Poll: Are achievements and trophies bad for gaming?

Since the late 2000s, achievements have become a staple of gaming. On Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, there’s an entire section dedicated to recording and showcasing the trophies you’ve amassed.

But developer Fredrik Thylander has stated that he believes achievements are bad for gaming. Thylander, a gameplay designer at Ubisoft Massive, previously designed achievements for Mirror’s Edge.

on Twitterhe posted the following: “Unpopular opinion: Achievements/trophies were bad for gameplay.

In conversation with other users, he explained his thoughts further. “I think games do better when they have their own unique reward structures as part of their design and philosophy,” he said saidand criticized the “One-size-fits-all mandate”

There are certainly arguments for both sides of this argument. Sometimes collecting achievements can be boring or downright tiresome. Other times, they may push you to explore a game and challenge yourself by playing differently than you normally would. And I love that pop up in the corner that tells me the game noticed I did something special when I thought it wasn’t anything remarkable at all!

So what do you think: are achievements and trophies bad for gaming?

To see this content, please enable targeting cookies.
Manage cookie settings