(no subject)
I'd like to talk briefly about achievements. There are people that love them and people that hate them, but the fact of the matter is that they're not going anywhere - even games like World of Warcraft and Half-Life are picking up on the trend. I figure everyone's got their own take on them, but there's several groups that we can generalize with. I made up this list on the spot, so it's possible these terms are already used for different things than I have them listed.
Achievement Hater: For whatever reason, this kind of individual hates achievements. Maybe it's a developer who thinks of it as just another loop to jump through. Maybe it's someone who's had bad experiences with people trying to get achievements. Maybe they were in one of the other categories and got burned out on them. Whatever the reason, they despise the system at its core.
Achievement Neutral: Avoids actively trying for an achievement. They'll play their games how they want, and don't care what their "score" is. Most game reviewers fall into this category, and probably so do most gamers. Don't really care one way or another about them, and would probably find this post silly.
Achievement Explorer: Want achievements to be a "discovery." Instead of looking at them before playing a game, they hope to figure them out on their own. Some will look at them, but only after a completed playthrough. Can range from moderately to incredibly hardcore.
Achievement Aficionado: Sees achievements as a way to "prolong" the experience of games. Whereas normally, most gamers would play through a game once, and then sell it or put it on the shelf, achievements give an incentive to keep that disc in the tray. If there's an achievement that's near impossible to get, they won't go to extreme lengths to get it, but are willing to play their games in new and interesting ways (think Pacifist or Wax On, Wax Off in Geometry Wars) or repeatedly in order to polish them off. Generally only shoot for 1000 gamerscore in games they particularly enjoy.
Achievement Completionist: Similar to the Aficionado, these individuals will not move on to their next game without finishing all achivements. Makes for a small but well-travelled gaming collection.
Achievement Junkie: Also similar to the Aficionado, the Junkie is willing to take the extra step and "boost" achievements - essentially cheating the system in order to get those extra points. Examples of this would be creating private multiplayer matches for the sole purpose of getting multiplayer-only achievements or playing a game on a friend's account to help beef up their score.
Achievement Whore/Competitor: Despite being the most hardcore "achievers," this classification still has some leeway. This constitutes the final step into the mindset of "getting as much score as possible." These players will go out of their way to rent/buy games that are seen as easy points - for example, the Avatar game will dish out 1000 gamerscore just for sitting in a corner and mashing one button. Some of these players do it out of sheer madness, others see it as a competition between friends - to see who can get the highest score using any means necessary.
Thoughts? On achievements in general, on my categories, on your placement, on how pointless this post is, etc.?