Suggestion: Achievements.

[jacklul]

for tha same reason people get trophies or climb mountains or brag that their goofy idea was liked by designers of a cool game, because you earned it and even if it seems stupid or minor or insignificant to other people, in your heart it's yours

 

Looking at PS DS trophies: Unlock X character, challenging as ****.

How would example achievements look like?

Kill 100 spiders, kill MacTusk and steal his Tam o' Shanter, survive one game year. Again, challenging as ****.

 

There is nothing more challenging in DS than surviving itself, no achievements needed.

Achievements are just plain stupid thing in today's times, people are using guides how to get them all and don't even challenge themselves to achieve them legitimately. Look at all those 100% achievements groups with guides and stuff, people even use tools to unlock achievements they are unable to achieve because they are too noob at the game.

[Devon Aster]

Those who want achievements for Don't Starve really should read the article, if they haven't.  Whether you agree or disagree with its conclusions, it does give very good insight on why the developers chose not to do it and answers a lot of the initial questions that tend to get asked.

 

Achievements can have a detrimental effect on sandbox style play, because as soon as the developer assigns a goal they're pushing one playstyle over another.  Players will adopt that style to gain the achievement, rather than working on their own strategies.  Instead of finding their own individual way of dealing with the world the game presents to them, they tend to opt for whatever will maximize their chances of satisfying that goal.  Worse, they may stop feeling any sense of accomplishment for the small victories along the way and players might dismiss any accomplishments that don't have a shiny badge to go along with it.

 

And it's not as if the game is without its own achievements and bragging rights.  How many topics have there been of people showing off their bases, of how many days they've survived, of the chests full of loot, or how they tanked a giant with a spear, a log suit, and a whole lot of hope?  We even have Wes and Maxwell as trophy characters, to show we've completed some extra step of the game.

 

The difference is that those are mostly player-defined goals.  We, the players, decided there was some worth in building interesting, well organized, or big bases.  We are the ones who decided surviving X amount of days meant anything beyond the character unlocks.  We are the ones who think its worthwhile to congratulate someone for taking down a giant with some well laid out plan, whether or not that plan was one we would use ourselves.

 

Only the extra characters besides Wilson could be considered rewards offered by the game for meeting some set standard.  And it's most likely they'll be unlocked through dying, which is a generic enough goal for players to achieve it via many interesting means.  Yes, they can also be unlocked by teleporting to another world, but I think most new players are going to suffer a few deaths before they manage that method.  Unlocking Wes and Maxwell can also be done using different strategies.

 

Right now, players have the freedom to feel pride in whatever they decide is worth feeling proud about.  The newbie is just as free to feel accomplished for making it through their first hound wave, or their first summer, or for starting work on their first ever base, as the veteran who has pushed past 500 days in RoG, or just jumped to their 10th consecutive world, or has reworked their map to their own vision.  Only a curmudgeon would go into the newbie's thread or respond to their post by putting their snoot into the air and saying "Come back when you've accomplished something worthwhile".  Fortunately, I don't think I've seen too much of that.  Usually, the newbie gets congrats and maybe some advice and older players get to remember back when they were new, too.

 

The problem with shinies is that, too often, those with the shinies start looking down on those without.  It can foster a feeling in the shiny owners that they're better than their fellow players, even when they don't know the reasons why someone might not have gained the same shiny.

 

For an example on all of this, I can run rings around giants.  It's been ages since one has even come close to threatening my bases, let alone destroying them.  And I very rarely die to them.  Yet, I'm crap at combat.  I can't kite worth spit.  I've tried, but it's down to reaction time and coordination which I just don't have.  I either leave them in the dust screens away from my valuable resources, or I bait them into fighting other mobs or lead them into my field of tooth traps.  I don't deal with giants any less effectively than someone who equips themself with a hambat and armor and either tanks or kites them.  But it's unlikely I'd end up with a shiny badge, because I'm pretty sure using mobs or traps don't count towards a character's personal kills.  I'd be penalized for my personal playstyle, the one that works best for me, and be forced into another to get that 'official achievement'.

 

The way it is now, players make their own goals and decide what's fun and what matters to them.  Players choose what playstyle suits them and deal with the game's challenges in their own personal ways.  The company made the decision to step back, so that players are the ones who decide what's worth bragging about and what they feel proud of, rather than dictating to them what they should strive for and what is valid as an achievement.