Do you care about achievements or leaderboards?

Share your perspective. Keep it thoughtful, welcoming and on topic.

1. I care a lot about completing games 100%, but I'm okay with just seeing it on the screen. If I want my friends to see how bad my OCD is, I can continue doing what I've done for the last 30 years and take a picture of the screen.

   But I've been playing games since before most gamers were born, so I'm probably not typical. Gaming is social now, as in "social networking", and Nintendo needs to acknowledge that.

2. Well…yes, actually. I like seeing all the ridiculously high scores. XD

3. Leaderboards are good for adding replay value, achievements on the other hand are just silly, and the cross game gamerscore is totally asinine.

4. i like them both, adds some competition between you and your freinds, can see how there doin and achievements add to replay value and are fun to find accidentally =)

5. I kind of like them in the moment, but don't care much about them long term.

   For achievements, I like to see the messages that pop up in some games to announce because they show my progress through the game and that tell me that I'm doing it right, but I usually forget about them a few minutes after seeing the announcement.

   For scoreboards. Well I usually am really bad at the kinds of games that have scores. If I'm playing something like one of the weekly tournaments in MarioKart, I like to see when my Mii pops up near the middle of the crowd on the leader board. At least I don't totally suck at it. But beyond that, I usually just play to better my own score

6. I know most people, especially critics, give knocks on games for not having an on-line leaderboard system if it doesn't have on-line playability. Though I'm not a fan of it.

   I bust my ass to get 50,000 in a game only to find out that someone's got 300,000,000. That's not an indication to me to keep playing a game to improve my score, but rather to pack it up and stow it somewhere since I'm obviously missing something.

7. It would be nice if you could have custom leaderboards with your friends.

8. I'm one of those people who will openly say that I think video games are better off without achievements or leaderboards. I think that the existence of those two things is a large part of the reason why the concept of "friendly competition" mostly doesn't exist in online play anymore, and they reason why people take it much more seriously then they should. Games are meant to be fun, relaxing, and enjoyable, and instead I often see people screaming, yelling, and getting overly worked up over games, mostly because of their public to view win-loss-ratio. I'm not old enough to say for sure, but I've heard that in general online play was much more fun and in general had a much better atmosphere before the first implementation of leaderboards.

   Although admittedly I play so few online games, that my opinion may not really hold all that much weight, just throwing out observations of mine.

9. I'd like to see facebook tie in.

10. I used to care alot about achievements when I first got my 360, but then they fell by the wayside. I will go after some if the description sounds like it would be fun to pull off, or provide a good challenge.

    However, I love leaderboards. Simply because my friends and I are always in competition for that number 1 spot.

11. I like achievements when they actually unlock something and not just points that make your e-penis bigger, like in Super Smash Bros. or Kirby's Air Ride.

12. I love leaderboards, because that's something you can see just how good you are ranked and you can improve. Achievements just says you played every inch of a game and got the same exact thign as everyone else

13. So, if we add up the yes answers does that mean people prefer leaderboards and/or achievements over those who said no?

14. You forgot the poll option for "I hate achievements".
    There are two reasons I don't like them. One is that they interrupt the game, particularly ones with stories that might actually convey some emotion. Do I really need to be reminded with a pop-up that I just killed the evil dark lord and saved the world? I think saving the world should provide enough satisfaction.
    [You just read a paragraph and earned 50 points. Congratulations!]
    And second, I always enjoy playing my games to 100% completion. But ever since the introduction of "Achievements", that has become much harder, and usually requires you to accomplish ridiculously pointless tasks, like killing 500 henchmen. Who the heck cares if anybody kills 500 henchmen? It doesn't make the game more fun, and since I'll probably never do it, I'll never get to see the game be 100% complete.

15. Trophies are great

16. Have no idea what either are. I have only played SSBB online (and that briefly), so that might have something to do with it.

    Maybe I would like them but I doubt it. What do I know. I have only been gaming since the early eighties.

17. Trophies have made me realize that I DO like to 100% my games and I really get mad when a glitched trophy or a really broken game get in my way…

18. @BlueRocks Trophies and Achievements aren't just in online games.

19. I have to confess that Achievements are what keeps me going back to my Xbox games… they give me a false sense of accomplishment!

    Also, they give me nice suggestions as to what kind of crazy stunts you can do in some of the games if you have the time and inclination…

20. Wow, I guess my stance on leaderboards is by far the minority. You new school gamers these days. Back in the day, all we needed a high score to keep up replaying something!

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