GDC 2010: EEDAR on Achievements, user behavior
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EEDAR hosted a two part panel at GDC this year. In the second half of the panel -- you can read about the first half here (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/13/gdc-2010-eedar-talks-new-ip-strategy/) -- Jesse Divnich presented the results of an Xbox Live Achievement study the firm recently conducted. The info was pulled from a pool of 32 million data points -- provided by MyGamerCard.net -- and centered on a random sampling of 100 different Xbox 360 games.
Probably the most interesting statistic that Divnich dropped: An average of only 4 percent of Xbox gamers actually managed to earn all of the achievements in any given game. When focusing only on major, "AAA" titles, that number drops to 2 percent. Meanwhile, less than 10 percent of consumers get more than 80 percent of Achievements. Furthermore, Divnich noted that only 27 percent of users manage to unlock more than 50 percent of Achievements.
Divnich concluded his talk by saying that developers should learn as much as possible from Achievements. He advised studios to use them as motivational tool for users noting that the number of unlocked Achievements tends to drop off at around 30 percent. He added that gamers who manage to unlock at least 80 percent of Achievements are typically motivated to unlock the remaining 20 percent.
Finally, Divnich stated that developers can use Achievements as a form of direct user feedback. By observing which Achievements are unlocked, developers can see the parts of a game that players enjoy. This, in turn, can help developers decide what to focus on in the sequel. Beyond that, Achievement monitoring could even help them decide whether to make a sequel at all.
I'm currently on 54 or 57% depending on how you look at it. Although i'd like 80+ % i think it'll take a lot of work.
I'm on 52% completion. I try to make sure I've got at least 50% of the achievements before I send a game back. Apart from Halo ODST, which was wank.
I'm at around 54% too and like Red, will always try for at least 500 points on every game, all the bloody GH/Rock Band games and their annoying Expert achievements are messing with my percentage thats for sure.
i've got about 20 games with 10-50G ... coz they're sh*t or my mate has played 'em to get 1 achievement just to piss me off. He's nice like that.
I'm suffering from my pre-whoring days when I would play a game, get one achievement, then trade it in.
I'm only at something like 37%, I've got about 30 games with less than 200 achievements points 'cos I bore easily!!!
I think developers should weight the achievements appropriately. The drift achievement in Forza 3 was f***ing ridiculous, it took me hours to get it and all you end up with is a paltry 5G for what was a really hard achievement. Collecting X amount of feathers/pigeons/bobbleheads or whatever should also give you a decent amount of points, if you're going to put the time in to look for them all at least make the reward worthwhile.
Also, they should give a few easy achievements at the start of a game to get people interested and then even them out throughout the game so that you're at least getting an achievement every hour or so. I had a whole 7 days without getting an achievement last week 'cos I was working on Forza 3, it was bloody hard work getting to the end of season 4 and reaching level 40. I haven't got the motivation at the moment to waste any more time on it, so what did I do? I switched to Dragon Age:Origins, played that for about 6 hours yesterday and didn't get one achievement >:( >:( >:(
Rant over!!!
I was pretty exicited playing Paradise City and the first or second achievement was like a 30G. I agree, some seem to come so few and fear between and when you get them, it feels like it wasn't worth it.
When it comes to finishing games, I have really good intentions....
At the moment I'm trying to alternate between crap whoring games and good games, so I have a constant flow of achievements. In Prototype I've played for about 10 hours, picking up the odd achievement. Only yesterday it all came together and I got loads. I think games that make it stupidly hard to get 100% are wrong. I can think of a few where you need to be the highest ranking online player or something similar. Obviously there are only going to be a limited number of people who can get that.
that makes them Real Achievements ... not just 'Press Start' 5G
Quote from: RedMaster11 on March 15, 2010, 02:24:23 PM
In Prototype I've played for about 10 hours, picking up the odd achievement. Only yesterday it all came together and I got loads.
I played Prototype for an hour or so and got nothing, that instantly put me off, even though it looks like quite a fun game!!! I also did that with Command & Conquer 3 (or whichever one it was) so I traded it in, althought to be fair it wasn't going to be my kind of game anyway!
Also, I think there should always be an achievement for getting through tutorials, just so you've actually done them for a reason!
Quote from: RedMaster11 on March 15, 2010, 02:24:23 PM
At the moment I'm trying to alternate between crap whoring games and good games, so I have a constant flow of achievements. In Prototype I've played for about 10 hours, picking up the odd achievement. Only yesterday it all came together and I got loads. I think games that make it stupidly hard to get 100% are wrong. I can think of a few where you need to be the highest ranking online player or something similar. Obviously there are only going to be a limited number of people who can get that.
Yeah, BFBC2 comes to mind. I was getting killed (literally) on my first MP outing and because I was online for 15 minutes it unlocked the 15 minutes of fame trophy. I don't think it's unlokced any others since and I believe I've been in matches where I've had more kills than anyone else in my squad and we won the match. I'da thought that would count for something ;D
Quote from: Jaynestown on March 15, 2010, 02:34:07 PM
Quote from: RedMaster11 on March 15, 2010, 02:24:23 PM
In Prototype I've played for about 10 hours, picking up the odd achievement. Only yesterday it all came together and I got loads.
I played Prototype for an hour or so and got nothing, that instantly put me off, even though it looks like quite a fun game!!! I also did that with Command & Conquer 3 (or whichever one it was) so I traded it in, althought to be fair it wasn't going to be my kind of game anyway!
Also, I think there should always be an achievement for getting through tutorials, just so you've actually done them for a reason!
You have to give Prototype time. Most of the achievements are about kill this many people, destroy this many objects, etc.
I will give it another go, it just annoyed me that I played it for at least an hour and got absolutely sod all!!!
JT you fledgling scorewhore
Fledgling?! He's a fully paid up member!
I have been taking notes from the master ;) I won't let on until it arrives but I have ordered a Score Whore game from Amazon over the weekend too :-[
If you want to get a steady flow of whoring games without shelling out too much money, I'd recommend renting. I know crak uses LoveFilm, I use Boomerang, and the service is excellent.
I was going to do that, but I bought a blu-ray player at the beginning of the month and have gone back to enjoying a few films, so my scorewhoring has dropped off at the moment. Once I get back in to "the groove" I may very well join Love Film, it does seem silly to shell out for crap games just for the points :)
And before you ask, I don't need to join Love Film for the films, because I have a backlog of about 40 DVDs I haven't watched!!!
This is something I aim for...I like to get as many as cheevos as possible, good old fashioned value for money (even off my rentals!)
Currently at 73%
Just need to play and complete Undertow, Last Remnant to get my average up to +75%
But Luke, do you not find that you're stopping yourself playing new games for fear of your completion % dropping? Like as soon as you start FF13 it will go down again.
I agree on Forza 3 and have decide to put the game to bed for a few months and try for the last achievement at a later date.
And about 57% complete according to True Achievements.
Quote from: RedMaster11 on March 15, 2010, 11:35:53 PM
But Luke, do you not find that you're stopping yourself playing new games for fear of your completion % dropping? Like as soon as you start FF13 it will go down again.
i don't mind starting games i know i'll get 50-100% in eventually, anything below and i'm unsure unless i know it's gonna be teh awesome.
Quote from: RedMaster11 on March 15, 2010, 11:35:53 PM
But Luke, do you not find that you're stopping yourself playing new games for fear of your completion % dropping? Like as soon as you start FF13 it will go down again.
Nah, as Failed said I'll aim for ~800G once I start it...got some leave at the end of the month so I'll finally get time for FF, I'm excited already!