What is an achievement?

The number of words that are actively introduced into gaming slang 🎮 is steadily growing. Computer game lovers 💻 used some words more than a dozen years ago, and some appeared more recently. 💭 The word “Achievement” refers to the first, that is, to those that have appeared for a long time. 👆🏻 So, what is an achievement?

Achievements – what is it?

Achievement (from the English. achievements – achievement) – these are achievements, virtual rewards that players receive during the completion of certain tasks. For example, points, points or bonuses. Achievements increase the level of interest in the game.

Back in the 1980s, Avission began to reward its players with special patches or awards for completing various tasks. The tasks were very different, it could be a quick passage or taking pictures with some elements of the game.

Such an award was called “achievement”, translated from English “achievements” means “success”, “reward” or “achievement”.

Initially, in order to receive an achievement, the player had to complete certain tasks. But now the role of the achievement is to ensure that the players get to know the game world as much as possible. That is, they are used mainly to arouse interest in the game.

What’s good about achievements?

Now we can talk about why players think that achievements are very cool.

Let’s start with the fact that achievements are everywhere, both on PC and on consoles, in all games they perform approximately the same role. In principle, in each game, achievements are now called sets of specific goals, as well as achievements that players can somehow get during the game.

To get achievements, the player needs to persistently move towards the goal, go through all the stages of the game step by step.

In practice, achievements are used for completely different purposes, they are awarded for the formation of the necessary behavior, as well as for completing additional quests, for training, and much more. Achievements that are used in practice contain very important information and can tell a lot about the user profile.

With their help, you can not only speed up the transfer of information about the user, but also set certain goals, as well as indicate the criteria for achieving these goals.

Achievement system

First of all, you should use the achievement system, which will please with its diversity. There are no mandatory settings for the achievement system, each developer himself comes up with what to add and what variety to make. The number of achievements usually depends on the scale of the game adventure and can even exceed the number of 100 pieces.

Service record

Initially, achievements (achievements) were available exclusively on game consoles. Only after the emergence of the global online video game store Steam, the achievement system began to flow into the global component on the PC. By the way, earlier individual games had their own achievements, although they could only be viewed inside the game and only personal achievements. Now the achievement system is a public domain and each user can get acquainted with each achievement and then demonstrate their progress.

Don’t worry, the progression system has become commonplace and appears in almost every game, so everyone has the opportunity to set goals for themselves and strive for them.

Is it necessary to fulfill the requirements for the achievement?

In fact, achievements are not a mandatory element and are performed only at will, however, this is a great way to test your skills. In any case, achievements are in fact an additional motivation for fully exploring the game and setting new tasks. Thanks to achievements, it becomes possible to carefully examine everything and get to know all aspects of the game in more detail. At the same time, the progression system is constantly evolving, but so far in terms of visual display. As for any awards and other things, this is not yet provided.

Achievements (achievements) are a great reason to return to the game again and find all those places that were previously missed. After all, not every user quickly passes the game, but wants to learn more about every aspect of the gaming universe.

Achievement

Achievement – comes from the English word achievements, which means reward, success. What is an achievment? These are achievements obtained in the course of completing certain tasks for which prizes or bonuses are given.

This term first appeared back in the 1980s, when Avission gave its players patches for various tasks: photographing with elements of the game, fast passing, etc. Now the primary role of an achievement is to introduce you to the game world in more detail .

There is a whole system of achievements in games, and the total number is rarely less than 100. All of them are located in a separate tab, the so-called achievement list, which lists what exactly needs to be done for this or that achievement.

Usually you can get achievements for the following actions:

• Passage of quests of the main or side lines;
• Completing daily or time-related tasks;
• Participation in guild events;
• Passage of dungeons at different difficulty levels;
• Collecting resources, raising the level of professions, creating things or strengthening equipment;
• Destruction of world bosses or a certain number of mobs;
• Participation in mass events, battles;
• Dominance in the game, such as getting the highest level among your class.

There are also more non-standard tasks for obtaining achievements: reading books, searching for hidden objects, learning skills, etc.

The main motivation for getting them is, of course, awards. Such bonuses are very useful and varied. Consumable items for sharpening equipment, jewelry, pets, clothing styles, etc. You can get not only the necessary things, but also titles that increase the characteristics of the characters. There are systems where points (achievement points) are accumulated, which are then spent on something necessary for the character. Some achievements will be useful for unlocking important parameters or skills.

You can often find ratings for the number of achievements, and players on the top lines are rewarded with very good things.

Achievement in the game performs different functions. It can guide you through the main points of the new player’s gameplay, becoming a kind of training guide. Achievements are also attractive because of their “status” – the harder they are to get, the more admiration will be from other gamers.

Examples

“Do you get a title for this achievement?”

“The achievement can only be obtained for completing this dungeon in hard mode”

“I still need a few more wins for the achievement”

Training and motivation

At the very beginning of the game, an achievement can serve as a signal “you are doing everything right” and support the player. You have probably seen games where the right actions are reinforced during the period of the first or second gaming session with rewards. So the user knows that he is not only doing something right, but also moving along the progress bar.

Additionally, when receiving an achievement, our user goes to look at the achievement list. The achievement list at this moment is still the same source of information about how to behave in the game – what is good, what should be strived for and how it all works.

Another important thing is that the game is a little harder to quit when you have achieved something there. That is why, after the first game session, the achievement list is sometimes clogged by a quarter: the game designer tries to create in the player the feeling of work begun, serious success and, in some places, wild luck. Just so that the second time a person enters the game with the thought of how cool he is doing. And here we can expect an unpleasant manipulation, followed by a sharp increase in complexity and an attempt to shake off donations.

The easiest way to learn is through achievements like “First Online Game” or “Five Online Wins”. If taking them gives any bonuses in the single player campaign, the player will go and play online. And, with some probability, he will get involved: the game “forced” him to play five matches and try out this mode.

New strategies

Deepening the gaming experience is the opportunity to perceive new situations and styles of play. Often players get stuck on a style that suits them, and in order to show them other possibilities of the game, you need to change their mindset a bit. Accordingly, there are achievements that require a radical change in the player’s behavior pattern to be taken. For example, FTL:

To get this profile icon, you basically need to defeat an enemy ship by depriving it of oxygen. Nearby there is an achievement for the landing of the whole team – when there is no one left on your ship, and so on. Each of them is a separate game game with a new approach to strategy.

Quest

A very important achievement function is the creation of a new in-game quest. In fact, this is another task, only a little non-standard. Here is an example from Portal:

And here is an equally wonderful quest from Galaxy on Fire:

Such achievements are really alive: in fact, for those who have already completed the game and tried everything there, they give a good reason to play again. In sandbox games, they also create quests for those who can’t just walk around the world and explore.

Simpler meta-quests like “collect 100 stars” also give an increase in replay value, but, you see, are not so interesting.

New experience

Almost the same as learning a new strategy, only the task is different – to increase replayability. Here is an example:

Rarely any of the players will fly to the battle with such a team. And then you have to not only collect four cyber soldiers, but also fly out as a truncated team, without psionics, without snipers, and in general somehow differently. New experience as it is.

Social Definition

If achievements are open to other players, then they play the role of a kind of signs on clothes, such shoulder straps and medals. You can quickly and easily understand what kind of person you met. Again, on Habré it is very easy to distinguish “old-timers” thanks to the corresponding achievement.

Only hardcore

Often the most hardcore achievements make you play the game again, literally creating a new level of difficulty.

Here is Deus Ex:

If the Tin difficulty level was created without Praxis, players would most likely perceive it worse than the achievement. The fact is that in the first case of the level, the game drives you into the framework and forces you to do something, and in the case of achievement, you limit yourself and achieve victory beautifully, wildly overcoming. You are cool, nothing else.

Monetization

What is not very pleasant, an achievement can often serve the purpose of monetization. For example, if a player who has gone through everything without throwing money into the game has the entire list of achievements for 56 points, but lacks one last 57th, he will probably want it. And the 57th is designed in such a way that you can get it only by doing something that is not without a donation – and you will have to pay at least 1 additional dollar. This is still divine, but there are also tougher examples, designed mainly for the child’s psyche:

Achievements in real life

Of course, achievements are used not only in games. More precisely, they are one of the strongest tools for gamification of ordinary processes. You may know the swarm achievement, which is given in 4sq. It is quite rare, and requires the simultaneous action of many people. So, several advertising campaigns were built on it. The simplest – “Come to our restaurant for a holiday – and at the same time get the swarm achievement.”

Of course, there were achievements in the production system, in particular, in the USSR. “Employee of the Month”, “Drummer of Labor”, “20 discs per shift”, “Stakhanovite” – this is a good motivation for employees (but only if implemented correctly). The definition of a “badge” corresponds very closely to an achievement – this is an award that is not an order or medal. Here is an example from Wiki (for those who don’t know, it was an important agricultural crop with industrial value):

Experiments were carried out with the achievements “careful driver”, “exemplary citizen” and others – they, again, simulate the desired behavior. For the sake of achievement, the driver will become more accurate: for him, this is a kind of bet.

In real life, mechanics are used for various loyalty programs. For example, golden airline cards are also a kind of achievement.

And here is a more transparent example:

There is also training, and setting the image, and demonstrating that normal people travel by plane more often. Or – praise you for being a tough traveler when the scale reaches the right side.

In our practice, there are no achievements in the board games themselves due to the genre. You don’t get a medal for yourself. We tried to experiment a little in business, thinking about issuing special badges for certain quests, allowing you to learn more effectively. An example is the first time I sold to a spammer who called CC, survived the New Year, participated in the rescue of a flooded warehouse, and so on. In general, the topic may be interesting, but for now we put it aside, everything is painfully glossy and corporate. But this definitely worked: in the production of advertising there was a bonus for a series of orders without jambs and delays. As far as I remember, the best “dry series” was three months without one day.

When you play this kind of bet, the material reward itself is of course important, but the motivation generated by the “argument” is even more important.

And finally, an example on the lift:

The main thing here is that on the 6501st day the men do not relax. After 17 years of waiting.

Conclusion

So, as you understand, achievements in the game denote special achievements, and also mark a certain progress of the player. That is, they are issued when performing certain tasks and are used to a greater extent in order to arouse the user’s special interest in the game.