Poll: How Important Are Achievements To You In Xbox Games?

I love achievements, It gives you that feel of accomplishment when you beat a certain level or beat a special boss fight or finding all collectibles..

There are many times when getting every last one isn't worth the effort, but if I am enjoying a game, having that set challenge to take on can give me more reason to keep playing beyond a more natural stopping point, or to attempt to play a game in a different way than I would otherwise had done.

Dead Space being a great example. I would normally have just played it once or twice on an easier setting, but the hardcore mode and the plasma cutter run gave me reason to replay it again a few more times. Extending the life of the game and adding to the value, and I have those little trinkets to show I did the thing.

I like that they are basically little high fives and netting a rare achievement feels great. Being close to an achievement has kept me playing after I was done with a game, or given me an excuse to do a NG+.

With that said I never really try to get 100% and don't care that didn't get them all.

Achievements used to be that - an achievement: They were hard to get and were worthy of schoolyard bragging.

These days, they are handed out for basically getting through the tutorial. They don't mean anything anymore.

Achievements are a cool thing when you love the game and want to continue playing beyond just finishing the game. Some games, ex: Burnout Paradise, as just a perfect fit for them. That being said, it's not "live or die" when it comes to achievements for me.
I would love to see Nintendo come with their own Achievement/Trophy system but it is not a deal breaker for me.

I've always preferred achievements over trophies simply because they count towards a total. A bronze trophy isn't really worth getting on its own, while 10 G will always increase my total gamerscore. It's just a more satisfying system and why having achievements will a lot of times have me choosing the Xbox version over the rest. It also works the other way around; if the achievement list is basically impossible then I'm less likely to play the game unless I'm really interested in it. Achievements definitely help motivate me to try out as many different titles as possible.

For me, if an achievement adds to a game in a meaningful way, I love them. If they just seem like padded on content, I ignore them. I do enjoy having something a little extra to do in the game besides just playing through it though. And the ding of an achievement is always a satisfying sound.

I've switched off all notifications for achievements in my Xbox. I play how I want to play. I used to like chasing the trophies and points but then realised I was playing the game in an arbitrary way rather than playing it how I wanted to play it.
I get why people enjoy them and it's great the option is there to turn them essentially off for those who don't.

They help add a sense of achievement in a game, they also help add to the replayability, that just another go mindset in order to pick-up that achievement you just keep missing out on..
I don't feel the need to get every last one from each game though...

The ''I don't care'' option

I used to be an achievement hunter back in the early 360 days. Once I hit.about 80k or 90k I slowed down big time. I've probably made 10k or less for the entire Xbox One gen. And even then most of them are either Xbox games on PC or Halo MCC

I love achievements; but I also love the fact you can go back to any game and see when you accomplished something; e.g. completing the game. So it’s all the stats that come with achievements.

I would love to go back to something like Mario 64 and see the date of the first time I completed it.

I can go back all the way to Jan 2006 and see when I completed Perfect Dark Zero or Kameo; and everything after that.

Anyone interested in their statistics for Achievements should visit TrueAchievements (other sites are of course available).

Stats for 2020 so far:

I have never been fussed with achievements or trophies not got the time. Just a little bonus when I get one!

Love them personally! Though I'm more into trophies which are the same thing but I love the game within a game of getting them. Some can sof course be a pain but I enjoy the concept of them overall.

For the second question, I've unlocked every one in a game 90+ times.

Kinda neutral on achievements to be honest. But I love how they are integrated into the Microsoft Rewards stuff. At that point, they are paying me money to go play and game hunt for achievements which has actually been an awesome experience.

I like them but it depends on the game. I'll try to play a game naturally the first time through. Sometimes I'll go out of my way for an achievement if it looks like it would be fun but I don't let them become more important than enjoying the story.

After beating the game though, if I loved the game enough to play it again at a later date then I'll pick a few more achievements to go for just to change up the playthrough a little bit. Sometimes if I like the game enough I try to 100% it.

but grindy achievements like buy all x, or do this thing 1000 x are just terrible if the only reward is the achievement. bleagh.

Of course i like achievements but i don't focus on them everytime.
It depend on the game and if i want to do it most of the time.

I love achievements.

Back in the early 360 days (when I used a different gamertag), I used to be more of a completionist.

Now I just get the ones I can have fun getting & skip the big grindy ones or ones that try to force me to play the game in way I have no interest in.

As somebody who has only recently returned to the Xbox family (I “mained” PS4 this gen) I’ve honestly been using achievements as a massive case of nostalgia.

Being able to log back into my old 360 account and looking at the achievements and the dates of when I unlocked them, it’s been nice haha I replayed Fable 2 recently and looked at when I unlocked the achievements “2009?! Wow, what was I doing in 2009?” So it’s had a new layer recently for me

Other than that, sure I love achievements - I’m not a massive obsessive, I’ve got about 4 platinum trophies and about 2 full 1000’s. I second the notion of achievements that make you play the game in a way you normally wouldn’t, or achievements that are tied to trying a certain move/skill. It’s just a nice little bonus.

@Hippy_Pirate_89 exactly - I think that is such a cool thing to be able to do. Go back and look at your history. So even if someone doesn’t care about achievements themselves (or gamerscore), there are still other benefits to it.

My relationship with achievements is complicated.

Sometimes I get obsessed with them, even if truth is I dont care for them. I have this thing with checklists... I feel I must clear every item on the list. And that is what achievements look like to me.

There been games I have completely thrown aside, even if they were otherwise fun, due to achievements that were too hard to acquire. I particularly detest "hard difficulty" achievements. Some games I get good at, enough that I can pursue them, but then there are FPS that I suck at...

Anyways, I would prefer if achievements didn't exist at all, but they exist, and I will waste so many hours pursuing them because I cant help it...

The first time I “earned” an achievement for doing some mundane thing, I was both confused and deeply annoyed.

@robr same. Very patronising I think.

I’ll check for any missable achievements first and aim for them during my play but I tend to enjoy the game then if i enjoyed it I’ll go back to clean the rest up.
I don’t buy games specifically for an easy 100% in achievements but if that game happens to look interesting I’ll check it out.

My main focus for gaming is my switch anyway as i travel for work a lot and also enjoy gaming in peace

If I really love a game and feel it's given me a great experience then I try to reward it by collection all achievements. Other games I'm happy to scoop up what I can but won't bust a gut for 100% (unless it's stupidly easy ones). Either way its just nice to see the gamerscore rise over the years with whatever achievements I manage to pick up.