[quote name='panzerfaust']My gripe is that you wouldn't play Dead Space with only the plasma cutter if that little trophy didn't tell you to.
Where as before when trophies and achievements never existed, people did this kind of stuff all the time in games because they enjoyed them that much.
I don't mind trophies, really. When I'm doing something for fun, a little congratulations popping up on my screen is nice every now and then. As you said, they are simply a record of how much you love that game. Cool.
But let's be honest, many people simply play
for those trophies, and not because those trophies are very enjoyable at all.
Collecting flags in Assassin's Creed? I'd rather pick up candy wrappers around my local park.[/QUOTE]
I used to do the same in games (and still do), and actually was doing the Plasma Cutter one before learning it was an achievement (since I don't check achievements / trophies on games anymore, until after I beat them once or twice).
I do get exactly what you mean, though, and you are right. Some people take it too far. Granted, my GamerScore is quite high, but I don't go out of my way to get achievements (maybe a few I have, but not normally). If I get them while playing, that's great. If I don't, that's fine too.
If you aren't going to have fun while going for an achievement or trophy, then I don't see the point in going for them. That I entirely agree with you on, and it's the sole reason I never did collect those flags in AC.
You're 100% correct on people taking it too far, only caring about achievements and trophies. However, for someone like me, who constantly plays game after game, it's just nice to have a track record of what I've done or accomplished in all the games I've played. It might not mean anything, per-se, but it's just a nice little bonus, to me at least, but I know many people view them differently.