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Achievements and the Overjustification Effect [roundtable]
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I just came across this article, and it made me think of achievements in games (partly because it says "Achievement Unlocked" at the end). I think it shows really well how achievements could ruin gaming for some people. I can see how it's had an effect on me. When I'm planning on picking up a game that got mediocre reviews, it's easy for me to justify it because, even if the game sucks, I can increase my gamerscore. But if that game is on the Wii or DS, I don't have the gamerscore incenctive. The only incentive I have is if the game's story is really good or if it's a game that truly require skill to beat. When I think of the BIT.TRIP games or Rhythm Heaven, achievements aren't even a concern. I just want to master the game. Just look at someone like Greg Miller- nine times out of ten, if a game doesn't have trophies, he won't play it. Extrinsic rewards have completely changed the way he goes about his favorite hobby. One time on an episode of GameScoop, Daemon Hatfield said, "With no achievements, playing Wii games just isn't rewarding." It could just be Daemon being Daemon, but it's still scary. So, what do you think? Will there come a time when any game that doesn't have achievements is doomed? What's the most rewarding part of playing games to you? URL to share (right click and copy)
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12/23/11, 02:20 |
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I like the idea of them -- to an extent.
The fact that people will play/rent a game SOLELY because they can pick up some credit or something is mindblowing. Can you imagine if they had "life achievements," and people ONLY went to the Dentist or something to get credit for it? Or "you unlocked 'Tax Master'" or "you just ate at Denny's!" Its weird.
And the fact that games are AVOIDED because they don't have these scores is even more jarring. Ok, are you playing the games, or are you playing "increase my gamerscore?"
There is a side effect to achievement type things, too. There are things like this in the newest Madden game (keep reading, the fact that its football matters not). Hey, I like these things (to an extent, remember?), so trying to achieve them while playing the game isn't so bad. You get them for making 25 completions, or returning an interception for a touchdown, things like that. The one I've been working on for the past few weeks in my season has been "Put the team on your back," where you have to run for 250 yards with your running back. 250 yards is A LOT. So, through this, while trying to run as much as I can (as opposed to passing), my scores have dropped, 1st downs come much harder, and I almost lost (I'm currently undefeated). Furthermore, my once ranked #1 offense has sunk to 5th in the league. Had I been playing the game how I was, averaging about 100 rushing, 300 passing yards, I'd be #1 in the league for sure.
So yeah, an ancillary mission has actually controlled my primary objective. Frightening. |
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@Mr_MustacheAre you having as much fun as you did before you went for the achievements? Guillaume said:The gist of what I got is that a reward in itself shouldn't change the enjoyment you get for doing something you love, but the expectation of the reward would. But the effect wouldn't be to turn you into a reward whore. It would instead turn you off that task. But you'd be turned off by games with no achievements before being turned off by games with achievements. Eventually, you'd only play games that you could get intrinsic value from to avoid getting burned- but since you can't tell whether you'll get intrinsic value from a game until you play it, you'd just have to go based on reviews. Basically what I'm saying is that gamers would start being even MORE cautious when it comes to playing games that score belong a 9. Guillaume said:I think I'm more interested in what this means for more valuable rewards than a gamer score. For instance, does knowing that there are unlockable levels in a Mario game make the task of getting all the star coins less fun than the task would be otherwise? Would the secret levels being entirely unexpected (and at this point, they can't be, we just expect that out of Mario) something that would make the game more fun to play? Maybe. If there's no known reward for completeing a really hard challenge, less people will go for it, making the people that do go for it feel all the more badass once they get it. If there was an unlockable World 4 in BIT.TRIP RUNNER for getting all !!s, I'm sure a ton more people would have tried to perfect every level. Would you have felt as god-like for perfecting the game if you knew that everyone else had done the same thing? Guillaume said:I'm fairly convinced that I play the games I play in the way I play them, because I genuinely enjoy it. Right, you get intrinsic value out of them. |
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