I have an affinity for trophy hunting. I will spend countless hours with a game trying to collect all the secrets, kill certain bad guys a certain way, and do a something while doing another something so that I can get all the trophies, and maybe get that oh so shiny Platinum. I’ll also be the first one to admit that I sometimes suck at video games. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but my controller-hand-eye coordination is not always the best. You certainly won’t catch me playing Call of Duty online with a remotely acceptable K/D ratio.

Sometimes the problem I run into while trophy hunting is the fact that sometimes my skills are just not good enough to get a certain trophy, and that’s okay. I will never platinum Bioshock Infinite because 1999 mode will never happen. I will never finish a time trail fast enough to get the top tier trophy that goes with it. And I’m fine with that. What I’m not fine with, however, are multiplayer exclusive trophies that keep me from my platinum, not because I can’t get them due to personal skill, but because they are either way too much of a grind, or would require me to spend real, hard earned money to get them.

I recently ran into two games that have ruined my platinum chances, both for different reasons, and I am just not very happy about it. The first is Just Dance 4, a game I won off the Twitters over Christmas. I love dancing games, and so was excited to have one to play, and of course earn trophies from. However, looking through the trophy list I realized that in order to get the platinum (which I totally could do, putting the time in) I would need 3 more Move controllers. Seriously? Who owns 4 Move controllers?! Theres about 2 or 3 trophies that require teams or 4 versus games, and would take maybe about 20 minutes to complete. Locking out the platinum to the majority of the players because they don’t want to or can’t spend an additional 100$ on more Move controllers seems unfair. I’m not saying don’t have the trophies – sure, put them in, but locking them to the platinum is a frustrating element.

The second game is Tomb Raider. I can hear the collective groan coming from the internet, because the crappiness of the multiplayer component of this game is something not lost on anyone. Of the 51 trophies there are to collect, 15 of them are linked to multiplayer. Some aren’t too bad – catch an enemy in a snare trap, kill 10 enemies in multiplayer with your melee attack – things you most likely will get without trying. Then there’s this:

What. I. No.

These aren’t necessarily hard, but they are time consuming to the point of exhaustion. If this was a popular game like Call of Duty it wouldn’t be a problem, but this isn’t Call of Duty. It isn’t even close. The multiplayer servers are pretty dead, and they have been since the first week the game was released. I sat in a queue for 10 minutes last week trying to pick up a match, and after I finally got in after 1 round it booted me because everyone else dropped. Even if I wanted to put in the time to get to Prestige 3 to buy all the upgrades, I don’t think that I logistically could.

Sometimes I feel like I’m whining unjustly. Trophies aren’t a right, they’re a privilege, they don’t change the game in any way so why worry about them, yes yes yes I know. But at some point when trophies have become a staple in the gaming community, certain expectations can be held. Trophies have now become more than just a fun addition to games – they’ve become a part of gaming. People are self proclaimed “trophy junkies”, choose games only based on the trophy list, and argue about what is more important: overall trophy level or platinum counts. You can be judged on what platinums are in your collection, and whether or not you’re playing “baby games” like Hannah Montana to get your numbers up. They are even sometimes linked to the storyline, adding a punchline to a joke that wouldn’t have the same effect without the pop.

By adding next to impossible multiplayer trophies it’s being taken out of the hands of the player, and making them rely on others to achieve something individual. And in a world where trophies are becoming an important subculture to how people game and what they enjoy, it’s a big pain in the ass when you know you won’t achieve it because of reasons outside capability and skill.

Discuss:

What multiplayer trophies give you the most trouble, and what do you think about them in general? What changes would you make so multiplayer trophies weren’t what they are now?

Let me know in the comments below!