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After completing a mission or beating a game, an achievement or trophy will pop up. How do I describe such a person who sticks with it, to unlocking all the achievements of a game, no matter what time or effort is required?

I've considered achievements maniac or achievements addictor?

Other options?

EDIT: I mean to describe someone's personality. That kind of person maybe take too much time on beating challenges in game but never get bored - sort of perfectism and obsession. The word or phrase needs to be considered derogatory.

12
  • What's your context? Are you looking for the word simply to use it while speaking, or are you developing a game in which you'd like to name that achievement trophy? Feb 20, 2014 at 8:40
  • @mikhailcazi I'm using the word in personal profile.
    – WangYudong
    Feb 20, 2014 at 8:44
  • 1
    Addictor sounds off anyway. Achievements addict is better and has a nice alliterative property as well.
    – oerkelens
    Feb 20, 2014 at 8:51
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    A Completionist is how I always describe my friends who are like this, though it's not derogatory. I've also used and heard achievement whore, which is certainly more derogatory.
    – Doc
    Feb 20, 2014 at 18:42
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    I just call them OCD. Each achievement generally takes longer than the last, causing this exponential growth in play time before you finish them all. I'd rather move onto something else once I'm satisfied, or play something(competitive) PvP with essentially infinite replayability. Achievements mean next-to-nothing to me.
    – Cruncher
    Feb 20, 2014 at 20:05

15 Answers 15

46

In the context of video games or people who collect sets of things, the perfect word would be completionist — if it weren't for the fact that you're looking for a word with derogatory connotations.

Derogatory phrases for things related to completionism — collecting things and interest in storytelling, for example — would be

  • magpie: compulsive and not very discriminating collector of shiny things. "used figuratively to refer to a person who obsessively collects things or who chatters idly".
  • trainspotter: Someone who pays obsessive attention to details about trains, or by extension to any hobby which is not broadly accepted by society. "a person who obsessively studies the minutiae of any minority interest or specialized hobby".
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    +1 Completionist is the name of the final achievement awarded to completionist players in many games; Assassins Creed III, StarCraft 2, Mass Effect... The final achievement in the entirely achievement-based achievement-satire-game Achievement Unlocked is called "Too Much Free Time". From my experience of gamer circles, "completionist" is usually not derogatory, even the opposite (various game guides describe themselves that way). "Too Much Free Time" is the derogatory, if verbose, alternative.
    – Anko
    Feb 20, 2014 at 13:00
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    "Completionist" is also an adjective so "completionist [insult]" would fit the requirement of being derogatory. Feb 20, 2014 at 17:59
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    Hmmm, completionist. I'll want to remember this word next Christmastime, when all those funny hats come round again.
    – J.R.
    Feb 20, 2014 at 19:41
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    @WangYudong: thanks for the accept, but I think that you should accept Tetrinity's answer instead. "Achievement whore" sounds to be exactly the term for what you asked for; even if you're going to avoid using it, it would appear to be the correct answer. Feb 21, 2014 at 9:19
44

In video-game circles, the unfortunate phrase achievement whore seems to be used rather often.

Precise usage varies. Occasionally the phrase will be used for somebody who simply tries very hard to gather all achievements in a given game. More frequently, however, it is used to denote somebody who buys and plays new games purely to gather more achievements, when they would not otherwise have considered playing said game.

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    Given the OP wants a more derogatory term, this was my immediate thought.
    – Doc
    Feb 20, 2014 at 18:43
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    This is the proper "gamer" term especially since the op is looking for a derogatory term.
    – Ryan
    Feb 20, 2014 at 23:37
  • Yes, and note that the derogatory flavour doesn't preclude it from being used to refer to oneself at all. In fact "X whore" (X being a noun of some kind but not a proper noun) is often used to mean "do anything for X". Feb 21, 2014 at 10:52
4

I would consider this person driven / achievement-driven: very determined to succeed; having a compulsive or urgent quality; propelled or motivated by something; used in combination results-driven.

likewise determined: having a strong feeling that you are going to do something and that you will not let anyone or anything to stop you.

consider resolute: marked by firm determination

All three connote some character quality of stick-to-itiveness, willpower, constancy, steadfastness, doing what you are supposed to do. They are not negative in the manner of addicted, compulsive or obsessive, which can also be used to describe determined gamers.

Edit: compulsive: characterized by perfectionism, rigidity, and an obsessive concern with order and detail.

**perfectionist: one with propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards.

Or obsessive: motivated by a persistent overriding idea or impulse, often associated with anxiety; continually preoccupied with a particular activity, person, or thing.

2
  • Thanks Susan. Please read my edited post. I'm looking for a word or phrase which is derogatory.
    – WangYudong
    Feb 20, 2014 at 9:09
  • I'd have thought the noun usage (an obsessive) would fit OP's context perfectly. Feb 20, 2014 at 16:40
4

In addition to the previously mentioned "Achievement whore", another slightly less vulgar term (but still normally considered negative or derogatory) would be or "Achievement Farmer" (my personal choice for describing this phenomenon as a gamer), a term that relates to the practice of "Achievement Farming." "Achievement Hunter" is a term with even less negative connotations.

In gaming, farming generally refers to spending undue effort on a particular aspect of a game other than actually playing said game. For instance, WoW players may engage in "Gold Farming" to gain undue amounts of in-game cash. Typically, this involves lengthy repetition of various actions, much like a farmer methodically plowing or sowing his fields until the task is done.

1

The Bartle Test calls this type of gamer the 'Explorer'. It's a person who tries to complete the game, looks in every nook and cranny, and be the first to do things that other people have not done yet. If there is rumored to be an Easter egg 5 hours walk away, they will do it.

1

Since Completionist is being bandied about and the desired term needs a derogatory edge, but not extreme like Achievement Whore, I would use Compulsive Completionist.

1

The very first term that popped into my head was "anal retentive". It's not a gamer's term, but it describes the personality very well to my thinking, and it's almost always considered derogatory in my experience.

0

These might match what you want:

single-minded

monomaniacal

0

Consider perseverative player. Perseverative can mean

1.the tendency of an idea, impression, experience, etc. to persist or recur, or of an individual to continue a particular mental activity without the ability to shift easily to another at a change in stimulus

2.(psychiatry) the persistent and pathological repetition of a verbal or motor response, often seen in organic brain disease and schizophrenia

In the cited example, both may apply.

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  • The request was for a derogatory phrase and it's considered inappropriate to use psychiatric terms as insults, these days. Feb 20, 2014 at 18:01
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I would argue that to consider the effort that a completionist puts forth in a derogatory manner, you would necessarily have to consider them an overachiever - somebody who achieves results beyond that which is expected / their natural talent levels.

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I think "addict" gives the right over-the-top, takes-it-too-far connotion. And "achievement" will never sound negative. So "Win Addict" or "win compulsive" might do.

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If you want to go a bit tongue in cheek, you could call them a Pwner Achiever.

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  • 1
    I don't understand. Explain please?
    – Ski
    Feb 21, 2014 at 14:44
  • @Skirmantas - It's a video game pun based on "Pwned" and "Over Achiever".
    – Eli
    Feb 26, 2014 at 2:22
-1

In my WoW tenure, we've always called these players "ACP Whores" or "Achievement Whores."

-1

A phrase/word to describe a person who seeks 100% achievements in game could be "Winner".

-1

For the same impulse in arenas other than games, perfectionist works.

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