Trophies Carry Less Weight
Of the many new possibilities brought on by the “Share” features, there is one possible negative outcome. Hey, I didn’t say the PS4’s new network was going to change online gaming only for the better. When the PS3 first launched, PSN IDs could be activated on up to 5 systems. Some people/groups took advantage of this option and boosted the trophy account for one ID. It isn’t too hard to raise your trophy count immensely if you have five people working on different games on a single ID. So what does PS4’s sharing capabilities have to do with earning trophies legitimately? As I already mentioned, players can call upon others to jump and take control of their game if assistance is needed. What if someone aids you in completing a game on the hardest difficulty? Or helps you beat a challenging boss without taking damage? You will not have really earned the unlocked trophy. With the rise in countless sites looking for ways to charge gamers (dates with gamer girls, paying to watch people play, etc.), I think it’s only a matter of time until someone opens up a little business scheme offering to help gain trophies for a price.
Even if you take the “paying” portion of this situation away, you’re still left with a new way for people to illegitimately obtain trophies, which could ultimately lead to an achievement system that doesn’t carry much weight. Of course, the situation isn’t completely hopeless. Sony could implement a system where the person actually playing would receive the trophy (e.g., your friend). So, let’s say your buddy jumps in to help you beat Chapter 7 of Video Game X. Instead of you receiving the Chapter 7 trophy, your friend would get the trophy pop-up on their screen, assuming that person didn’t already have it. The other option involves using the “You did not earn a trophy” message — this is a notification that the PS3 currently uses in certain situations — when someone besides yourself achieves a certain goal in the game. Only time will tell how these possible scenarios will be handled by Sony.
A Wider Gaming Selection
The great thing about Netflix is that it usually has something for whatever mood you’re in. The PlayStation 4’s implementation of Gaikai opens the door for an option like Netflix for games. The ability to log in and select any title spanning PS1 to PS3 would be amazing. Not all of us have extensive games libraries and this would help us overcome the fatigue onset by playing through the same games over and over. Do you feel like revisiting a beloved classic? Start up Spyro, Crash Bandicoot or Gex. Are you more in the mood to check out a sleeper hit that you missed on the PS3? No problem! Start streaming Shadows of the Damned or Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The sheer amount of options at your fingertips would ensure that you had a new game to play every day for quite some time. If Gaikai’s service ends up being as extensive as rumors report and includes an expansive backlog of PlayStation titles, it could be a real game changer. Plus, you wouldn’t have to search your local game shops for those rare (and usually outrageously priced) classics!
We don’t have all the details about the PlayStation 4 just yet, but most of what we’ve seen has great potential. As we near E3 and the console’s “Holiday 2013” release date, more information regarding the upgraded network’s features will become available. Hopefully they continue to impress us. What is your favorite PS4 online feature so far? Do you have your own predictions regarding how the PS4 will change our online play? If so, let us know in the comment section below.
Trophies aren’t really meaningful except as a personal achievement roster, so if people want to cheat on that it’s not really a big deal. If they ever try to leverage it (to join a clan, say), their lack of skill will be pretty obvious.
@ Oldtaku
I sincerely doubt Sony will let people earn trophies like that. It will probably disable them, like when you load someone else’s save. With that being said, a lot of people don’t know / care how someone got the trophy, they just care they got it. This is why I don’t approve of PSNProfiles blocking “cheaters”, since the community defines legit and cheating so loosely. I personally define it as anyone bending the rules to earn something they wouldn’t otherwise, so boosting, loading a save, hacking your system, paying someone, playing with someone better than you, whatever, would constitute cheating. Sadly thats not the case for most (though I don’t mind if someone does it), so we see a lot of conflicting mentalities among communities.
I have been using PlayStation since the 90s and if they try to MAKE all PSN users have Facebook page and display their real name, I will buy the new Xbox system when ps3 becomes obsolete. Not everyone has Facebook. I hate Facebook. How foolish of Sony. I know why they are making this mistake, according to surveys more people are using Netflix on console than on their computers so Sony thinks by adding social networking compatibility people will just do everything on the ps4.
We have a right to privacy. I actually went with ps3 over 360 because psn was free (and for red dead redemption and demon’s souls), but I’ll pay for Xbox live before I display my information to the hostile people I meet playing COD.