Sharing because Kayin’s talk about achievements made me think about why do I even accept them in games at all so I disabled them in Steam (the only way to do this is by disabling the whole overlay =_=) and found that I don’t miss them at all.
What’s you opinion on RetroAchievements, and achievements in general?
Notifications are inherently invasive. For many people, ignoring them isn’t a problem but not everyone is as lucky as you are. I disable any not-essential notifs anywhere I use because I can’t not being distracted by them.
As for disabling them, the only way to do this on Steam is (was?) to disable the entire overlay which is… a bit too much? I know many people rely on the overlay so they probably wouldn’t go as far.
But it’s also worth mentioning that the author of the article is a gamedev and there’s a whole additional layer of nuance in the discussion when it comes down to releasing your game without achievements.
Because, if you want to release your on xbox or playstation, you must include achievements and some of them must be attainable during a normal playthrough. This is the reason behind weird trophies in Deltarune like “buy an armor piece” and “equip an armor piece”.
Valve doesn’t force achievements on developers. But there is a very loud minority of gamers who love to demand. They will yell in the Steam forums, complain on Reddit, bang at the door of the developer’s Discord channel. It’s quite obnoxious.
I’m all for platforms offering more custom options on both sides: player and developer. I’m just pointing out achievements aren’t inherently bad or good; it mainly depends on the player’s preference, which’s why I don’t understand existential debates surrounding them.
For example, in another comment you pointed out achievement pop ups can ruin emotional moments, but, in an arcade game, an achievement pop up can be euphoric after practicing for hours and finally getting the 1CC.
This is obviously awful, but it happens on both sides: I’ve come across many anti achievement people giving condescending, unsolicited advice to achievement hunters on Reddit, Steam forums, Discord, and even here, and it’s obnoxious AF. It’s a people problem is my point.