Achievements

I never used to be much of one for collecting achievements or trophies in games. That just seemed like one of those impossible feats that some people out there like to do because it makes them feel better about themselves or something. Hell, the first game I ever got a platinum trophy on (which you get by gaining every other trophy the game has to offer), I did so on accident, just by trying to play the game as it was and unlock everything in it. It was really easy, especially compared to the difficulty of platinuming some other games.

I think it was the second game that I platinumed that really pushed me over the edge. Because that game happened to be Bloodborne, which is a stupidly difficult game to begin with, and the last few trophies I acquired took that difficulty and ramped it up to the extremes - as well as adding in some monotony in the meantime. But I thoroughly loved that game, and seeing that - at least for the most part - I could get the last few trophies just by playing the game over again in new and different ways made me excited. There was just something about the fast and fluid combat that was engaging, and while I don't normally like dark atmospheres, the darkness in Bloodborne wasn't there to harm or punish. It was merely a set-piece that permitted for the kinds of monsters and insanity that you would bear witness to throughout the game.

After that platinum, I started to look at the next few games I wanted to play a little differently. I started to think about how plausible it would be to platinum them, as well. I played games that I would have played otherwise, not letting the trophies make the decision for me, but there were instances where I normally would have skipped over parts of the game as I grew weary of playing it so that I could finish and move on to the next. But I stuck through because I knew that if I could just finish that one extra thing, I could get a platinum.

It's worth noting that these platinum trophies, and trophies in general, realistically do nothing. They provide no bonuses, rewards, or extra content. They just look nice on the stats page of your profile. And yet there are people who actively hunt them out, as though they are life giving sustenance. They play games they otherwise may not have, simply because they know it will be an easy platinum. Or they may play all the way through a game they otherwise do not enjoy, just for that trophy.

But the interesting part is whether or not this is necessarily a bad thing. After all, if you are playing the game more, and experiencing more of it, are you not getting more bang for your buck? And while some may argue that your time could be better spent elsewhere, that is almost always true. But time is best spent making you happy. And if collecting platinum trophies does that, well... Who am I to argue?