Thoughts on gridning?

What is your opinion on grinding in games? It is a mechanic that is often considered a negative that just makes games unfun and unnecessarily long. However, there are a lot of people that find grinding to be relaxing as it is just a mindless activity that you can zone out to. What do you think?

 

It really all depends on the type of game I'm playing. I like to curbstomp my enemies so I intentionally grind so I'm at least 3 to 5 levels above whatever enemy and boss I have to beat up. I'll also grind if I like the background music during the fights as well.

 

It is always fun! ...for the first time, at least. The second, third, fourth, fifth, it is usually waaay less fun.

 

I hate it so much. I'll do it if necessary but a game always falls in my estimations if I have to grind in order to improve my gaming experience later. I don't enjoy it, so having it be compulsory is like putting in a needless barrier in the game that ruins my immersion.

 

I've always hated grinding, but when I was younger playing RPGs that wasn't a problem since I had a lot of time. Now that I've grown and have other things and little game time, grinding is near impossible for me. Its why I'm still glad you can use cheat devices to give yourself extra exp or just level yourself up.

 

Some games take grinding to an extreme, and not the good kind of grinding either. There's a point at which grinding becomes too annoying and tedious in RPGs and MMORPGs.

 

I'm going against the popular opinion here by saying I love 'grinding'. Korean-style grinding where it takes hours of effort to get a single item or just getting powerful enough to face a boss. I don't really understand why, I guess I just like the feeling when I finally beat a boss and knowing I put hours of effort into it. This is also why I love MMOs (korean-style grinding), it's just an endless grind where you become more powerful the longer you grind (and some money included, sometimes..)
I guess people will find this opinion weird though..

 

I don't find it weird, I actually get it. For me I get a sense of pride that I was able to have enough perseverance to get my stuff. At the same time though, when I'm actually doing the grinding part, I get annoyed and impatient because all I want is my item or to be more powerful. But nothing beats that burst of satisfaction for completing your task, I guess.

 

Exactly. I normally compare it to learning an instrument or programming. Sure, you spend countless hours trying to get that perfect intonation / find that pesky out-of-place comma in the code, but after you're able to do it, you feel really proud of yourself and know it's all worth it just for that moment alone

 

I'm fine with grinding as long as the game has more to offer as well.
If the game is simply a "grindfest" with no substance, then I can see how it can get annoying.
As the OP mentioned, you can simply zone out while grinding. So it may be a good way to chill for a while.

 

Completely agree with this opinion. Some grinding is understandable. Perhaps even necessary. But when it gets to the point of actually being a chore rather than fun, it is almost surely a sign of a poorly designed game.

 

I honestly hate grinding, and that's the main reason I've left a few rpgs and MMOs halfway through. I don't mind a bit of grinding, but some games tend to make it so prevalent that you spend hours just grinding, and that takes away the fun.

 

I like it in small doses. It gives you a good feeling of accomplishment after grinding away for hours.

But it should be used sparingly. The above doesn't apply if you have to do it all day

 

I grind to hell and back in RPGs. I hate it, but I do it anyway. I usually set level/stat goals for myself before each "boss battle" or a certain checkpoint, so often that requires a ton of grinding. I don't actually know why I put so much focus on it, considering that my biggest thing with video games is "just have fun!" all the time. But it has basically just become a part of my usual gameplay with RPGs. Some games are funner to grind in, too. Persona 4 Golden for example; the fighting mechanics were easy to use and really fun so I enjoyed it. In Pokemon games on the other hand? Hate it. Hate it with a damn passion. I hate random encounters.

 

I think grinding is a total drag. MMO developers should finally find a fun way for us to gather materials, xp and reputation, without having to spend hours killing the same mob over and over again. I hate it.

 

It's fun to grind with your friends but if you're alone it's boring. But sometimes if you grind a lot or often it will become boring for me.

 

Honestly, it's not the grinding that bugs me but rather how they approach it. As long as they make the grinding interesting in the game-play and not too repetitive, I love to do it! The issue usually is that often times they make it a bit.. too much of the same, and everyone likes to change things up a bit. Essentially, change it up to make it fun and then it's a pretty big win-win situation, then!

 

Generally speaking I tend to avoid grinding games because all what they do to me is getting me annoyed, that's the main reason I have to do not play them but I'm having fun grinding lately on Archeage because despite the target-based combat system the graphics is stunnig making it quite fun to play with.

 

I really hate grinding. In fact, I loathe it from the depths of my soul. It's the only downside for me in the RPG genre. I especially hate it in Pokemon games, as the grinding there is really unforgiving when you have underleveled pokemon and you are on a high level gym, or even on the Elite 4.

I've even stopped playing certain titles because I've gotten to an area which consisted in only grinding, and that's not fun anymore. And if a game isn't fun, there's no point in playing it.

 

If it's games like Hearthstone, then yes, I absolutely hate grinding, I'm just gonna do my daily due diligence of completing quests, and I'm out just don't seem to have the discipline to go through the tedium of getting to something, even if that something sometimes justify the effort. Which is why I prefer the likes of Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age and other games that do not place too much importance on grinding, and in the case of Dragon Age, actually discourages it, considering the difficulty of enemies scale with your current level, if I remember correctly.