Going Cold Turkey

Like most people, I was very excited about Achievements when it was first introducted.  Later on, it was followed by Trophies for PSN.  Now, I find them to be a hassle.  At best, they gave me something to do, but more often, they were an intrusive element.  Achievements and Trophies make me play the game their way, using weapons I don't like, with tactics which aren't fun and forces me to make in-game choices I regret.  Throughout the last console cycle, I've spent half my time just trying to ween off Achievements and Trophies, but honestly, nothing works.  One of the first things I do when starting a new game is go through the achievement list.  And no matter what I do, the idea of achievements are everywhere.  Even Steam has them, for god's sake, as does World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV.  So then, how does one get rid of the urge to collect trophies?  Cold turkey seems to be the only way, and the last resort.  But how do you do that, exactly, when everywhere you go, escape from their presence is impossible?

Well, one way is being forced to give them up. 

On PSN, I actually have two active accounts.  A main account, opened on the same day I got the PS3, and a sub account, opened later.  A sub account is basically a 'kid's version' of a main account.  It has purchasing restrictions, and is tied at the hip to the main account.  Long story short, I ended up using this sub account for the majority of my gaming.  This means all of my trophies were in my sub account.  Aside from the annoying restriction of having to do PSN purchases strictly via the main account, it was a workable deal.

When the PS4 arrived, however, things changed.  One of the things which captured my imagination this current console cycle is the idea of posting videos and screenshots directly from in-console onto things like Twitter and Facebook.  So imagine my chagrin upon finding out that this feature is totally barred from sub accounts!  A difficult choice presents itself.  Do I stick with using the sub account, keep all the earned Trophies, and give up ever using the ability to post on social sites?  Or do I give up on the sub account, revert back to the main, and totally forgoe all my Trophies earned?  In a way, the decision is moot.  The trophies are still there and they are still mine.  I'm not technically losing anything.  But on the other hand, what is out of sight is out of mind, yes?  I tend to agree on the latter.  Despite this, I chose to revert to the main account and forego all my Trophies.

What surprised me isn't that I made this decision, or why.  What surprised me was how easy this decision was to make!  Essentially, within an hour of figuring out this limitation, I was ready to give up my entire trophy progress.  Since then, I have never looked back.  The important thing to take away from this, I think, is that there is, indeed, something out there which superceeds the urge to perpetually collect trophies!  In other words, there is something greater than Achievements and Trophies, and that breaking away for something worth while isn't very difficult. 

This is an auspicious start to one day being free from the grasp of Achievements.  Do I still check them when I start a new game?  Yes, I'm afraid so.  Do I still get a tingly sensation whenever an Achiement pops or a Trophie chimes?  Yes.  But do I really care about them any more?  For the first time ever, I can hold my head up high, and say with a fair amount of certainty that no, I do not care about them anymore.

P.S.  While this happened on PSN, no such luck occurred on the Xbox side.  Fortunately, I absolutely hate the new Xbone interface.  Where as the 360 has their achievements lined up all neat in rows, the Xbone makes each achivement a garish icon which seems to take up a quarter of the screen.  Just scrolling through the list for a single game is an exercise in wasting time.  I'm hoping that this will one day allow me to just say 'screw it' to Achievements.