The Grind

Let’s talk about grind in games.

Grinding and “too much grind” is often (but not necessarily always) seen as a negative thing. Repetitive, monotonous, boring, exhausting. It’s often described as lazy design, disrespectful of the player’s time, a complete waste of time even.

The Nature Of Games

Games can be seen as nested loops. You got an inner gameplay loop like combat - which might be turns, or realtime, but it’s basically always the same thing. You attack, you (try to) dodge, you attack again - whatever the game’s combat is designed to have you do. You repeat that until the enemy is defeated.

Then you go look for the next enemy and do the same thing there. Another loop - a bigger one, that encloses the first, smaller loop. Then the next loop above that, might be returning to town whenever inventory is full, selling stuff, buying upgrades, stocking up on health potions - before heading back out into the killing fields. And then next loop above it, is clearing an entire level of the dungeon, before taking the stairs down to the next level. Just for example - it does take different forms for different games, but the basic structure stays the same: you have a loop inside a bigger loop, inside an even bigger - and so on. Some loops might be next/parallel to each other, rather than inside of each other - alternatives/options, side activities, etc.

But the point here is, that you repeat doing the same activities - again and again and again. Games are kinda repetitive like that, by nature. Even when playing Ludo - you take a turn, roll the dice, choose which pawn to move. If you had a six you repeat the rolling and moving. Then you end your turn. When all players did their turns, you start all over again, and you repeat that until someone wins. Game rules almost always work in loops like that.

Repetitiveness And Variation

Repetition is not inherently bad - but it can get boring, if it’s just exactly the same thing over and over again. That’s why games try to introduce variations. It’s basically the same loop - but the positions on the board are different. It’s basically the same loop - but now you’re doing it for a different goal/step in the bigger, containing loop. It’s basically the same loop, but now you’re on a new level of the dungeon, with different monsters, different layout and higher tier items to find.

While the loop stays the same mechanically, the entire situation surrounding it and the player’s choices and options change over time, as the game progresses. And maybe sometimes the game introduces a new mechanic, or throws a sudden curve-ball by changing something. Or maybe, the mechanics always stay the same, and it’s just the storyline that progresses and changes - and the player is there to learn “what happens next”.

The important part is, that variation is used to keep things fresh - despite the loop remaining the same. That’s also why loops are nested - so that the bigger loop can progress a step forward, introducing some new variation to the inner loop.

So, when is it too repetitive and too monotonous, and when is okay? Variation plays into it, but so do player preferences and inter-individual differences.

Wasting Time

Games are entertainment, and as such they are sort of intentional time “wasters” to begin with. But if you enjoy yourself, are entertained, can wind down and relax, get something out of it - then the time spent isn’t really wasted, or is it? The goal is to spend (waste) time, but also to get entertainment value out of it.

Just look at how popular fishing is in many MMO games, and that might just be the greatest waste of time, ever invented. But it’s calm, it’s zen, it’s meditative - and the people who do love it, get something out of it, otherwise it wouldn’t be that popular right? Sure, you get some fish - sometimes even rare ones - that might have some use in cooking or whatever, to create a dish that gives you some buff or something. But we all know that’s not the main reason why people love fishing. They love the meditative nature of it.

So, when is it a waste of time, and when is it not? Again, the answer to that is very individual, because it depends on what does give the player enjoyment and entertainment value, which again, can differ a lot from person to person.

BUT

Then there are certain mobile games, facebook games - and some of their less laudable strategies are increasingly finding their way into free to play titles as well… Games with energy mechanics, intentional “fun pain”, massive time sinks, extreme grind - and often you can bypass most if not all those annoyances, by paying. Don’t want to grind a million years to unlock Darth Vader? Just buy him. There are games, where most (but again not all) people would agree and find consensus that they are crossing the line. Taking things too far.

So, there is indeed a line to cross - and not all grind is good or acceptable, or comes down to inter-individual differences, where some like it, and others don’t. But how do we define that line? When it’s not really about repetitiveness, or monotony, or wasting time? Repetitiveness is inherent to game loops, the monotony can be zen and meditative, the wasting of time may be the point or not truly a waste. All these things we often see mentioned in discussions of grind, are kinda besides the point, don’t they?

So, where do we draw the line between “the good grind” and “the bad grind”? Even if it only is kinda arbitrary - and a cultural decision of the times, to draw a line in the sand somewhere - we should at least be able to put it into words, right? We chose to draw a line - and how are we going to even discuss whether that’s a valid place to draw it or not, if we can’t even express where it is? When we can’t even explain what makes one game too grindy - while the other is not?

I can’t speak for everyone, and I can’t tell you what your answer should be - but I do think you should have an answer. Because, if you just say “that’s too grindy”, without being able to explain why - or if you tell developers “don’t make the game too grindy” without being able to explain what that means - the whole thing turns into a pure, random guessing game.

My Answer

Here’s the answer that I concluded works for me. You’re welcome to steal it, if you like it!

Player Agency.

Let me explain. When I decide I like to fish in WoW, than that’s my choice. I do it because I like to. I don’t have to, the game doesn’t require me to. The fish probably aren’t even worth much. You can totally ignore it, and not do it, with no real downsides. When I decide to build a castle out of nether quartz in Minecraft - that’s my decision. I don’t have to build a castle at all, and whatever I do build, doesn’t have to be made of nether quartz. I just chose it because it looks nice - knowing that collecting enough quartz will be grindy and require a lot of time spent in the nether. When I decide to grind random encounters for XP in Final Fantasy VI - so that I can then breeze through a chunk of story at an overpowered character level - that’s on me. The game’s not even meant to be played that way - but it allows me to do so, if I want to.

All of those examples above show the “good grind”. It’s optional, it’s self-imposed, it’s freely chosen, you don’t have to, you can stop/quit at any time, at no penalty. You do it, only because you like to - not because you have to. You enjoy the innermost core gameplay loop enough, to keep repeating it, without the need for any additional/external incentives. You are playing, because it gives you joy - and that makes it worthwhile to spend time on it.

But when vanilla WoW tells me “you need to grind 40 gold for a mount now, and from now on all quests are designed with that travel speed increase in mind” - then either I have to grind - or get penalized for not having the travel speed the game is now designed for. And during my time in vanilla WoW, I was broke all the time - couldn’t even afford skill training for all my skills. There’s no way you could have enough money for a mount just lying around. I tried moving on without the mount, but it felt heavily penalized - you couldn’t ride past enemies, get to your quest spots quickly, etc. - you were at a clear disadvantage to those who had it. So I spent an entire weekend doing nothing but killing some kind of stone golems - over and over and over again. Not because I wanted to, not because it gave me any joy doing so - but because some developer had arbitrarily decided that 40 gold was the right amount to ask for a mount. I resented the game for forcing me through that, because that weekend was pain.

It’s the same with those mobile/facebook/free-to-play games we mentioned further up. They intentionally make the innermost core loop not fun, not enjoyable, but a chore to do - so that you do want to skip it, and go buy some premium gems/crystals/energy/whatever for real money, to bypass the pain. In those games, the pain is even intentional! You aren’t playing for the fun of it - you’re only there for the rewards, you want that rare Darth Vader, that special whatever, that next level up, that unique item, that status symbol reward. That’s a common problem with reward-driven gameplay - that the activity itself is often not giving the player joy, and the rewards are the only reason to do it. That’s also a known psychological effect, where gameplay that might even be fun otherwise, becomes cheapened because of the existence of the reward. Because you are doing it for the external reward, then it starts feeling like a chore. Because you have to do it for the reward you “need” - you didn’t freely choose to do it. It was imposed on you.

And for me personally, that explanation perfectly lines up with past situation where I liked the grind - vs. when it felt enjoyable vs. when I didn’t like it, and it made the game “too grindy” for me.

Conclusion

It’s an answer - maybe not the answer - but nevertheless an answer. It works very well for me - it might or might not work for you. But as far as solid answers to this question go - which are far and few in-between - I feel this is a good answer, as it explains it very well, and gives you a relatively precise place to draw the line. I think it’s definitely better than having no answer at all.

Still doesn’t mean it’s the right answer for you. But that’s not for me to decide anyway.

If you’d like to read some more - I got this previous post on player agency for you to enjoy.