View source for Handicap Achievements

[[Category:Achievement Patterns]]
[[Category:Patterns]]
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[[Category:Patterns created on the Wiki]]
[[Category:Staffan's current workpage]]
''Achievements given for completing some goal while under some type of optional handicap.''

Players who have mastered a specific game, or are so familiar with a game genre that they wish to have an increased challenge from the start of a game, typically need higher levels of difficulty in the gameplay to be able to enjoy the game. Game designers may feel a need to reward these players differently, so that they can feel that the extra skills and efforts they put into such gameplay is acknowledged. While achievements in general are persistent ways of recognizing what players have done in games, [[Handicap Achievements]] provides a means to reward players for completing a game, or a part of a game, in a more complex or difficult way than is normally required.

=== Examples ===
Games with achievement systems and different difficulty settings typically provide different achievements for each of these settings. [[Fallout:New Vegas]] of the [[Fallout series]] provides the ''Hardcore'' achievement for completing the entire game in the mode with the same name where players need to replenish food, water, and sleep regularly<ref name="F:NV"/>. 

In a similar vein, [[Left 4 Dead 2]] provides the ''Still Something to Prove'' for completing all campaigns on expert difficulty, and ''The Real Deal'' for completing any campaign on expert with the added difficulty of the Realism mode (which makes it more difficulty to see where items and other players are).

The action RPG [[Torchlight]] provide ''Beast Slayer II'' and ''Beast Slayer III'' for those players that complete the game on hard or very hard levels instead of the easy or normal levels (which gives ''Beast Slayer I''). Further, [[Torchlight]] has a hardcore mode that does not allow respawning (so one cannot die without ending the game) and gives the achievements ''Hardcore Victor'', ''Hardcore Hero'', ''Hardcore Champion'', or ''Hardcore God'' depending on whether one played on easy, normal, hard, or very hard level (''Perfect Victory'' is also given for any type of game instance completed without a death)<ref name="Torchlight"/>. 

Putting time limits can also provide a means of creating [[Handicap Achievements]]. [[Torchlight]] does this through the two achievements ''Swift Execution'' and ''Speed King'' with requires that the main enemy, Ordrak, is defeated in less than 5 and 8 hours respectively<ref name="Torchlight"/>. Working on a smaller time scale, [[Left 4 Dead 2]] has the achievement ''Bridge over Trebled Slaughter'' for completing the finale of a specific campaign in less than 3 minutes<ref name="L4D2"/>.

Some games provide [[Handicap Achievements]] to players that complete levels, quests, or the entire game without using certain features of the game since these make the game easier. For example, the ''Akimbo Assassin'' achievement in [[Left 4 Dead]] of the [[Left 4 Dead Series]] is awarded for surviving a complete campaign using only pistols and [[Left 4 Dead 2]] provides a similar achievement, ''Confederacy of Crunches'' for doing so using only melee weapons<ref name="L4D"/><ref name="L4D2"/>. Also in [[L4D2]], the ''Guardin' Gnome'' achievement is a [[Handicap Achievements]] since it requires the players to carry Gnome Chompski for most of a campaign and thereby limits their combat efficiency. [[Team Fortress 2]] has several achievements involving using less effective weapons, including ''A Cut Above'' for using a knife to kill a Spy equipped with a gun, and two achievements for killing enemies with taunts: ''OMGWTFBBQ'' and ''Show Trial'' <ref name="TF2"/>. 

== Using the pattern ==
Many of the design choices available for [[Achievements]] are also available to [[Handicap Achievements]] since they are a subcategory of the former. More specifically though, [[Handicap Achievements]] can be created through considering [[Optional Goals|Optional]] or [[Enforced Goals]] in a game and then adding some required limitation on how the player can behave. The [[Left 4 Dead Series]] does this in ''Akimbo Assassin'' and ''Confederacy of Crunches'' through restricting which weapons can be used in [[Combat]], while [[Torchlight]] does it in ''Perfect Victory'' through requiring that the player's character never dies. Another way is to make use of [[Time Limits]], which can be seen as a form of [[Speed Runs]] in this context, which are exemplified by ''Swift Execution'' and ''Speed King'' in [[Torchlight]], and ''Bridge over Trebled Slaughter'' in [[Left 4 Dead 2]]. Since [[Handicap Achievements]] make use of goals as a basis for their design, the design options available for [[Goal Achievements]] are nearly always also worth considering.

Looking at ways of providing optional ways of making goals more difficult for oneself, an easy way presents itself to games with [[Difficulty Settings]]: simply  provide separate [[Goal Achievements]] for each setting.

== Consequences ==
As a type of [[Achievements|Achievement]], [[Handicap Achievements]] can form a kind of [[Rewards|Reward]] and be used to create [[Meta Games]]. Given that [[Handicap Achievements]] are based on goals they are a type of [[Goal Achievements]] but they are arguable more of an [[Optional Goals|Optional Goal]] than other types of [[Achievements]] since it is always possible to complete the underlying goal without requirements of the [[Handicap Achievements]]. Like [[Goal Achievements]] in general, [[Handicap Achievements]] can support [[Game-Induced Player Social Status]] by letting players show of [[Game Mastery]]. They can arguably do so even better than [[Goal Achievements]] since they are based upon more [[Challenging Gameplay]] and can further be said to provide opportunities for such gameplay that might not be considered otherwise. By doing so they can also provide a [[Value of Effort]], which is somewhat paradoxical since the extra effort required is completely voluntary.

Although similar in names, [[Handicap Achievements]] are not directly related to [[Handicaps]] since the latter relates to providing [[Player Balance]] rather than providing additional challenges for individual players.

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== History ==
New pattern created in this wiki.

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="F:NV">[http://steamcommunity.com/stats/Fallout:NewVegas/achievements/ List of Fallout:New Vegas achievements in the Steam Achievements system] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="L4D">[http://steamcommunity.com/stats/L4D2/achievements/ List of Left 4 Dead achievements in the Steam Achievements system] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="L4D2">[http://steamcommunity.com/stats/L4D2/achievements/ List of Left 4 Dead 2 achievements in the Steam Achievements system] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="TF2">[http://steamcommunity.com/stats/TF2/achievements/ List of Team Fortress 2 achievements in the Steam Achievements system] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="Torchlight">[http://steamcommunity.com/stats/Torchlight/achievements/ List of Torchlight achievements in the Steam Achievements system] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="WoW">[http://www.wowwiki.com/Achievements Main page on WoWWiki for achievements].</ref>
</references>