievements) has multiple systems then having achiements in a title may make them more willing to to opt for the version of a multiplatform title that they already have the most achiements in.

 

[Powderkeg]

Achievements and Gamerscore go hand in hand. While Achievements themselves don't mean much to most gamers, the attached Gamerscore means a lot.

Basically a certian percentage of the population is very competative with their fellow man. This group will compete in just about anything. If you give them a score and some sort of leaderboard they will do everything they can to rise as high as they can. This is what Gamerscore is for. To get those competative people to spend a LOT more money than they normally would have in order to compete with other gamers for the highest Gamerscore.

Without the Gamerscore attachment Achievements don't mean much. Just another unlockable in the game, no different from all of the other unlockables. It's the Gamerscore attachment that makes them special.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

All of these are great points. It is a marketing tool and it's fun, so consumers buy into it. Personally I love it.

 

[Inane_Dork]

1) It makes every game part of a real life RPG (levelling, you see).
2) It makes the press a little more accountable.

 

[PiNkY]

1) It makes every game part of a real life RPG (levelling, you see).
2) It makes the press a little more accountable.

So, what level are you in real live?

 

[Rangers]

Achievements and Gamerscore go hand in hand. While Achievements themselves don't mean much to most gamers, the attached Gamerscore means a lot.

Basically a certian percentage of the population is very competative with their fellow man. This group will compete in just about anything. If you give them a score and some sort of leaderboard they will do everything they can to rise as high as they can. This is what Gamerscore is for. To get those competative people to spend a LOT more money than they normally would have in order to compete with other gamers for the highest Gamerscore.

Without the Gamerscore attachment Achievements don't mean much. Just another unlockable in the game, no different from all of the other unlockables. It's the Gamerscore attachment that makes them special.

This seems to go without saying but I suppose some not familiar with achievements may not realize it. Basically your gamercard that is the quick little synopsis of you on XBL happens to have this big number on it called gamerscore. It is the sum of your achievements points. If you have 100 and the next guy has 10,000, well, it's going to be assumed he's a lot better gamer than you right or wrong. So you're going to set about trying to raise your own number.

In a way I think achievement points were brilliant guerilla marketing. It caught on organically. It wasn't something I thought about. Then you start playing games and see hey, my points went up for doing that. I want even more points now. It just happens naturally.

Lately I have become anti-achievement points though. The basic fact is they make you play games differently than you normally would (to accomplish the specific tasks that get the points) and I dont know if I like that idea. For example, SF2 on XBlive. You get points for simply playing one match with every different character. Well, normally I would not play with all twelve characters. But I probably will do that now to get the points. You see easily how it changes how you play the games.

Regardless, it caught on so organically there's little doubt in my mind Sony and Nintendo will copy the concept immediatly now. So looks like we'll see more of it in the future. It doesn't make them any more money but I guess it is just a competitive advantage type thing for one. It's just something cool and if you have it and the other "guy" doesn't..


"You get points for being a completionist and can later exchange them for goodies."

I think you misunderstand this..as far as I know achievement points have no monetary value.
________
Laguna Bay II Condominium

 

[Powderkeg]

"You get points for being a completionist and can later exchange them for goodies."

I think you misunderstand this..as far as I know achievement points have no monetary value.

That is correct. Gamerscore means nothing other than bragging rights.

 

[SirTendeth]

It would be interesting to know if developers have begun using them as a way to judge the difficulty of future titles.

If a game has a low percentage of its consumers utilising side quests or even completing the main quest they could offer options in the future to provide a better experince.

All from information relayed by achievements. I think it would be beneficial to most consumers. What do you think?