On Achievement
Achievement is an effect in video games where the player completes a task, often a desired goal or mission. The act of achieving something is immensely rewarding and satisfying which can lead to it becoming addictive. Some of the most popular achievements in videogames are those that deal with gameplay like unlocking all the levels in Crash Bandicoot or defeating all enemies in bullet hells like Touhou Project.
Gameplay goals are often called "milestones" by achievement hunters because they usually take many hours of dedicated play, dedication, skill to reach as well as natural luck and patience for variables to go their way for them to occur during gameplay. These are more often referred to as "statis" by those in the community of achievement hunters due to the fact that they are not time sensitive like most of the other achievements featured on this website.
The current "milestone" or achievement relevant goal of most players trying to collect all achievements right now is Super Smash Bros 4's 1000G. This is after a number of delays which has caused a lot of frustration for players getting them soon. I got my 1000G several months after the game's release, maybe around 160 hours into play and I am actually still playing and trying to get more.
In the book, "Infinite Game Design", by Raph Koster, which could be considered an achievement hunting guide of sorts, the author goes into great detail about why players would often be compelled to play games to the point of obsession and why they are so addictive. To sum it up; they are addictive because they provide players with these achievements.
Achievements offer a form of reward for playing as well as helping players achieve goals that were impossible or difficult to achieve at first glance such as reaching level 100 on all characters in "Goldeneye 007" or clearing a high ranked mission in a bullet hell shooter like "Danmaku Unlimited 2".
When a player earns an achievement, they are awarded a badge and/or points in their profile. These are also displayed to other players and can be used to prove that the player owns it. There is even rare achievements that do special things like unlocking an extra chapter of a game or making a game character available for use in multiplayer or co-op play.
Achievements were originally introduced as an experiment by Microsoft with their first console, the Xbox 360. The first title to feature achievements was the Xbox Live Arcade title called "Hexic HD". It was discovered that achievements greatly increased sales of games despite being free to everyone who purchased an Xbox 360. The sale of the Xbox 360 console along with the sale of Microsoft's online service, Xbox Live increased and became profitable.
Due to their success, achievements have become a staple in most games nowadays due to the fact that they are appealing to not only casual gamers, but also to achievement hunters and people like myself who are extremely addicted to them.
One of my favorite sources for new achievements is G4's website called Achievement Hunter. I highly recommend that all achievement hunters go there if you want a preview or guide on how to get new achievements in your games. The site isn't as good as it was when it was run by the original founder but I still enjoy it anyways.
The fact that achievements are earned for playing games means that there will always be more of them. Other than statis, there is always going to be new achievements to get from updates, DLC and/or new releases. I personally have more than 5,000 achievement points in my gamertag and I don't see myself stopping that any time soon.
Achievement hunters like myself tend to slow down in our hunt for achievements when a game we own hasn't been updated or released DLC but everyone usually catches up again when the next update is released. Some people tend to take interest in unlocking achievements for older games like "Halo Reach" since it's end of life and no one really plays it.
The number of achievements in a game is going to vary depending on the type of game and its genre. Single player games will usually have more while multiplayer games may have less due to the fact that they are shared with other players.
In terms of difficulty, getting some achievements usually depends on whether or not the achievement was made easy by the developers or if it was meant to be hard. Some developers specifically make achievements hard even if there aren't supposed to be, just for the fun of it or to force players into co-op or multiplayer mode. An example would be the "Ride The Pony" achievement in "Gears Of War". It was intended to be hard but was made so due to the developers wanting players to play with a friend.
There may be times where the developers may make achievements hard because there is a lack of situational awareness on the players part, like a particular achievement in "Sonic Heroes" which requires the player to headbutt three enemies without getting hit. This is an achievement that you can get easily by moving your character in front of the enemies, pressing X, and bam! You got it! This is what often happens when developers make achievements very easy to obtain.
If you are looking for a guide on how to earn every achievement in this game I recommend you go here. The guide is called "Achievements In A Nutshell". There are a few articles that have been written on Xbox360Achievements.com as well so that is another good place to look.
The good thing about achievements is that they can be obtained at any time and they don't have a set time limit to them. You can collect your achievement, earn it and then put the game down just like you would put down the objective in a quicktime event or a god mode run. This leaves the possibility of getting them later without having to keep playing it over and over again which I personally like as well.
I remember when I was younger and I would try to play through games with every possible achievement unlocked. I would finish the game, unlock all achievements, and then go on to play other games. If a new update or new DLC came out, I'd go back and replay the game to get those achievements again. Back then, I didn't know what I was doing. After having recently come out of this phase in my life, I realized that by replaying a game for every achievement you are losing alot of gaming time between two or more games.
Instead of quickly going through a game for its' achievements, you should really stick with one game for awhile and work your way to getting all the achievements before moving on to another.
This is what I am currently doing with "Gears Of War 3" and it works very well for me. I am playing through the game for achievements, keeping my eye on the newest DLC that has been announced, and then working my way through "Halo Reach" and "Gears Of War 3" when their DLC comes out. I can get rid of two games at once with one game since both of them are released at the same time but are not made by the same company. This can work out very well for you if you plan to do this type of thing.
Conclusion
While some people may not see the value in achievements, I feel like they are a good incentive to play games longer and to try harder. Achievements allow you to get involved with a game and make them more personal. You can work hard and make it a challenge or you can just casually play through the game and enjoy yourself. They are there for everyone no matter what type of person you are.
They also push developers into creating better games. If they know that their game is going to feature achievements, they will have no choice but to make it better then before so that the achievement hunters will have an easier time getting them all.