The 50-page Trophy Leaderboard thread is definitely one of our longest running discussion topics in our forum.  In it, due to the magic of SCEE’s ID card system, our forum community members fight it out to see who’s got the most Trophies and have been doing since March this year.

Well, recently three of our community responded to a request that the more active members get in touch for a brief interview to discuss the leaderboard and Trophies in general.  Our regular readers will know them as oMega-W, hunterstryfe and citizeninsane45, so we’ll call them that.

What’s your current Trophy total? How many Platinums do you have?

oMega-W: Hello, my name is Tom, and I’m a Level 16 alcoholic. Oh, wait. Wrong meeting. Sorry. Erm, so yeah: oMega-W here, carrying 1852 trophies in my pocket. They’re only small you see, so it’s no bother. Except for the 28 Platinums. They’re a little sharp around the edges, so I have to be careful not to sit on them.

Hunterstryfe: My current trophy total at the moment is 2401, 18 platinums.

18? 18 Platinums?

Hunterstryfe: Yep. Currently working on getting the platinum for NFS: Shift and MW2.

citizeninsane45: 1464, 10 being platinums

What position are you on the TSA Trophy Leaderboard?

oMega-W: 6th! I think. Or 7th, depending on what day it is. What day is it? Ah, okay. 7th, then. But 6th tomorrow. Or the day after. Soon, anyway.

Hunterstryfe: Last time I checked I think I was still in 4th place (I hope!)

citizeninsane45: I’m in 12th.

How important is your position on the TSA Trophy Leaderboard?

oMega-W: Er, not that important. It’s nice to be so high up, but I only collect trophies for my own enjoyment, not to have more than anyone else. Maybe I should start waving my trophy haul about. “Hey, you! Look at the size of this! It’s bigger than yours, right? Ha! Unless you’re 6/5/4/3/2/1 on the leaderboard, in which case: I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” Hmmm, no. I think I’ll keep them to myself for now.

Hunterstryfe: I don’t consider my position to be of utmost importance but I do like to be able to see my achievement along with others, it always seems to spark of conversations of congrats and “how did you get …” lol all good fun

citizeninsane45: I am an active viewer of TSA and visit on a regular basis. I get involved with the forums when I feel I can contribute. I don’t physically know any other members and as a result, the TSA Trophy Leaderboard isn’t too important to me. Having said that, I do like checking the new leaderboard when it has been updated as it is fun to see the points system, places gained and the banter usually had.

It does seem like a popular thread.

citizeninsane45: It really is – it’s brilliant and Flexxible deserves a lot of credit for taking over and keeping it updated on a reguar basis. The thread started out in around March time with me entering in April when there were less than 40 entrants so it really has come on leaps and bounds.

How important is it that you synchronise your Trophies after each play?

citizeninsane45: Again, this is not important to me. I don’t actively sync the trophies after every session but I do like to go on and compare with friends regulaly so this is when my syncing takes place. This is usually every couple of days.

oMega-W: I consider it vital to the survival of the human race. That’s how important it is. Although, I have actually memorised the formulae for calculating trophy levels, so I already know how much I’ve progressed with every trophy acquired. My mind is officially quicker than the trophy server… which, let’s be honest, isn’t saying much.

Hunterstryfe: I think it is very important to sync after every play: a) I only have 256k and last time I got net working again I had 145+ and 2 plats to sync which took about 8 hours, b) this way my trophy score is always update and accurate – but if I forget to sync on playstation.com then the leaderboard is not accurate (at least from my end lol)

Do you check the Trophy Lists before buying a game?

oMega-W: Yes. They’re interesting. I’ll only look at them once mind, it’s not as if I’ll pore over every detail planning the best strategy for achieving Platinum. Mostly.

citizeninsane45: I do check trophy lists on new releases. The main reason is just curiosity. Zuler’s recent Trophy World posts are great so there isn’t much effort required to look.

Hunterstryfe: I used to check trophy lists before buying games so I could gauge whether or not the plat would be doable for me, but I don’t anymore unless it’s for game I have either preordered, or know I will be definitely buying very soon.

Would you avoid buying a game if it had an very difficult to obtain Platinum?

Hunterstryfe: I don’t avoid games with difficult plats – I only avoid games I don’t think I will like, however saying that I must admit I don’t avoid games with easy plats!

oMega-W: Truth time: I actually rent my games. Difficulty somewhat influences my choice, but it’s not a dealbreaker. I play games that will entertain me. Annoying games with annoying trophies won’t be much fun. As I’ve said before on your fine site: I don’t play games to collect trophies; I collect trophies because I play games.

citizeninsane45: Any AAA title or any title I am looking forward to for that matter, would not be avoided if it had a difficult platinum. For example, Bioshock 2 is a definite purchase for me even if I could only obtain 5 trophies on it. With it being a definite purchase, I would still look at the trophy list beforehand.

Do you discuss your Trophy total with friends, both online and off?

oMega-W: Erm. Does this interview count?

No!

oMega-W: Shame, it’s the most social interaction I’ve had in weeks. Nah, I’m only kidding. I don’t really talk about it outside of TSA. The occasional message, but nothing much. My real life friends are MW2 playing morons (just kidding) who wouldn’t know Late Bloomer if it came and kicked them in the goolies. So, no.

citizeninsane45: I do. Alot of my friends aren’t really too fussed when it comes to trophies but whenever we get together we will have a quick gander at the latest trophies and talk about latest ones obtained, difficult ones etc.

Hunterstryfe: I discuss specific trophies with friends online and offline but we rarely discuss trophy totals because we can see them on the PSN profiles.

Is TSA’s Trophy FAQ updated enough? What changes would you like to see?

oMega-W: It does its job well enough. Ironically, there’s not much glamour to be found on a page that links to thousands of virtual bling. Hardly your fault, of course. If you fancied a complete makeover, perhaps show the number of trophies for each game, and maybe a vote on difficulty. But then again, there are specialist outlets out there that cater for this dirty habit of ours.

citizeninsane45: I believe the TSA Trophy is perfectly fine at the moment. It is one of the most comprehensive lists available and offers everything required.

Are you interested in sneak-peek looks at Trophies for upcoming games?

Hunterstryfe: I would only be interested in speak-peek looks of trophies for upcoming games if they were games I ABSOLUTELY HAD to play such as Final Fantasy XIII or GT5 (when they hit our shores!)

citizeninsane45: I certainly would. As detailed above, its nice too look at new trophy lists even if you aren’t particulaly interested in the game they relate to. It’s interesting to see how different developers implement the trophy system, just look at the recent Heavy Rain reports.

Do you own an Xbox 360?

oMega-W: No.

Hunterstryfe: Me neither, I never really found the desire to own one as I have always had Sony or Nintendo stuff.

citizeninsane45: I do.

What’s your Gamerscore?

citizeninsane45: 4535 as of today.

Hunterstryfe: My Gamerscore is just over 2000 ish, pretty lame, but the account is on my friends 360, I may not want to own one (not to mention unemployment pretty much prohibits it) but I do like to play my mates when he brings it around to the house – sometimes it’s a refreshing yet annoying change all at once! (lol, I really hate the pads)

Would you buy a game for both consoles in order to boost both Gamerscore and your Trophy total?

oMega-W: Ha. No. That’s mental.

Hunterstryfe: I would never buy both consoles to boost trophy/gamerscore totals, If I won or was given one I would try to stick to games that were exclusive to 360 such as Halo and GOW, I would however play games for score such as Assassin’s Creed 1 as Playstation does not have trophies for AC1.

citizeninsane45: Would I?  No way. I have only had my 360 for about 4 months. As a result, I am miles behind most other gamers and friends so don’t see my gamerscore as important in the slightest. Dont get me wrong, I will still strive to obtain the achievements in the games I play (must be in my nature) but nowhere near as much as on my PS3. Having had both systems I would find it near impossible to be competitive when it came to the trophy/achievement score. Simply because it is not feasable to buy the same game for 2 different consoles and the time spent playing the 2 consoles would be too much, especially if you have other commitments such as work and family.

Cheers guys!