By Nelson Schneider - 02/05/12 at 05:07 PM CT
I have noticed a disturbing trend in games this-gen. Not just my favorite genre of RPGs, but many genres, including strategy and even FPS, have become increasingly focused on one gameplay mechanic: Grinding.
Grinding was introduced long ago in the first RPGs. Games like “Phantasy Star,” “Dragon Quest,” and “Final Fantasy” all involved grinding, but it was a side effect of the then-new mechanic of improving the character’s skills instead of the player’s. Grinding was a necessary evil as developers worked to find the right balance of challenge and playability in their games. If battles were too easy, players could blow through the game with no effort. If battles were too hard, a few hours of grinding would take care of it. It was ‘better,’ it seemed, to err on the side of challenge.
The 16-bit era brought us balanced RPGs, still the only genre to feature grinding, that could be completed using only the points accumulated from battles fought naturally through the progression of the game. The instances of taking a break from advancing the plot or fulfilling the main game objectives in order to grind for a few hours all but disappeared, but the option was still there for particularly unskilled or obsessive players.
But then something changed… and this change started in the foul breeding pits of PC games. Someone, somewhere discovered that people will do boring, mindless, repetitive tasks… as long as they are paying for the privilege. Thus the MMORPG was born, through a dark ritual that excised the worst aspect of RPGs and distilled this taint into an addictive substance. Suddenly there were no plot points or objectives aside from running the same raid over and over or grinding mobs for experience and rare drops. The parents of this monstrous new sub-genre were the Hack ‘n Slash sub-genre-defining “Diablo,” which introduced treasure acquisition as a primary goal, and the mainstreaming of gaming, which caused huge corporations to take interest in monetizing what had previously been a niche form of entertainment.
So what, exactly, is grinding? Grinding is a way to keep people playing a game even when their higher mental functions are no longer engaged in said game. Grinding is a substitute for meaningful design and storytelling. Instead of games being made by people who like making games for the sake of seeing people enjoy games, games are now made by committees who like making money for the sake of making money. Instead of expending the capital and effort to create an experience that engages gamers and keeps them interested until it ends, it’s easier and more profitable to create an addiction that hooks people and never ends.
Cases in point: Zynga and “Call of Duty.” While subscriptions have largely disappeared as part of grind-centric gaming, with ‘Free to Play’ having risen to power, these games still provide huge revenues for their makers thanks to online advertising. There is nothing wrong with advertising, in and of itself. It’s been around forever and it’s also how MeltedJoystick and FilmCrave make most of their operating budgets. Advertising goes wrong, though, when the advertisers attach their ads to something addicting, which ensures that the addicted users will see their ads over and over and over. All of Zynga’s games, like the infamous “FarmVille,” focus on keeping players coming back to grind, yet there is no ultimate goal outside of the grinding itself. “Call of Duty” is likewise a goalless, never-ending game, with players grinding for the experience required to unlock additional weapons for use in online deathmatches. Neither of these games remotely resembles the RPGs that originally employed this unfortunate gameplay mechanic, yet they use an identical model to keep players playing, though not necessarily engaged.
Another series that closely resembles RPGs and revels in grinding is “Monster Hunter,” in which loot drops are the order of the day. While, as I mentioned, loot grinding began with “Diablo,” “Monster Hunter” introduced loot crafting, in which enemies don’t drop weapons and armor, but body parts and bits of debris that can be made into weapons and armor. In this series, which is an Action/Adventure and not an RPG, the character never improves… but his equipment does.
And what of the RPGs themselves? They have devolved to revolve around grinding once again. However, now it is less about experience and money than it is about random bits of garbage that drop from enemies, but can be combined into equipment or used to enhance existing equipment, “Monster Hunter” style. The simple functionality of arriving at a new town and buying all-new weapons and armor has been replaced with hours of monster-slaying in order to accumulate enough junk to make better gear than what any shop sells. Recent offenders include such big-name titles as “Dragon Quest 9,” “Xenoblade Chronicles,” and “White Knight Chronicles.” The stain isn’t confined to niche titles, as it should be, but is spreading everywhere!
Why is grinding bad? While it wasn’t as much of an issue in 8-bit games that barely had characters or stories, modern games have the ability to be on-par with movies and pulp novels. Stopping to grind destroys the flow and pacing of the narrative. Not only that, but grinding is, and always has been, boring. There is nothing fun about doing the same task over and over – that’s called work, and most people do it every day of their adult lives. Games are meant to be fun, engaging, and entertaining – the opposite of work. Finally, if enemy drops weren’t random, it would take a lot of the pain out of grinding, but would also remove what makes it so addicting. In essence, grinding is like gambling. There’s always the chance that killing just one more enemy will provide the last piece of detritus required to make the Super Special Awesome Armor. Just like casino owners, online game developers want to keep users glued to the same game for as long as possible. It’s a gruesome form of profiteering that takes something that should cause joy and turns it into slavery.
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