Achievements and trophies

Achievements and trophies are systems for measuring a player's progress in completing a game.

Characteristics
Achievements are used by Microsoft's Xbox Live and Valve's Steam. Trophies are used by Sony's PlayStation Network. They are awarded to players for making specific accomplishments or reaching certain milestones in games. The first game in the Fallout series to feature achievements and trophies was Fallout 3.

Achievements
Microsoft's implementation of an achievement system was initially introduced for the Xbox 360. Unlocking achievements contribute to a player's "Gamerscore" (G) in their Xbox Live profile. Usually, retail games offer up to 1,000G spread over a variable number of achievements. Game developers also have the option of adding up to 250 points via downloadable content every quarter after the first year of release (for a total of 1,750 points).

Steam's implementation of achievements displays the achievements of the player's Steam profile. If one wants to get the Steam achievements for either Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, console use is not allowed. Using mods in Fallout 4 will disable achievements or trophies on all platforms (PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4).

Trophies
Trophies are Sony's version of an achievement tracking system and were introduced in the PlayStation 3 system software 2.40 update in July 2008. There are four different types of trophies: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.

A gold, silver, or bronze trophy is normally awarded based on the difficulty of the accomplishment, with each trophy contributing to a "level" system linked to a player's PlayStation Network profile. Gold trophies contribute more experience level advancement than silver, and silver contributes more experience than bronze.

A platinum trophy is awarded to the player once they unlock all other trophies in a game. However, smaller games such as certain PlayStation Network titles, lack a platinum trophy. Trophies are displayed on a player's PlayStation Network profile screen, which also shows their level.