I'm honestly confused. You personally say that you're not one of those people who compare against others in regards to achievements and yet you write your concerns about this topic? I agree with what others have said. If people want to cheat to obtain their achievements just let them.

I take it you're the one handing out the achievement hunter cards here?

Bold assumption there...

It would be better if you stopped talking as if you were some kind of representative for those that like achievements dismissing those that are not into your fearmongering:

"Any achievement hunter is uncomfortable with this"
"me, and thousands of others"
"most people who like the system"

Take a hint: you're not. Ask for such a thing like cutting off offline achievements if you wish, but do not do so while painting a target on your back by shitting on others that won't jump on the same boat...

"System of conquest" my pointy arse...

I look at achievements as simply a personal point of pride. As I also do with being able to finish a game without cheats or other exploits.

When I DO care enough about the game to 100% the achievements having offline capability to reach the goal is important because it is normally my preference to play games completely offline where possible.

I could give a rats arse whether someone else used cheating software to lie about their achievements. And if someone missed an achievement because the game bugged out and rendered it unachievable I say kudos to those who DID get the badge with cheating software, because they still played the game and earned the badge!

Steam's offline achievements are also an option set by the developer. I know of a few Steam games which refuse to follow ingame achievement when the client is in offline mode, so it's the game devs which decide, not the client.

So no. Offline accomplishments when the game devs decide to allow it please. I won't have my fun ruined by others paranoid about cheaters.

Not worried about cheaters as they only cheat on themselves and must in the end sleep with it.One of the main reasons I told Uplay to stick their games and platform was because only achievements achieved were online.Play the game offline and no achievements were there so....

I never did understand what sense they made in the first place. In many games, achievements are either:-

1. Stupidly trivial because the game devs couldn't think of anything else (congrats, you just killed your 10th enemy, completed a level, walked your 1000th step, etc) and only included them to pacify the "No achievements, no buy" crowd, or...

2. Involved repetitive grind that some gamers with OCD-like tendencies found "challenging" but was just cheap padding, or...

3. Make sense and are clever but are mostly a social thing all about bragging to others online, in which case it makes more sense to brag on the platform with the most people to brag to (Steam / consoles).

I mean gamers were already experimenting with achievement-style alternative play-styles in 90s games long before Steam and store-front linked achievements were even invented, eg, completed Deus Ex non-lethal, etc. So adding some form of digital badge never really added anything to experimental gameplay that wasn't already there. And the biggest proof that someone did that is simply someone posting a Youtube playthrough in that style, ie original "hardcore achievement hunters" = speed-runners.

And Steam-style achievements have never existed as some unhackable "badge". Even without SAM, for many games it's still possible to use Cheat Engine / trainers to fool the game itself into giving you them even if you are online. Eg, in a game where you get an achievement for completing x level within a certain tight time limit, enable God Mode / gift yourself 99999 health / increase your run speed via Cheat Engine and run straight for the exit and you'll get the same fake reward as with using SAM with no way of detecting it unless you then start requiring having an anti-cheat server verify gameplay as you play it online, which in turn defeats the entire purpose of buying an offline DRM-Free version in the first place, and if people had to play them online to verify they played them "properly", they'd just get the Steam version...

I don't see the "problem".
If you're so obsessed about the validity of your achievements, just record your play, put it online - et voila - everyone can see, that you got the achievement in a valid way.

Find others that are obsessed in the same way as you - and you can found a league.
And no one is allowed to join, if they can't prove the legitimacy of their achievements via video.

"Problem" solved.

Why, yes... yes he is.

I'd call that a first world problem but that would be an insult to all first world problems out there...

Why not just mark achievements as being earned offline? That way I could still enjoy getting my achievements offline and anyone who was worried about it could just assume I cheated if they saw a little "Earned offline" icon on my profile.

Not being able to get achievements offline, would mean a requirement for Galaxy to run while playing - good luck getting something like that through with GoGers.
Galaxy being optional >>>> anything achievements around here. Sry to say but it never did make any sense at all. Not with the ability to cheat in games. That may be so. However in the hundreds of discussions on the internet about achievements, I've seen a majority not caring about them. And from those who do care, a majority enjoying them without seeing the need to make them 100% foolproof legit.
So I dare to claim, you're representing a niche view even among those enjoying achievements. As someone who enjoys achievements without considering myself an achievement hunter, I do see problems with GoG achievements, that are much more "important".
Be that games lacking achievements compared with Steam (even CDReds Witcher 2) or achievements not working - see here.

So my take on it has to be, make it work first before making it harder to get at all.

The only game I cared about achievements was Mass Effect because they affected your character directly. Still I think that achievements should be internal to a game (this offline) and only exposed online if you wish to.

I think if you care about achievements you should want them to be protected, so the OP has a point. I know many people who used to care about Steam achievements but now do not because they can be cheated, so it no longer "proves" anything. As long as the games remain DRM free I can understand keeping achievements tied to online play.

I personally don't really care about achievements, though I kind of like the ones that challenge you to play the game a different way. For example Dishonored's achievement for playing the whole game without using powers other than blink. I went for that just to experience the game that way, and it was a fun challenge for a game I love. I'd be just as happy if it was a menu option or something though. Still, for the people who DO like the actual achievements it makes sense to keep them "legit."

SAM isn't the only thing devaluing achievements on Steam. There are also all those ''achievement spam'' games that exist solely to dispense thousands of achievements for the sad saps that buy them. Valve don't care and honestly, neither do I. There will never be enough policing to make achievements 100% legit and earned, so I consider them more as personal trophies. They give me motivation to replay games and try doing things differently, and that's what gives them value to me. Those badges you get to display in your profile are just a shiny little bonus.

Thank you so much, Aeternull, SyingingVelvet and TentacleMayor for being empathetic and kind to your comments. I confess that I was very sad because of the way many people treated me here, acting in an angry way gratuitously, and I just wanted to talk in a quiet and gentle way. I had not even posted on the topic because I was hurt. I lost almost all my reputation points because they started to negativise my post.

Many thanks for the friendly and kind contribution.