What is with Gamers obsession with "Achievements"?

I have been gaming for years, ever since I was given my parents old Vic-20 as a Child.

now, I enjoy all kinds of games (RPGs, RTS's, Shooters, Simulations, etc), and can understand why people love any Genre really, each Genre is Unique and has its own Characteristics that make it fun and enjoyable.



But, what I don't Understand is why Gamers of the Current Gen are so obsessed with "Achievements".
You see countless guides for them, people refusing to play another game till they get them all, and just Obsessing over them in General.

Can someone please explain why people seem so obsessed over these?



Thanks in Advance!

Prestige, mostly. At least, that's what I've noticed.

inb4lock

I don't personally find achievements to be useful at all. I don't like them and I wish they'd go away but other people enjoy them for whatever goofy reason. This thread won't last long.

Helps them pick up ladies.

What I don't understand is the opposition some people have to achievements. They're just optional goals that increase the longevity of a game.

I like a achievements cause it sets a challenge to work towards. I don't do it for the gamer score, and for the iPhone apps I dont get a reward at all.. I just feel good when I finish a goal someone's set as 'this is potentially quite difficult/ will have taken you a lot of time' etc. It's easier than setting your own goals, and also has a level of recognition there. Like the dead is dead threads here.. I'm sure that some people play it to just challenge themselves.. But a lot of people enjoy posting about it too.

How does that work exactly where you get achievements in most games for doing the most mundane things.

Achievement Reached : Take your first step!!

Achievement Reached: You walked 200 steps in five minutes!!!

Achievement Reached: YOU DEEDN'T DI3Z in CoDZZZZZZ!!!

Achievement Reached: U dun heedshott33dz lyke 9ooooo peeples in CoDzzzzzz!!!

Only some achievements are acquired that easily, many of them are pretty challenging.

But again, they're optional, so I don't know why people who don't like them complain about them so much rather than just ignore them.

please don't turn this into some kind of flame war.

I am just looking for peoples opinions on why the issue has become such a "thing" in gaming.

Yes well that's cod. On the other end, in FNV a lot of the achievements are 'complete one Gun Runners Arsenal *** challenges' or 'complete three GRA * challenges' etc. You look at these challenges, they're things like 'defeat a deathclaw using nothing but a 9 iron'. I remember than one particularly cause its so , though there were others that were far harder on the list.

...not attempted any as of yet

Fallout New Vegas has achievements? I never knew that.

They aren't optional. You have to have them, and if you accidentally unlock one, you can't refuse to accept it.

I think this sums it up very well, im not a fan of achievements, but if i want to try to get them i can, or just leave them alone. In one game i have 12 of 70, those are ones i got just because i finished sections of the game or killed bosses, but the rest are for example kill so many or play it on a higher difficulty level, and i cant be bothered as theres no reward ingame, maybe if there was it may be worth it.

They're optional as in you can turn off notifications and ignore them forever and it won't affect your game in the slightest.

They're not optional as in you can't remove them and you still get them even if you don't want to.