User:Yusei48/sandbox

= Rewards In Video games =

In gaming there are a multitude of reward types that can vary up the game for the player in a number of ways, some are found within the game itself added in by the games developers, some are added in via outside sources (achievements/trophies for example) and some are more abstract in their rewards system (guilds in an MMO RPG such as FFXIV Online offer rewards through community endeavours ). The different types of achievements can satisfy a wide range of player types to help them gain more enjoyment from a particular game or system.

In Game Rewards
The most common method of reward to be found in video games are the rewards which are developed into the game itself. rewards can include finding better equipment for a character, unlocking levels, collectables, extra abilities or levelling up a character online, the rewards though aren't limited to something that can be obtained or tracked as story progression, travelling to new parts of a game world or games with social mechanics are also considered common rewards as well.

Achievements
In the video gaming community unlocking an Achievement, also can be known as trophy, bade, in-game achievement, award, stamps, medal or challenge, is a meta style game which takes place outside of the game being played in question without being limited to the games parameters. Fulfilling the requirements listed on an achievement and having those requirements acknowledged by a game or other method is known as 'unlocking an achievement'. Rather than using in game rewards or objectives to define an achievement objective, such as a quest line or mission objective which can directly effect the gameplay, Management of achievements typically is done outside of the game software but there are exceptions.

Early Achievement Implementation
The first idea for achievements can be linked back to Activision's patches which were implemented in 1982 as a reward system for high scores. This system asked for players to take a physical picture of their high score display on the television which the game was played on and then mail in the photo to get back a physical iron on style patch similar to the scout patches that Boy scouts earn. The system was set up for multiple games developed by Activision across multiple game systems such as the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Intellevision, Colecovision and Commodore 64. Each game which qualified for earning the patches had instruction within their manuals on how to send in high scores for games and send them in to Activision. Support for this reward system ended in 1983 with future games not implementing the system.

sending in pictures for high scores was also used for magazines such as Nintendo Power which documented peoples achievements for a variety of different games and would sometimes send prizes for different conditions.

E-Motion was a game on the Amiga from 1990 and was one of the earliest games that had some form of achievements programmed into the game itself. The game called these 'secret bonuses'. The game had five bonuses, for achievements such as completing a level without rotating to the right, or completely failing certain levels.

Modern Achievement Implementation
in 2005 Microsoft developed the first easily accessible, multi-game achievement system with its Xbox 360 gamer score which extended to its games for windows live service on PC in 2007. Other games before this system had their own 'secret bonuses' but the gamer score was widely considered the first recognisable achievement system. In 2010 Microsoft's mobile division also added in achievements to their windows phones which included Xbox Live support, supported systems included Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8.

In 2007 Valve developed their own platform based achievement system for Steam, multiple games were added with some games rewarding players with in-game items up completion of specific achievements (such as Team Fortress 2 hats ).

In 2008 Sony implemented their own achievement system with 'Trophies' which was added to the PlayStation 3. The PlayStation Portable system did not offer support for trophies though Sony's successor portable system the PlayStation Vita, released in 2011, added universal support for the trophy system. Sony's PlayStation 4 followed suit with adding in trophy support as well.

Achievement purpose
The main goal for an achievement system is to extend longevity of a game for the player and add extra goals for the player to complete. This can include beating a game on a particular difficulty, finding secrets within the game or finding all collectable strewn about in the game. The achievements themselves don't add any benefit to the player or make things easier (like upgrading stats or equipment in a RPG like Final Fantasy VII) but are more akin to secondary objectives which can change the way a game is played (such as the pacifist trophy in Deus Ex: Human Revolution )

While not directly benefiting the game itself the motivation for earning achievements mainly involves a meta style game of players maximising their own cross-title score (gamerscore for Xbox Live, Trophy level for PSN and Steam showcase for Steam achievements) and receiving recognition for earned achievements/trophies of their own gaming profile.