Addicted to Fake Achievement

[Kelthaz]

I came across an interesting article that tries to analyze the psychology of achievements in video games. It mainly focuses on RPGs, but the article still applies to other achievement based games such as everything on Facebook and achievement points. I find the article pretty interesting, but I'm not exactly the type of gamer he's talking about so I can't judge how accurate the article is. I'd appreciate some opinions on it.

Addicted to Fake Achievement

 

[CaptainStoner]

That was a very interesting read. I agree with the sentiment at the end - essentially to be aware of what you're taking in, and why you're doing it - but I don't agree with the soft and negative assessment of RPG's. For that author, that was the effect of RPG's on him. I think for other people it may be the other way around: the twitch game is easier, while the RPG is arcane and full of strategic elements.
I don't like an RPG that's too easy, though, and can see the danger of such a hollow experience. But a lot of RPG's are quite hard. Baldur's Gate and related games were not "easy", you had to really manage every strategic moment to get your party through. Jade Empire was too easy. Other games are balanced in one part and unbalanced in another.
It is good though to think about what we're doing with all of that screen time.

 

[SPCTRE]

^ I don't like the sweeping statements about the RPG genre either. Especially nowadays, difficulty levels are highly customizable (e.g. Mass Effect) - also, there is a wide variety of different approaches to RPG games - some more strategic, some more action oriented.

Of course, there are games that reward sheer grinding and facerolling on your keyboard (some of them extremely successful commercially, see: WoW), but Baldur's Gate is a good example for a challenging, hard-to-master RPG.

 

[firehawk12]

What a strange point to make, because he privileges the skill of an action game over that of an RPG. Most of it comes down to the fact that there is no physical challenge in playing an RPG, since they are much more passive, cerebral experiences. I can't say I disagree with that completely, but I wonder if he isn't just trading one form of positive reinforcement for another?

 

[FordSVT]

^ Pretty much. While he acknowledges that the skills learned playing action games are "useless", he seems to claim that they are more important than the desire to fully explore the territory or story of an RPG, for example.

This sounds like exactly the same argument I hear from World of Warcraft PvP snobs, that they "use their brains" while PvE'ers just "push buttons". All it amounts to in either case is a lot of practice and time wasting, and I enjoy both, so where does that leave me in his scheme? It's not like learning to shoryuken is learning to do open heart surgery, or hell, even throw a curve ball IRL. I like the Virtua Fighter series for God's sake, you can't get much more technical than that as far as playing video-games goes, and yet I spend a lot of free time playing WoW.

I think he has a point in there about the false sense of accomplishment that playing a game can bring a person. Some people play games because their real life is unfulfilling and the sense of achievement levelling up a character, unlocking 100% of a game, mastering a fighting move, or downing a new raid boss is hard to resist. But his argument is overshadowed by his attempts to legitimize his own tastes. It's like someone quitting drinking and then picking up a coke habit and claiming it's a better habit to have because it's easier to go about daily life high than drunk.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I hate to break it to the author, but all video game achievement is "fake achievement," unless you're getting paid or something. Really, what do you have when you've completed a video game? Pretty much just a sense of personal satisfaction without anything to show for it. Don't get me wrong, games are fun--the process of playing them is where you find the entertainment--but to say one kind of game encourages desirable thought processes while another kind encourages undesirable thought processes is a bit silly.

It's also way too broad of a statement to say that RPGs reward mindless grinding. Some do, some don't. It is a less and less common trend these days, though, as far as I have seen. And while I saw a few people lambasting WoW for buying into the gameplay format he is against, strenuous grinding in WoW is probably the least effective way to gain experience. Completing quests and participating in raids will raise your XP much faster--things that require more than a mere time investment, but rather skill and problem-solving abilities.

 

[FordSVT]

The fastest way to level in WoW at the moment is to do BGs and queue for instant dungeons while questing.

From what I've seen in Cataclysm, levelling from 0-60 at least is going to be a lot more streamlined, a lot less repetitive, and offer more in the line of storytelling. Killing 50 animals to get 20 pelts ten times is out. Check this out, for example, if you don't mind spoilers. STV is one of the least linear, biggest PITA zones there is.

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/26/cataclysm-beta-northern-stranglethorn-and-the-cape-of-stranglet/