I'm not a terribly competitive person. When I play Scrabble, I don't even like keeping score; I just think it's fun to make words (yeah, that's how nerdy I am). If anything, I compete against myself, always trying to best my best, to hone my skills and craft and excel for personal gain--but not at another's expense.




So in-game trophies, and the people who so desperately seek them out, have baffled me for quite some time. I know individuals who purchase and play games solely for the gain of a few trophies. I mean, I understand the concept of earning something for your efforts, but what ever could possess someone to haul out the cash and hours of time for ANYTHING with the name "Hannah Montana" on it? "Well, it has trophies, so..."

Yeah, so..."SO WHAT?"

The main echo of disconcertion stems from a distinct feeling that playing a game driven only by the need to "possess" a tiny, binary stamp of represented achievement makes gaming sound...incredibly NOT fun, more akin to hard labor than any kind of escapist entertainment or thrilling ride to hone a virtual set of skills or pursuit of a game's resolution or weapon upgrades or anything else one comes across whilst playing a game that makes a game worth playing.

To summarize, I just didn't fucking get it.

But then something strange happened. I purchased and dove headlong into playing inFamous and found I not only enjoyed the shit out of it, but was actually good at it. I normally suck ass at almost every game I play, which doesn't deter me from playing (you get used to self-afflicted indignation), yet still--it was thrilling to encounter a game I'd been not only longing for but found a particular level of passionate accomplishment I've seldom encountered.

I hadn't even been paying attention to the trophies until a friend on PSN noted I had 75% completion of inFamous's long list of badges, and I let it happen. Suddenly and without warning, I became a trophy whore. After all, I was only missing 5 of them to attain Platinum, a goal I'd never considered before nor assigned any value. I was only 3 stunts, 2 blast shards, and a few other moves away from CONQUERING this game, from leaping out of my chair in sheer and utter victory over Sucker Punch and Empire City and my own consistent, reliable self-abasement in the gaming world.

I set to work.

The thing is, with inFamous anyway, nearly all of the trophies stem from items and/or actions that are of value to the game itself--that either increase your powers, your skill, your knowledge, and your overall ability to play the game and kick its frakkin ass. When I first started playing Killzone 2 (note--I am and imagine will remain a dead Recruit in that game), the first hint of trophy I encountered instructed me to locate a set of Helghast emblems to shoot on walls throughout the level. There was no other reason or reward for shooting these down, but I could just imagine the elation in cries of, "OHHH fuck yeah--here's an easy one!" But what was the point?

I'm still taut on the fence between deeming trophies utterly worthless symbols of virtual hauteur or as marks on a path to give one goals and direction within a game to enhance the overall experience. Those whom I know that strive for trophies in a for-the-sake-of, manic neurosis still continue to baffle me, as do gamers who refuse to speak with--let alone play with--others lacking at least one platinum, but I believe, perhaps, I've learned something of a point in striving towards excellence for my own benefit. I've found the enjoyment of pursuit, not the starvation of swollen, cock-strapped arrogance.

I earned my inFamous platinum today. I still want to play the hell out of that son of a bitch.