I know several people that I would call “trophy hunters.” One of them has more platinums than anyone else I know (you know who you are, Brad Brad the Platinum Man). Another person on my friends list has the highest PSN rank I’ve ever seen (you also know who you are, Tyler), and plays more games than anyone else I know.
I have six platinum trophies. Six. My PSN rank is 18. That’s not terrible, but I’m not even close to either of the aforementioned folks.
I would never have considered myself to be a trophy hunter. The closest I would get to that moniker would be to occasionally check the trophy list for a game I was in the middle of playing and to pick off the low-hanging fruit trophies before I completed said game.
But I realized something this week that gave me pause.
An annoying, and eye-opening, pause.
My partner and I used to share a PlayStation profile (and system) because it just seemed like the thing to do. Two of the six plats “I” have came from him (Skyrim and Bully).
But, this year, he got his own system, and PSN ID.
Once he transitioned over to his new handle, I realized something: I avoided the games he had already played and gotten the trophies for. And that was weird as hell. I would never have thought I was trophy motivated, but the evidence was there.
This became crystal clear to me when I saw this week’s sale on the PlayStation store. I saw Limbo on there (which I’ve always wanted to play), and recalled that he played it through on my profile and got the trophies for it.
So what did I do? I checked to see if there were separate trophies for the PS Vita version (there appear to be), and only then did I buy the Vita version so I could accumulate my own trophies for playing the game.
How ridiculous is that?
Super ridiculous.
Even as I type that, I almost feel embarrassed about it. Would I let the absence of trophies get in the way of my enjoyment of a game? I would always say no, but it kind of seems like there is proof of the opposite here. That sort of bothers me. If I want to play a game, I want to play a game. Little digital trophies shouldn’t matter.
I mean, I play Nintendo games on my original NES (way before trophies), my Wii U (okay, I don’t use it so much, but I have used it, historically), and my 3DS. None of those systems have trophies or anything like them. Do I let that stop me from playing, and enjoying, those games? Nope. So where does all this trophy nonsense come from?
I have no idea.
I suppose that I like feeling a sense of achievement. Playing, and completing, a game provides its own sense of achievement, but it is also nice to have something to “show” for it.
Is that a justification? Perhaps. But, in this case, it’s also the truth. I just surprised myself at how much I clearly care about the darn things.
Do you like/love/need trophies? Do you sincerely not care about them? Or, are you in the complete opposite direction and dislike them? How do trophies/achievement affect your gaming habits? Are there any trophies that you are particularly proud of?
Let’s talk about trophies. I’m all ears. Well, not literally, because that would make typing incredibly difficult, but still, you understand.
I’m super interested in finding out how people feel about trophies and how they affect playstyles.
(More, more, more…)
Categories: games
Rebekah Lang 
I like trophies,I only try for platniums if I really enjoy the game and if they aren’t a big pain to get.
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Man, I like them, too. And that makes sense. I mean, if you already love the game, more of the game can only be good (in theory), right?
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Lately, I have been playing through the games I have trying to get as many achievements as I can. I do stop playing once I feel like I’ve done all I can, as I don’t engage with multiplayer much anymore. Maaaaaan, I can see myself going down the rabbit hole chasing the 1000 gamerscore very easily, but I can’t burn myself out on games or else I’ll be miserable.
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I think that’s kind of neat, honestly. I like that trophies can get people to play games in a way they might not, or get them back in to play, period.
Burning out on a game is so strange. It’s weird how something so great can turn into a great big digital chore.
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I agree with Colton; I too, like trophies. I don’t care to platinum; I play games more for the experience. Like you, Rebkah stated in your blog, the low-hanging trophies are the easiest to obtain; there’s nothing like a few rare trophies on your trophy list to “spice things up”; it helps to put a stamp on a game(s) that you really enjoyed. wouldn’t you agree Rebekah/Colton, thoughts? I have written a few blogs about the trophies I have gotten while playing some great PS4titles. I’m strongly thinking about writing another top 5 (maybe top 10) list after seeing this blog. Rebekah/Colton, would you care to co-blog with me? I’d greatly appreciate your insight. I have a few trophies in mind that I enjoyed getting. Thoughts Rebekah? As always I enjoy hearing your perspective on games, the gaming community, & anything gaming-related. Ciao!
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Sometimes having a handful of those super bizarre and rare trophies is a fun thing.
I’m not sure how co-writing a list like that would go, but I’m more than happy to read it! Would you post it in the GI community section?
Aww, thank you!
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Hey Rebekah! Co-writing blogs are fun. I write them often with Juanolo. I plan to post it on GIO. I was thinking; I’d give my top 5 fav trophies; you could write whether you agree on those trophies; if not, which trophies are your favorites? Thinking of taking from Tomb Raider, TT’ Batman series, & Battlefield 1. Thoughts? You’re welcome anytime, Rebekah!
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I hope it goes great! I think I’d struggle to think of my favorite specific trophies. The ones that stand out are the ones I couldn’t get!
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Hey Rebekah! I have yet to write it; I have some games & trophies in mind. I’ll try to post it this weekend. Thoughts?
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Please let me know when it is up; I’d like to read it!
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Rebekah, will do!
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Hey Rebekah! I’ve yet to post my blog because I can’t pull the trophies fom my PS acct. online. If I ever get it posted; I’ll tweet you!
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Aw shoot. But I think at this point you’ve got them fixed, yes?
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Agreed. Low-hanging fruit, and i will look at the list either at the start or soon into a game. Additionally, i think Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is the only game i’ve platinum’d wholly on my own.
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I do that, too; what a surprise (not a surprise)!
And I believe you also platinumed Bully, solo.
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Trophies give us the feeling that we accomplished something, whether it be big or small. That little noise that comes with an unlocked trophy gives me the sensation that “I did it!”. I have a few platinum trophies. My proudest one being the platinum I got for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. It was a lot of hard work, but I love the heck out of that game, and it felt great accomplishing everything in it.
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I do love that little sound! And I quite agree that trophies give us a sense of achievement, by their nature alone. It’s pretty wonderful, especially in a world where seeing progress in anything can be difficult at best.
Holy heck, that seems like a difficult one to plat! Nice job!
I do really like the idea of seeing everything a game has to offer.
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I like trophies and achievements in games, but very rarely am I motivated to get all of them. If I enjoy a game and the rest seem doable I’ll try to get them which has contributed partially to my ever-growing backlog. Looking at the trophy list is interesting since I’ll normally finish a game when I start it but seeing the percentage of people drop the farther in the game I get is strange. I remember when I finished Uncharted 4 and got the trophy I was one of around 30% of PSN users who had that trophy.
The kinds of trophies I don’t like are multiplayer focused ones since they can cause people to lose focus on the task at hand in the matches or be so incredibly difficult that it makes obtaining full completion impossible.
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I wish multiplayer trophies were somehow separate from the campaign trophies and didn’t effect the platinum. I know that’s silly, but I still wish it were somehow possible.
I also pay attention to the percentages on the trophies. It’s interesting to me how many people never finish certain games. Particularly games that I would expect a lot of people are excited to play.
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Oh I know that feeling of getting another trophy notification. They do motivate me to get deeper into a game or perhaps pursue to get DLC but as I’m getting older I find myself less and less bothered about them but if the game’s interesting enough and platinum requirements aren’t too stupid, I’ll do my best to chase after it.
Good luck hunting.
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I think you pretty much nailed how I feel about them, too. :) I love getting them, but I’m not going to go out of my way to get them all unless I love a particular title. There are just too many other games I want to get to.
Thank you; you, too!
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