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Newer PC Gamer - What can I do with Steam achievements?

Chinbo37

Chinbo37

Member
Ok title is a bit misleading. Ive been PC gaming since the 80s, but I have only gotten into modern PC gaming in the last couple of years. Mostly I was at first just picking up 1 or 2 games here and there on Steam, but during the last sale I picked up quite a lot and now I am working on my PC backlog.

Anyways I just 100%ed Gunman Clive (wasnt easy but is do-able), and nothing seemed to happen besides a growing e-peen. This was the first game on Steam which I got all achievements.

What do I do with these Steam achievements? Is there anything besides personal satisfaction? What do you call it when you get all achievements, I guess its not called "platinum-ing" a game right?
 
SerTapTap

SerTapTap

Member
They're even more meaningless than on console, and there's (last I heard) utilities to completely unlock achievements instantly and Steam doesn't really seem to care. Trading cards (which are frankly even more pointless and ridiculous) "mean something" to steam but you're better off just using Idlemaster to farm those and sell them so you can get a few games out of them.

It's all pointless e-peen stuff, just slightly more pointless and less centralized and validated than on console.
 
Heebie Jeebies

Heebie Jeebies

Banned
Profile achievement showcase

Hide it when your achievement % is low, put it at the top when you have a high % and numerous completed games!

Apart from that, there's nothing.
 
D

DocSeuss

Member
I like it as a way to show me activities I might not otherwise have attempted. Payday 2, for instance, uses some of its achievements to teach you mechanics, like "if you throw a bag of money in the water, a replacement will spawn elsewhere on the map."
 
Chinbo37

Chinbo37

Member
I also beat VVVVVV (amazing game btw), but I didnt get all achievements, some seemed really tough. I was contemplating going back and trying to get them all but now I just dont see the point. The game was great, I beat it, now I will move on.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
I suppose you could call it 100%ing or completing all of a game's achievements.

And as with all achievements on all systems, their value is purely symbolic, to provide additional incentive to play a game longer or a certain way etc.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
Chinbo37 said:
I also beat VVVVVV (amazing game btw), but I didnt get all achievements, some seemed really tough. I was contemplating going back and trying to get them all but now I just dont see the point. The game was great, I beat it, now I will move on.
Click to expand...
I feel like that's a healthy stance to have.

If you play games out of some sort of compulsion or OCD to complete all the achievements instead of out of love for the game, that's no good.
 
F

FinKL

Member
You don't do anything with achievements. I know when Steam was rolling out achievements back with TF2, some of the weapon unlocks were tied to achievements. I thought that was cool, as it gave you some options to unlocking
 
O

OmegaTreeFish

Banned
use them as a extra challenges for games you want to play more of. Other than that ignore them.

Basically the same as on consoles.

Now trading cards..... sell sell sell.

Chinbo37 said:
serious question - I dont know anyting about steam trading cards, how i earn them, what i do with them or how i sell them. Any tips?
Click to expand...

I just seem to get them as I play. You will have a message telling you you have things in your inventory. Go there. Option to sell once click on card should be in bottom right. Sell for what lowest card at time is selling.... small amount of money.

If you play a lot of games you can actually make a reasonable amount to the point you get a discounted game in a sale free.
 
Dr. Buni

Dr. Buni

Member
Steam achievements are useless. Without a "platinum" achievement, it just doesn't work as an incentive to try to 100% games, at least not for me.
 
D

dani_dc

Member
D3RANG3D said:
Can you really do anything of value with achievements on any platform?
Click to expand...

Yeah, achievements to me serve as extra challenges, besides thst, the ability to compare achievements to friends as well as see % rates is all I want off them.

Reila said:
Steam achievements are useless. Without a "platinum" achievement, it just doesn't work as an incentive to try to 100% games, at least not for me.
Click to expand...

What's the actual difference between a 100% or a Platinum trophy?

You can even display the number of 100% titles on your profile.
 
Dr. Buni

Dr. Buni

Member
dani_dc said:
What's the actual difference between a 100% or a Platinum trophy?

You can even display the number of 100% titles on your profile.
Click to expand...
There is no particular difference, but getting a platinum trophy simply feels more satisfying, for whatever reason.
 
S

sprinkles

Member
You can try to raise your average completion rate to above 50% on your Achievement Showcase on your Steam profile and fail miserably like I do!
 
Y

yatesl

Member
Reila said:
Steam achievements are useless. Without a "platinum" achievement, it just doesn't work as an incentive to try to 100% games, at least not for me.
Click to expand...

The achievement showcase has "x Perfect Games"

ZzSFJIx.jpg
Click to expand...

That may as well be 'platinum'
 
Chinbo37

Chinbo37

Member
OmegaTreeFish said:
I just seem to get them as I play. You will have a message telling you you have things in your inventory. Go there. Option to sell once click on card should be in bottom right. Sell for what lowest card at time is selling.... small amount of money.

If you play a lot of games you can actually make a reasonable amount to the point you get a discounted game in a sale free.
Click to expand...


Thanks, I seem to have some Skyrim cards from when I was playing last year. They are worth 9 cents each lol. Before I sell them, is there any reason why i should be keeping them? Who would even buy them?
 
I

Inferno313

Banned
Chinbo37 said:
Thanks, I seem to have some Skyrim cards from when I was playing last year. They are worth 9 cents each lol. Before I sell them, is there any reason why i should be keeping them? Who would even buy them?
Click to expand...

They're actually kinda fun. When you complete a set, you can craft a badge out of them, and that increases your steam level, and gives you random goodies like a profile background, or emoticons for chat.
 
G

grandwizard

Member
Sign up for Playfire Rewards and turn them into some Steam Credit, making them immediately more useful than any other achievement system ever.
 
J

jholmes

Member
Chinbo37 said:
I also beat VVVVVV (amazing game btw), but I didnt get all achievements, some seemed really tough. I was contemplating going back and trying to get them all but now I just dont see the point. The game was great, I beat it, now I will move on.
Click to expand...

Somewhat off topic but I feel the need to say this: VVVVVV is a lot easier the second time through and you could probably plow through it in a pretty short sitting (under two hours?) if you're ever bored.

On topic, I think Steam achievements aren't so bad as your completion rate can let you know if you're buying too many games and not playing them. Other than that cheevos are kind of fun but also can be a negative influence so you know, try to just enjoy them but not worry about them too much.

Steam cards on the other hand are literal money so me and them are cool.
 
D3RANG3D

D3RANG3D

Member
Einbroch said:
Didn't Microsoft give like 1-2% off digital purchases depending on your score? Yes, a massive 2%.
Click to expand...

If that is the case that has some value I guess.

dani_dc said:
Yeah, achievements to me serve as extra challenges, besides thst, the ability to compare achievements to friends as well as see % rates is all I want off them.



What's the actual difference between a 100% or a Platinum trophy?

You can even display the number of 100% titles on your profile.
Click to expand...

For e-peen gotcha :p
 
E

epmode

Member
Achievements murdered GAF's dog.

Achievements are fun. The datestamp is useful to see exactly when I did something. Some developers even put in meta-achievements that encourage you to play the game a different way (I think the Pacifism achievement in the first Geometry Wars is the first example of this).

But no, Steam achievements aren't used for anything else on the platform. They USED to be part of Valve's sale metagame, though. I wish they stuck with that instead of going insane with garbage like the gem auction.
 
T

Tempesta di Fuoco

Banned
Achievements are useless in general (I still like them though), but there's something especially useless about Steam achievements. I really wish they'd revamp the whole achievement system.
 
Chinbo37

Chinbo37

Member
jholmes said:
Somewhat off topic but I feel the need to say this: VVVVVV is a lot easier the second time through and you could probably plow through it in a pretty short sitting (under two hours?) if you're ever bored.
Click to expand...


ya but one of the achievements is to beat the whole game without dying and that means memorizing nearly every room and placement of spikes so you dont fall into them from above/below. Once I saw that I thought why bother to get any more achievements at all.
 
J

jholmes

Member
Chinbo37 said:
ya but one of the achievements is to beat the whole game without dying and that means memorizing nearly every room and placement of spikes so you dont fall into them from above/below. Once I saw that I thought why bother to get any more achievements at all.
Click to expand...

You know it's funny because I really am the same way. I see achievements like that and I feel discouraged. I'll never be able to do it, so why bother with any of them? It's weird how that works, psychologically.

VVVVVV does give out achievements for things like beating it with under 500 deaths (which is doable and I did) and for beating time trials with a V rating. I did the first one and that took me like three hours. Just insane. I did it and I guess that's nice, as something like 0.3% of players on Steam have it. So now I have a stupid JPG on my profile that no one else has to prove my nerdiness.
 
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