The concept of being rewarded for completing specific tasks has long been a part of gaming. Players could unlock new characters, concept arts, developer videos, and so on. However, these were limited to the confines of each respective game. Microsoft changed that in 2005 when they revealed their Gamerscore system for the Xbox 360. Players could earn “achievements” throughout multiple games, and the points based on those achievements could build up a player’s Gamerscore.
This concept proved so popular that Sony would introduce their own achievement system in 2008 in the form of “trophies” for the PlayStation 3 and would carry the system over for each console released since. Unlike achievements, trophies were split into four rarity grades: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. The platinum trophy is only earned when a player earns all the other trophies in the base game (not including DLC trophies added later). Over a decade later, the trophy hunting community remains incredibly active. Despite this, changes to the system have been minimal from its inception, and for some, the system could use a little freshening up.
10 A Platinum Trophy In Every Game Provides Much Needed Consistency
At the top of most trophy hunter’s wishlist is the desire for every game to have a platinum trophy. Not every game does, and this creates a lot of inconsistency in what does and doesn’t get a platinum trophy. A game such as My Name is Mayo has a platinum trophy even though the entirety of the game is hilariously tapping a mayonnaise jar over and over again. On the flip side, a game like Resident Evil 4 does not have a platinum trophy despite frequently being cited as among the best games ever created.
These calls for consistency intensified when, starting with the Xbox One, all Xbox games could release with the base 1,000 Gamerscore that was once exclusive to retail games.
9 A Dynamic Trophy Grade System Could Provide Consistency In Another Area
Another area with consistency issues is what constitutes a bronze, silver, and gold trophy. In theory, bronze trophies should be easy to obtain, and gold should be difficult, but that’s certainly not the case. There are gold trophies that require next to no effort, while there are bronze trophies with requirements only the most skilled could ever dream of achieving.
A dynamic system that continually shifts a trophy’s grade based on how many players have obtained it can give difficult-to-obtain trophies far more weight. It wouldn’t be simple to implement, but if it were, it could make difficult trophies more enticing to pursue.
8 It’d Be Great If Something Was Done About Unobtainable Trophies
It’s not fun booting up an old game only to find that the servers have been shut down, locking players out of a significant portion of the game. It’s also not fun playing a game and finding out that parts of the game don’t function the way they should. For trophy hunters, that can mean not being able to platinum or 100% a game.
Mass Effect: Andromeda took a thoughtful approach to trophy design by allowing their multiplayer trophies to be earned by fulfilling single-player requirements instead. It’s a shame that such trophy designs never took off. Integrating alternative requirements in case of server closure or, in an extreme approach, outright deleting unobtainable trophies can solve one of the trophy system’s biggest flaws.
7 Trophy Suspension Would Allow Players To Try A Game Out Before It’s Added To Their Trophy List
Trying new things is often exciting. However, for some trophy hunters, this can cause some anxiety because if they don’t like a game, that trophy list may forever be on their profile. Or maybe such a trophy list was added to the profile by way of a sibling or child booting a game up. While players are allowed to delete a trophy list if no trophies have been earned, earning a single trophy will keep the game on the profile forever.
A simple setting that allows trophies to not sync for a set time period, such as an hour, can alleviate much of that anxiety. This can allow many trophy hunters to try a game out, and if they don’t like it, they can delete that game from their profile.
6 More Customization Options Can Makes Trophies Unique To The Player
When a player earns a trophy, a little notification pops up. On the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, players can allow the system to take a screenshot for any trophy earned automatically. On PS5, players can also automatically record a short clip of those moments. However, players have little control over how these notifications and images look or sound. This can be especially irritating because PS5 trophy screenshots have a banner that covers a large portion of the screen (this is not how the notification appears when a trophy is earned in-game).
Allowing players to select from a range of colors, designs, and even sounds can create a truly personalized experience to suit their playing style, whether they like trophies or not.
5 Universal Trophy Progress Takes The Guessing Away From Older Systems
One of the biggest additions to the trophy hunting system entering the PS5 was allowing players to see their progress toward earning certain trophies, such as collectibles, and even allow them to determine if the trophy they’re pursuing is glitched. A similar system had already been implemented for Xbox’s achievements and had been near or at the top of trophy hunter’s wishlists for years.
The problem is that this is exclusive to the PS5. Previous systems don’t get this luxury. If such an update is possible, then incorporating a progress display to older systems would be a welcomed change.
4 Trophy Options For The PlayStation Store Can Ensure Trophy Hunters Can Easily Find Their Next Target
The PlayStation Store has a variety of search and filter options. However, none of them relate to trophies. It would be a simple addition to the storefront to allow players to search for games based on their desired trophies parameters. Are players looking for games with a platinum trophy? Games with over a hundred trophies? Games with a high completion rate? Games with a low completion rate?
Adding trophy filters, parameters, and the ability to view a game’s trophy list in-store can decrease the amount of time trophy hunters spend researching and more time browsing games that fit their current desires.
3 Full PlayStation Library With Trophy Support Would Be A Dream Come True
In March 2021, a Sony patent was published that was designed around allowing older games, such as PlayStation 2 games, to become equipped with trophies through emulation. While some older games, such as Final Fantasy VII and Bully, do have trophies, these are in the form of new releases rather than retrofitting them through backward compatibility or emulation.
If Sony were to create an upgraded version of PlayStation Now that includes libraries from PS2, PlayStation Portable, and so on — which is currently rumored to be happening — this patent could allow games to automatically come with trophies and breathe new life to older classics.
2 A Stat Page Can Be A Fascinating Way To Explore One’s Gaming History
Trophies tell a story. They tell a player’s highs and lows, likes and dislikes, and overall paint a good profile of who that player is. One aspect of this that is missing is a stat page. A stat page could allow players to view their trophies differently, such as seeing the range of genres and franchises.
Another fun addition with this could be a museum, or hall of fame, of sorts where players can view their “trophy case” and select which trophies they can display front and center.
1 A Concrete Reward System Can Give Greater Incentive To Pursue Trophies
Currently, trophies are primarily a source of personal gratification, bragging rights, and replay value. While Sony Rewards previously had a system that allowed players to earn reward points by earning trophies, it wasn’t a well-executed system.
A reward system, specific to PlayStation and independent of the banking world, can create plenty of incentives to pursue trophies and possibly even provide trophy hunters with additional goals to achieve, such as earning rare platinum trophies. There’s a lot of fun that can be had with an incentive-based program. As the gaming hobby is getting more and more expensive, a way to alleviate some costs can go a long way.
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