Gamasutra: Greg McClanahan's Blog - Achievement Design 101 gamasutra.com · Originally posted on Pinboard

Why, then, did we throw everything we'd learned out the window when it came time to design achievements? I think that's what bothered me about early Xbox Live achievements more than anything — as goals, they violated too many game design guidelines. Too many of them wouldn't make any sense as in-game goals for progressing through content.

Via paul.irish.