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[LectureMaster]

Stroke of genius? How one developer earned over £250k from games made in 30 minutes

More than 120,000 PlayStation users have paid £3.29 to pet virtual hamsters, dogs and beavers. What’s behind this madness?

www.theguardian.com

For folks unaware, those stroke games are basically pay to pop trophies. You click the x buttons for like 100 times and then a platinum pops, takes just minutes.



Those shovelware really plagued the ecosystem, Sony needs to figure out a better way to take stronger actions.

 

[Banjo64]

Good on him/them. Saw a gap in the market and made a lot of cash.

 

[skit_data]

Wow and here I am ashamed of my 2 accidental Telltale game platinums

 

[Guilty_AI]

I'm more surprised there are people who'd go that far for trophies.

Why? Just, why?

 

[poppabk]

More evidence that trophies and achievements are a blight on gaming.

 

[Danjin44]

I'm more surprised there are people who'd go that far for trophies.

Why? Just, why?

For me it rare go for platinum trophy even among the game I really like.....I usually go for platinum when they are straight forward and fun like most FROM games.

 

[AmuroChan]

I'm more surprised there are people who'd go that far for trophies.

Why? Just, why?

Mostly e-bragging rights, and some of the trophy sites out there hold monthly trophy war competitions with prizes. Also, a while back you could earn PSN credits by earning trophies. That program was short lived unfortunately LOL.

 

[LectureMaster]

I'm more surprised there are people who'd go that far for trophies.

Why? Just, why?

ikemenzi's PSN Profile

Level 2,585 • 18,513 Games • 8,723 Platinum

psnprofiles.com

This is the world #1 trophy guy. He has 18000 games played and probably 10000 of them are those games. It's a crazy world people get obssesed to any thing.

 

[Alebrije]

It's a Nice Game, waiting for second part Stroke the Pussy...

 

[LectureMaster]

Mostly e-bragging rights, and some of the trophy sites out there hold monthly trophy war competitions with prizes. Also, a while back you could earn PSN credits by earning trophies. That program was short lived unfortunately LOL.

I earned a good amount about $150 gift card in the old reward system. Miss those good old days.

 

[AmuroChan]

I earned a good amount about $150 gift card in the old reward system. Miss those good old days.

Yes indeed. I think I earned $300-$400 worth. It was too easy to abuse and that's probably why Sony had to shut it down so quickly.

 

[skit_data]

It's a Nice Game, waiting for second part Stroke the Pussy...

Oh that just unlocked a long forgotten memory of playing the flash game "spank the monkey" on ebaumsworld.

Using an old mechanical mouse, taking out the ball and using the x-axis roller you could make that little shit reach pretty impressive speeds.

 

[kazuyamishima]

Yes, there are a TON of trophy hunters (whores).

 

[DeepEnigma]

Smart grift.

 

[Kerotan]

They've banned these now. I shamelessly gave this crowd like 7 Euro.

 

[LectureMaster]

Advertising our own trophy community for any unware folks. Good stuff, really pleasant to check out there to see what people are working on and have accomplished.

PlayStation Trophy Club

For all of you with the same trophy hunting illness as me. What platinum are you currently working on? Post your latest plats here too! Could also use this thread for boosting or partners for any co-op or multiplayer trophies. My last plat was Miles Morales. I’m currently working on...

www.neogaf.com

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I have a friend irl who is also a game developer, and you'd think he should know better, but he's straight up addicted to platinum-ing every game he starts playing on his PS5.

A recent example is when he was super hyped and chose priority shipping to get the physical copy of Persona 3 Reload early in the morning on launch day to start playing it asap. And guess what? My bro wasted the entire Friday and Saturday of the P3R launch weekend because he first needed to platinum that god-awful New Tales from the Borderlands which he started a couple of days before he got his P3R copy. Apparently the game has unskippable scenes, and he had to get the final ending which is required for the platinum trophy which took him an extra 10 - 15h of playtime... I really don't understand it, and I'm so glad I don't really care about getting all the achievements/trophies in the games I play on console, and I'm also glad that the Switch doesn't have an achievement system.

 

[LectureMaster]

They've banned these now. I shamelessly gave this crowd like 7 Euro.

They are not banned in PSN store yet, just won't be showing on the front page as new released games anymore. That's why I said Sony needs to act stronger.

 

[Kerotan]

They are not banned in PSN store yet, just won't be showing on the front page as new released games anymore. That's why I said Sony needs to act stronger.

I think they're not allowed release games like that anymore or at least it won't have a platinum.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I'm more surprised there are people who'd go that far for trophies.

Why? Just, why?

At one time it paid off with Sony Rewards. Now? Just addiction.

Now, I never played these types of games with Sony Rewards, but there was a good 3-4 years I never had to buy games or pay close to full price due to playing games and getting very generous and infinitely repeatable rewards for earning trophies with n0 cooldowns to limits.

There was a reason they nuked that program, lol.

 

[dottme]

I really don’t care. If they want to pay to increase some useless internet point, good for them.
It doesn’t impact yourself in any way, so let them do what they want.

 

[LectureMaster]

I think they're not allowed release games like that anymore or at least it won't have a platinum.

Oh that's correct. But they really bypassed that by adding more "gameplay", in addition to smash buttons, I think there are new games that require your move the sticks as well.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

I have 58 platinums and i am proud to say that NONE of them are from garbage like this

 

[SlimySnake]

Time to become a video game developer.

Watch out Drunckmann.

 

[midnightAI]

I have a friend irl who is also a game developer, and you'd think he should know better, but he's straight up addicted to platinum-ing every game he starts playing on his PS5.

A recent example is when he was super hyped and chose priority shipping to get the physical copy of Persona 3 Reload early in the morning on launch day to start playing it asap. And guess what? My bro wasted the entire Friday and Saturday of the P3R launch weekend because he first needed to platinum that god-awful New Tales from the Borderlands which he started a couple of days before he got his P3R copy. Apparently the game has unskippable scenes, and he had to get the final ending which is required for the platinum trophy which took him an extra 10 - 15h of playtime... I really don't understand it, and I'm so glad I don't really care about getting all the achievements/trophies in the games I play on console, and I'm also glad that the Switch doesn't have an achievement system.

Isn't that his choice though? Unless if affects health (physical or mental), or causes other problems like skipping work or other appointments, neglecting friends and family etc. then I don't see a problem?

I don't care for platinums at all unless it's for games I really like and want to play more of (Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us 2, Horizon: Forbidden West being tha latest ones), but I do get the appeal from a completionist point of view (getting them for bragging rights for dumb shit like this this is stupid)

 

[Elysium44]

I have 58 platinums and i am proud to say that NONE of them are from garbage like this

Same with me with seven. Not many, but all good ones, hard earned. These shitty shovelware games devalue the whole system and Sony should be ashamed for allowing them on their store.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Isn't that his choice though? Unless if affects health (physical or mental), or causes other problems like skipping work or other appointments, neglecting friends and family etc. then I don't see a problem?

I don't care for platinums at all unless it's for games I really like and want to play more of (Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us 2, Horizon: Forbidden West being tha latest ones), but I do get the appeal from a completionist point of view (getting them for bragging rights for dumb shit like this this is stupid)

He's a grown man, so of course it's his choice, and yeah there's no actual problem per se as long as it's not affecting his irl responsibilities. I was merely telling a story about how trophy hunting can lead to these types of instances where it's clear that the person trying to platinum the game is not enjoying themselves at all, but still pushing through for the sake of that platinum trophy pop.

 

[Kerotan]

Oh that's correct. But they really bypassed that by adding more "gameplay", in addition to smash buttons, I think there are new games that require your move the sticks as well.

I've noticed some games like the tomb raider don't even have a platinum

 

[Kindela]

Jesus Christ what an absolute legend. I am truly jealous I haven't come up with something that good. Godspeed my good man, and the best of luck to you and your family.

 

[Moses85]

I'm more surprised there are people who'd go that far for trophies.

Why? Just, why?

 

[TYRiAX]

When I transferred my FF7 Remake save to the PS5 version to play the DLC there, and the Platinum auto-popped, I felt that was unearned even thought I put 100 hours into the PS4 version. So yeah you can imagine how I feel about 30 second Platinum games! But if people want to fill up their profiles with that garbage, that's their business - I just wont be able to take that person seriously.

 

[LectureMaster]

I've noticed some games like the tomb raider don't even have a platinum

Yeah, a Sony insider told me that in the past, only games with physical release can have platinums. That's why some critically acclaimed games don't have plats such as Valiant Hearts.

But that policy has certainly changed now as the push of all digital future.

 

[Esppiral]

People really IS in need to fullfill their ego lol.

 

[Rentahamster]

Who wants to play Stroke the Hamster co-op with me?

 

[IFireflyl]

I have 58 platinums and i am proud to say that NONE of them are from garbage like this

That's right, guys. Nothing but hentai game trophies for sloppyjoe_gamer . He's not going to stoop to this weird level. He's going to get his trophies the old fashioned way: slapping fake titties. You do your thing, man!

 

[ReBurn]

Good for them. If people want to pay to make a burrito jump to get a digital bauble then I'm glad someone was able to fill that niche.

 

[Kilau]

Hey that’s cool for them. I know it makes some people mad, trophy/achievement deflation. It’s all fair if the platforms don’t care. I used to really care about trophies but I’m way over that now, I have a ton of unsynced trophies stuck on my PS3 for 3 years now.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

That's right, guys. Nothing but hentai game trophies for sloppyjoe_gamer . He's not going to stoop to this weird level. He's going to get his trophies the old fashioned way: slapping fake titties. You do your thing, man!

Adorable....but no

 

[Arsic]

I'm more surprised there are people who'd go that far for trophies.

Why? Just, why?

Back in the Xbox 360 days I made a lot of online buddies in the Halo 3/CoD4 days of open voice to play games with.

One was a guy named Raije9. He bought every game and always 100%ed achievements. The gamer score was insane… it made no sense. He played any shovelware. Had a wife and kids but this was his “thing.” Like speed runners who glitch it makes no sense to me but that’s their thing.

 

[DryvBy]

It's cheapened platinums for sure.

 

[Atrus]

Since you can actually see where the trophies come from, shouldn’t that be seen as a mark of shame?

I’ve always seen the value based on what you completed, not how many.

 

[Crayon]

what am i doing with my life

 

[NoLootBoxDev]

OK..... I guess:

 

[justiceiro]

It's impressive how stupidity generates stupidity. On the surface sounds good for everyone, but actually dulls everyone involved. The gamer that buy that trying to get a hit of dopamine out of the platinum notification (but doesn't really get it at this point). The developer that create these games providing stead income in a quick manner, but turn the dev on a machine that doesn't achieve anything. And Sony that can collect the money and boast about having plenty of games, but by allowing such games, most gamers will avoid browsing and buying games there.

 

[Kenpachii]

Probably a trophy hunter himself and realized there are community's out there searching for easy trophy's then made a whole bunch of these games.

Smart guy.

 

[Puscifer]

More evidence that trophies and achievements are a blight on gaming.

Literally can count how many I've seen since Sony and Steam decided to implement options to turn them off. Crazy how at one point people were saying Achievements/Trophies counted as "replay value"

 

[Jsisto]

ikemenzi's PSN Profile

Level 2,585 • 18,513 Games • 8,723 Platinum

psnprofiles.com

This is the world #1 trophy guy. He has 18000 games played and probably 10000 of them are those games. It's a crazy world people get obssesed to any thing.

Absolutely blows my mind that any real person would do this. We need to find and study this man.

 

[peish]

Thanks for the heads up, it seems an easy grift that don’t burn my conscience

 

[ahtlas7]

Still a better game than Suicide Squad.

 

[Hypereides]

Advertising our own trophy community for any unware folks. Good stuff, really pleasant to check out there to see what people are working on and have accomplished.

PlayStation Trophy Club

For all of you with the same trophy hunting illness as me. What platinum are you currently working on? Post your latest plats here too! Could also use this thread for boosting or partners for any co-op or multiplayer trophies. My last plat was Miles Morales. I’m currently working on...

www.neogaf.com

My man. Spreading the good word.

Since you can actually see where the trophies come from, shouldn’t that be seen as a mark of shame?

I’ve always seen the value based on what you completed, not how many.

Pretty much. If it was 8000 ultra rare trophies then it would've been a different story. There are folks like Danny_Johansen who deserve respect for their hard earned accomplishments. That Ikemenzi guy doesn't.