why no Iron man setting?

[Ryika]

as it stands I really have trouble caring when I got an achievement which is a terrible shame of an entire dimension of the game.

Uhhh... you're up to a nasty surprise my friend.

Because it is possible to unlock every achievement for nearly any game a player owns in less than... 5 seconds. Without having to ever install the game. And Steam has said on multiple occasions that they're fine with it.

Sooo... sorry, you'll have to find some other method to boost your ego, steam achievements are not for you.

 

[youngsteve]

Wait, you stopped playing...because other people cheated? Reminds me of my college professor who gave the entire class a 0 on a test because two students cheated...

Just enjoy the game: who cares what other people do with it?

I agree with you. The only thing that gets my back up at times is when people come boasting on how well they have done in a game, then it turns out later that they cheated all the time.

As Victoria says above you know a lot of what you read is not true, & it makes you cynical about everything you read, & dilutes when someone has really achieved something. I couldn't care if they have, but it would be nice if people were more honest.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

Though to be fair, some Steam achievements are more about luck, rerolling maps or situation-crafting than actual ability. I mean, who in a sane mind would keep a Slinger until Rapid Deployment?

I guess some people just see Yosemite and Crater Lake early and think "Damn, I need to get that f%#$ing achievement", but also feel guilty about not playing optimally.

 

[Barbarian King]

Until I read this thread, "ironman mode" meant to me playing without reload etc. ... playing, not handling "achievements" ... sorry, that I'm so missing the central point of this thread, too.

Ironman mode does mean playing without reloading. In the paradox games, you must have the built-in ironman mode enabled to earn achievements, which is where the OP gets the association. This in no way prevents save sharing, as I've transferred my ironman saves of Crusader Kings 2 between my desktop and laptop when I've traveled but wanted to continue the game.

As for achievements, in Civ6 I use them mainly to keep track of what civs and maps I've already played, so I make sure I try everything at least once.

 

[bladex]

wow people actually still care about achievements? haven't given 2S about them for years now

 

[TheMeInTeam]

wow people actually still care about achievements? haven't given 2S about them for years now

They're like suggestions. If you see an interesting idea you can try it.

It helps if playing the game is enjoyable in the first place though.

 

[Fabio1701]

goodness, I seem to have kicked a hornets nest with this thread, in addition to getting people to think I'm some sort of depressed hermit for caring about how my achievements stack against the rest of the community's and thrive on adrenaline boosts to my ego that is core to my existence. To clarify: It is more of a passing interest to extend a game (civ5) which I had already gotten a bit tired of and challenge myself against the community's statistics in Steam. I don't find it completely outlandish that a system designed to show public progress is garners such interest, nor that it's (now obvious) fraudulant representation destroys whatever interest it was designed to garner.

Seems I'm the only person who thinks that a) an ironman (non-reloading) mode had any use, and b) achievements are some kind of barometer to accomplishment where the community can compare progress. In my defense of (a) I had no idea that it was so easy to get around it and cheat in other ways. and in defence of (b) I thought the whole point of publicly displayed achievements is exactly for comparison. If not why does it even exist? Not that I am forcing a play style on anyone or think less of anyone who doesn't go for achievements or care, but certainly the gimmick exists exactly for that reason, from a community game design point of view. Or are we going to now claim that all the games in the last 10 years with public achievements had them programmed in just 'for laughs'?

I'm actually surprised that there have been no 'completionists' commenting. I guess they are all over at that thread which is sharing the achievements save files.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

I've seen that thread, they're getting enough hate there to read this one (which to be fair, most people have been bashing at them).

I've stopped being a completionist since that ridiculous Civ 5 achievement that required you to emulate an Indiana Jones movie. If I still cared about getting achievements, I'd use a cheat save file because that one was outrageous.

 

[Ryika]

Seems I'm the only person who thinks that a) an ironman (non-reloading) mode had any use

No, I actually agree that Ironman Mode would be a nice addition. While it's already possible to do self-imposed ironman, "real" ironman just adds that extra feeling of urgency because you just can't cheat yourself. It's also very useful for Community Challenges if the system uses the cloud and thus really doesn't allow players to reload.

I do however think that Achievements should not be tied to ironman mode. It's a mode that many people dislike, and I wouldn't want that content to be gated behind such a wall.

If not why does it even exist?

Probably because the system was designed to be exactly what you thought it is, but was undermined pretty quickly, and Steam decided that it's more of a personal thing instead of "fixing" it.

But to be clear: I think both methods, using savefiles that other people provide and simply unlocking them manually, are only used by a rather small group of people. If you want to compare yourself to the rest of the community, then Achievements still allow you to do that for the most part, as long as you realize that the reason that many people don't have the more "outlandish" achievements is that they don't actually care about them, not because they're "too hard" for them. They're just not as "serious" as you seem to want them to be, which is why wanting to ban sharing savefiles for easy achievements is very much overkill.

 

[Zaarin]

(b) I thought the whole point of publicly displayed achievements is exactly for comparison. If not why does it even exist? Not that I am forcing a play style on anyone or think less of anyone who doesn't go for achievements or care, but certainly the gimmick exists exactly for that reason, from a community game design point of view. Or are we going to now claim that all the games in the last 10 years with public achievements had them programmed in just 'for laughs'?

I have no idea what purpose they're supposed to serve, but I've always viewed them as just a sort of collectible. But I'm also obviously not their target audience, since I rarely aim to get achievements (except in Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons, where the achievements involve some nice side "quests" to the game) and am not particularly competitive...

I'm actually surprised that there have been no 'completionists' commenting. I guess they are all over at that thread which is sharing the achievements save files.

I have completionist tendencies, but I don't need achievements to prove I did it...Plus DA:I sort of broke some of my completionist tendencies, since that game was clearly designed for the sole purpose of punishing completionists.

 

[Shiggs713]

funny thing is you can still cheat in ironman mode in ck2 (save scumming)

 

[Fabio1701]

funny thing is you can still cheat in ironman mode in ck2 (save scumming)

The world is a detestable place and nothing is sacred.