10 Video Game Achievements That REALLY Needed More Thought
These achievements betrayed the very idea of video games.
Whether you love them, hate them, or just don't care about them, achievements and trophies are a cornerstone of modern video games.
At their best, they can provide a meaningful incentive for players to remain glued to a game, and at their worst, they can exploit players' most primal, obsessive compulsive tendencies.
And then there are those 'cheevs which have clearly been implemented without the developers actually employing anything close to critical thought.
These 10 achievements, whether making absurdly unfair demands of the player, failing to consider key technical aspects, or forcing players to betray the actual design of the game itself, were all totally misguided in both intent and execution.
As such, it won't surprise anyone to learn that most of these achievements have been unlocked by only a small fraction of players committed or bored enough to put in the leg-work.
In extreme cases, the backlash was even severe enough that the achievement was actually changed by the developers themselves.
For most players, though, these unhinged achievements elicit nothing more than an eyeroll as they consider the many other things they could do with their time instead...
10. Grab Bag - Turok (2008)
The Achievement
Kill at least 1 creature, 1 enemy, 1 teammate, and yourself in the same round of a public match.
Why It Needed More Thought
Achievements were still in their conceptual infancy back in 2008, and developers often didn't think much about how achievements needed to reflect the design philosophy of the game itself.
Case in point, 2008's Turok reboot, which encouraged 'cheev hunters to literally kill their own teammates and then themselves during online matches in pursuit of a measly 10 Gamerscore.
Because the game's achievement list was revealed many months prior to release, players were able to express their outrage ahead of time, raking developer Propaganda Games over the coals for effectively incentivising griefing and anti-social play.
The backlash was significant enough that Propaganda ended up releasing a day-one patch to modify the 'cheev, removing the team-kill requirement entirely.
If nothing else, Turok makes a solid argument for achievements being published far in advance of a game's release if possible, giving players ample opportunity to call out any achievements created in bad faith or without sufficient thought.