The title has virtually nothing to do with the content of this blog post. 
 
So hey guys? How's it going? I woke up today at 7 AM and I just now stopped playing Persona 3 Portable to come make this blog. This is due mostly in part to the fact that Person 3 is an evil temptress that keeps making me think that there will surely be a point in which I will get bored while playing this game and stop, but there never is. 
 
That brings us to the actual content of this post, achievements. 
 
Okay, well that might not make sense initial but let's just go with it for now hmm? 
 
I feel like achievements are constricting gameplay experiences anymore; it's like I'm playing by a rule book half the time, performing only certain actions because I am told that that is what is required of me. Now obviously I can just ignore them, but that doesn't mean everyone else will. Achievements, or trophies if you want, have become so ingrained in the culture of gaming that it is nearly impossible to eliminate them from the experience entirely. 
 
Now the most obvious of these offenders is the multiplayer aspect of games. 
 
I think it's pretty obvious what the problem is.
 
Okay...maybe that's actually kind of not the problem, but the point makes itself. People chase down dem numbers, and they chase them hard. Players have become so obsessed with achievements that they playing well is no longer the primary concern as long as it isn't a prerequisite for points. This is particularly a problem when games first hit shelves which, incidentally, are also the times of peak popularity. Achievement hunters tend to have a pretty astounding ability for completely killing a game experience. I wouldn't really be surprised if many people have been completely turned off a product's multiplayer and simply quite playing completely. 
 
Here is a perfect example: Kane & Lynch 2 is coming out soon, and it has multiplayer achievements. 
 
Some of those achievements involve betraying your teammates. 
 
That'll work out well. 
 
Now obviously betrayal is key part of gameplay and should be employed where applicable, but I can guarantee you'll have tons of kids day one going rambo on their cohorts every. single. time. Now obviously, that isn't fun for anyone and it may even end up completely killing that mode in the initial months. This is why I can't understand how developers keep shooting themselves in the foot like this. 
 
But this is a problem everyone already knows about.  This is old news. 
 
Let's get to a more pressing matter. 
 
Achievements are dictating single player experiences. Let's just say it right now, because it's true. Even if you aren't in it for the combined score, there are still completionists, like me out there, that can't bear to see a single challenge not complete, even it doesn't ultimately mean anything. I gotta say, I just don't like how I have to play games anymore. It's fucking irritating, having to change how I would normally play through a game just to fulfill a requirement. Now obviously I'm not too OCD, I only have a few S-ranked games, but it's still rather annoying. 
 
Now obviously this is all my fault, but I still feel like I'm being robbed of something. I'm not just playing to absolute completion because i like a game, I'm doing it because I'm an asshole with very weak perceptions of what justifies self worth. Games like Persona 3 Portable, or really on games on not the 360 or PS3, are like fucking god sends from the heavens above. I can fucking quit them without having to worry about them, and play them how I want to play them. 
 
You know, now that i think about it it ins't quite my fault. I suppose it's somewhat of my asshole friends' collective faults too. There's that guilt trip, no one wants to leave a game up on their profile, accessible to everyone, with little to no points. They will scoff at you, in their minds, secretly. Hell I've almost replayed games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age just to get achievements, even though I didn't especially want to. 
 
Well, i played Mass Effect 1 again because i wanted to but that's kind of beside the point. 
 
Really, I wouldn't mind if achievements were all just unlocked for playing through a game instead of trying to navigate it with some upfucked mind set. Herein lies the problem, we just won't allow that anymore. When a developer tries to pull that kind of shit nowadays it's a "cop out" or they are simply "bad achievements." It is unthinkable that someone should be rewarded just for enjoying a game.  
 
Now I mean, obviously there are some instances in which achievements are a hallmark of excellence. Good example, the achievement for getting all the cakes in Splosion' Man. That was a good achievement, I enjoyed doing that. The kind of achievements that piss me off are the ones where it's "Do 50 of this." or "Make sure you do this at every spot in this 20 hour long game, and if you miss one well we didn't split the game up into replayable levels because fuck you." It's like ramming your head into a brick wall, obviously this isn't going to accomplish anything in the long term but hey at least I'll look cool and self loathing while I'm doing it. 
 
Of course I'm going to have to just learn to ignore achievements at some point, but as I said it is kind of hard because there are a few out there that add to the gameplay experience in a legitimate way. Ignoring them completely doesn't seem like the right way to go in that situation, though maybe in the long run it's for the best. 
 
So what about you Giantbomb? 
 
Phrase some sort of question out of what I just typed and then answer it.