Hi – my name is cmfl3x. And I’m an achievaholic.
Things didn’t start this way. I bought my Xbox 360 and started playing games just like I always had. I think one of the first Achievements I remember receiving was in Call of Duty 2. I had just completed the game: I heard a little beep-boop and saw a little icon. Achievement unlocked. Hmm, what could that mean? I didn’t think much of it, and for almost a year, continued to pay those little notifications no mind.
And then, something happened. I’m not sure if it was Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4. Or both. But suddenly, I found myself going out of the way to look for skulls. Or upping the difficulty to Veteran. Or shooting pigeons. Before I knew it, I was doubling, tripling, even quadrupling the time investment I’d put into a game. I told myself that I was just getting maximum value from the game. But deep down, I knew the truth. I knew why I was doing it. Beep-boop.
I started spiraling further and further down. Those two tones were changing the way I played games. No longer did I care about spoilers, I just wanted to know if there were Achievements I was going to miss. I started keeping elaborate files to help me keep track of what was going on. Assassin’s Creed 2? 1000 points. Brutal Legend? Found all the statues. Modern Warfare 2? All your laptops are belong to us. And then I started spending a lot of time beating time challenges, like Portal and Mirror’s Edge. I was sinking hours and hours into these games. But was I having fun?
Everything came to a head while playing Half Life 2. I needed my wife to direct me to all the Lambda caches. It was faster that way. She was patient at first, but eventually got fed up and told me to do it myself. She hates Achievements. She wants me to stop. So I’m trying to stop. But it’s so difficult! I started playing Half Life 2 Episode 2 the other day. I promised myself I’d just play through the game, without consulting an Achievement guide. But then…there are so many antlion grubs. That must be killed. For………….beep-boop.
I’m trying not to care, but as long as those lyrical, dulcet tones are there, I’m not sure I can stop. I’m carrying a garden gnome throughout my playthrough. I’m mapping out the best way to play through Final Fantasy XIII to maximize Achievement efficiency. WILL THE MADNESS END!?
I will try my best to play games without Achievements in mind. I just don’t have the time for it anymore. I love it, but it’s ruining my gaming life. I just want to enjoy games again. I just want my experience to be pure – I just want to experience the thrill of experiencing a GAME, not a chore. Can I ever kick the habit? Can I break this iron grip on my gaming soul?
Beep-boop.
haha I used to be like that but nowadays, I don’t really care as much. I think people just grow out of it at some point. For me, ever since I started playing the PS3, I made the conscious decision not to play for the Trophies and I’m simply enjoying the games without worrying about missing anything.
Since you’re starting FFXIII – it’ll be a relief for you when you can play through the entire 50 hour storyline and not worry about missing Achievements. Whether you devote another 50 hours after beating the story to actually get all the other Achievements is something only determined by how addicted to Achievements you are haha
were you waiting to hear that beep-boop when you reached the top of Mt Fuji?!?
It’s not worth that second 50 hrs in FFXIII. Nothing to see here…move along!
I’ve never heard the beep-boop achievement sound, but we get a little “bing!” for PS3 trophies. I don’t have the patience to try to get 100% of the trophies for a game though. Especially if it means playing the campaign multiple times. But I must admit it is pretty fun to get a trophy! Good luck recovering from your addiction…