By Nelson Schneider - 11/06/11 at 04:42 PM CT

The Seventh Generation of videogame consoles has spawned numerous changes in the way videogaming works. While there has been little innovation in the games themselves, our interaction with them has changed immensely. And most of these changes were initially forced upon us by Microsoft, a company that never should have become entangled in the game console industry.

I have already discussed the fact that persistent online connections and built-in hard drives (first implemented by MS in the original Xbox) have allowed the slapdash PC game development model of ‘release it now, fix it later’ to migrate to consoles. But that’s just an example of something old and bad being allowed to stick around instead of being regulated out of existence. Persistent online connections also allowed Microsoft to come up with a new poison to taint videogames: Achievements.

Of course, Achievements aren’t exactly new either. There has always been e-peen waggling and one-upmanship amongst gamers. Achievements just legitimize and encourage such behavior through a structured interface. Even worse, the advent of Achievements has changed the motivations behind why gamers play games in the first place.

I guess it might be because I’m a tail-end Generation X-er, but I don’t understand the thought processes behind why Millenials (who make up the largest portion of gamers) enjoy being praised for doing nothing. If I received a so-called ‘participation trophy’ just for showing up, it would feel like I was being patronized, not praised – and it would piss me off. So when Sony decided to copy Microsoft’s virtual head-pats, but call them ‘Trophies’ instead of ‘Achievements’ (because, you know, they’re totally different and not the same thing), I *facepalmed*.

Yes, this generation of game consoles has spawned a sub-section of gamers who don’t play games because they enjoy them, but in order to earn Achievements. MeltedJoystick’s Community Manager, Chris, is a self-proclaimed Trophy Whore (despite being Gen X and a long-time gamer), but his rationale behind collecting virtual accolades is less about receiving praise and more about a compulsive need to hoard things. This is a man who collects bottle caps, despite not drinking anything that comes in bottles with caps!

Either way, Achievements and Trophies have a negative impact on both gamers and games. Gamers feel compelled to ‘earn’ these things either for a misplaced sense of accomplishment or out of an OCD need for completion. Games no longer feature useful, interesting, or fun secrets because implementing those would get in the way of implementing the now-expected Achievements/Trophies.

Achievements for killing X enemies with weapon Y. Trophies for completing levels. One-time virtual accolades for setting some kind of online record. Gamers are achieving left and right! Yet is all feels hollow and meaningless… because it is.

However, the problems aren’t endemic to the system. Achievements and Trophies could be transformed into something useful with a few refinements.

First of all, the drudge-work accolades need to be scrapped and the online accolades need to be kept separate as a part of a Leaderboard system (a type of record-keeping system than has been around forever and still can’t be beat for utility). A lack of competitive drive or a less-than-stellar Internet connection shouldn’t prevent gamers from completing ‘100%’ of a single-player game.

Second, all automatic accolades that are given just for completing sections of a game need to be re-branded with less loaded titles, like ‘Progresses’ or ‘Marks’ instead of words that make them seem like they amount to something. It would be a very cool feature to look at my friends’ profiles from within my game console to see just how far they were in their games without a bunch of clutter and white noise getting in the way.

Third, any in-game secret that would be replaced with a virtual accolade must retain an actual in-game reward to go with that accolade. “Dragon Age: Origins” began to take steps in the right direction with the unlockable pieces of equipment that were made available in the main game by earning accolades in the (terrible) DLC mini-adventures.

Most of all, gamers need to remember that games are for fun. Games are not meant to be work or drudgery. Games are media, and like every other type of media, if you’re not enjoying it, it’s time to stop and move-on to something else. Don’t let developers trap you in a game that has worn out its welcome with the promise of a higher Gamerscore or a Platinum Trophy: All of the effort you put into earning those is wasted, and you will have sunk hours into a game you no longer enjoy in order to earn nothing.