Sunday, September 26, 2010

The Psychology of Grinding














  1. My definition for grinding, is doing nothing things for progression for its own sake. It's the direct conversion of the player's time for power in the game, with no other real cost. Why not just make the player as powerful as he will be at the end of the time-consuming activity? I've been known to call that "unhealthy," in more than one article.

    So, the following situations are not grind, to me:
    - When there is substantial danger from the activity. It's not enough that there is a risk of death; if nothing is lost from death, then it's still grind. There has to be some aspect of skill, which requires player engagement, for it to be interesting.
    - When some not-easily-replenishable resource is consumed (other than the player's time of course). Healing potion supplies don't count if they're cheap; the player will just buy 99 and head back to town if they begin to get even slightly low.

  2. I have always expressed the fallowing .Having characters that I have leveled up through out the years is very gratifying experience. My PSO and PSU characters are like a car you take from the ditch and modify and make better through the years and even if its not as complex, but also gratifying feeling having those maxed out characters in Shining in the Darkness. The thought of maxed out characters with little threat to them, where there was plenty before, is an idea I find comfort in.

    The unsaid idea that trots behind early RPG's is, that every battle is not suppose to be taken the same way every time. For example, you fight the same looking static bat with the same background several times. As the bat sits in static animation, and numbers and text scroll, it is was always in thought by devs, is that you picture the battle in your head to your imagination. This based off its root pen and paper concept. The issue(SOME of us view) is that there is a lack of description or great narrative in writing that dose not come off exciting enough to want to remember. Problem was pre Phantasy Star 3 era there was a great issue with text and memory O_O wait what?? text took up that much memory? Yes, which is why there was very little improvisation to none when it came to name changing in early games(four letter slots??).

    I remember grinding in FFVI and really just using the images and themes as aid's to a dynamic seen in my head. I credit pen and paper for this. This whole idea of "grinding" in most aspects, is not really something most of today's gamers could really appreciate or understand the basis of.

    Some times, its just as simple as I want to chew a piece of gum, just to pass the time.

  3. For myself, I tend to look at games in terms of what I'm going to be doing from one moment to the next, if most of that time is spent fighting monsters in order to get stronger in order to fight stronger monsters, then all I need is for that aspect of the game to be engaging. DQIX does a really good job of this, because each individual battle is really fast, so I never felt bogged down by killing mooks in order to get stronger, plus, there was always a fresh, juicy carrot just up ahead.

    For myself, I'd define "grind" as anything the player does to mitigate risk, usually in the form of busywork. When you go up against an opponent who could potentially wipe you out, that's risk... and by levelling up your character, or farming for gold in oder to buy massively powerful loot, or whatever, you can reduce the risk of failure, to the point where a favourable outcome is almost guaranteed.

    The solution I would present would be to better balance player punishment (say that ten times fast). There needs to be a punishment in place to discourage the player from getting killed, but the more severe that punishment is, the less risk that player is going to be willing to take, and thus, provided they continue to play the game at all, the more likely they are to grind away on weaker enemies in order to prevent the stronger ones from being any sort of threat. The problem is that, without any risk, the grind is no longer engaging, and you're pretty much playing Progress Quest at that point.

    Again, pointing to DQIX, dying is hardly a free ride in that game, you lose half your gold, and in a game where things are expensive and farming is slow and tedious, but at the same time, you've still got all your experience points, plot progress, and equipment, so there's no reason not to push forward when you can, and at least try putting yourself up against the strongest enemies you've yet encountered. By doing so, even the regular battles have some slight risk to them, so they're still engaging, but not enough risk to scare you away from at least trying.

  4. I agree with John H.
    When it is exciting to run out and power yourself up, there's not much wrong with it. 100 easy encounters is just mindnumbingly boring for anyone actually looking to fight.

    An overall problem with grinding though, is that it breaks the difficulty curve sometimes.
    Symphony of the Night for example is a good and beautiful game, only flawed by it's broken difficulty. Depending on the order you do things in, some things become ridiculously hard and others way too easy.
    I hate encountering an awesome boss only to see it die within 5 seconds.

    Ys is one of the few exceptions as the difficulty is adjusted very little by your levels, though this might be because you simply can't overpower bosses.
    You need to learn their pattern or you will die quickly, no matter your level.
    (I base this on the PCE versions of YS I, II and III)