Grinding is seen as a reason to increase the amount of time it takes to reach these levels, forcing the player to pay more subscription fees along the way. The most interesting and challenging game-play is often only available to characters at the highest levels, who are those strong enough to participate in raids or player versus player combat. Players of subscription-based online games often criticize grinds as a heavy-handed attempt to gain profit. This creates a new problem where many players might be confused about what they are supposed to do, or they might lack the motivation to do much of anything in the virtual world.
For example, challenging tasks should give better rewards than easy tasks.Īnother alternative to grinding is to remove designer-defined objectives, leaving players free to do whatever they want. To solve the grinding issue, E McNeill proposes that "the most effective path to victory should also be the most fun". Grinding has the benefit that, although only 20% of the population may be rewarded at any given time, 100% of the population will have the potential to be rewarded in the future, and will have no reason to quit. If there is no hope in the future of these players being rewarded, they will likely leave the game, causing the population to shrink, and thus reducing the number of people who can be in the top 20%. If a game's player base is objectively highly skilled and only the top 20% of the game's players are rewarded, then the remaining 80% will be receiving little reward, despite their objective skill. The problem may not be that talent and skill are rewarded, but that the rewards are based on relative talent and skill. By creating a direct correlation between in-game power and time spent grinding, every player has the potential to reach the top 20% (although the Pareto principle will still apply to the amount of time spent grinding). According to the Pareto principle, players with better aim, faster reactions, or more extensive tactical knowledge will quickly dominate the entire game, frustrating the now-powerless vast majority. The first explanation is that it helps ensure a level playing field.
Criticism Įven though grinding has the potential to cause players to stop being entertained and can be seen as contradictory to good game design, it has been justified in several different ways. Level increases often come with additional statistical boosts and new abilities which allow the player to defeat stronger enemies, which in turn rewards and encourages grinding. Players may also grind simply to become better at the game, gaining experience and leveling up. "Interesting" content is distinct from merely new content which is too similar to previous content to be considered interesting by the player. If the player experiences all of a level's interesting content before reaching the next objective, but is not powerful enough to proceed, grinding may be the only available game-play option. Due to the controversial subject of grinding, these workarounds can be frowned upon.Ī need to grind may result from lack of game content, the inability to battle stronger enemies, or the desire to collect more in-game items or currency. This is usually considered a form of hacking or exploiting by game developers when playing multiplayer online games, these actions may result in a ban. Some players may program scripts, bots, macros, and other automation tools to perform repetitive tasks. Some games may also require grinding to unlock additional features or items. Grinding in the MMORPG genre can be advantageous, using the same strategy to repeatedly kill AI-controlled monsters to advance one's character level and unlock content. Some games, especially free-to-play games, allow players to bypass grinding by paying additional fees. Others embrace grinding and consider it is an inherent feature in all video games.
Some consider grinding to be a symptom of uninspired game design and do not enjoy it. Grinding is a controversial subject among video game players. Alternatively, players might enjoy performing repetitive tasks as a way of relaxing, especially if the task has a persistent positive result. 3 Various games' approaches to issues of grindingĪ player's desire to reach the highest possible level in the game often motivates "grinding".