Grinding and Why I Keep Doing It: Gaming Log 7/3/2018

You might get sick of this after a while, but you'll keep coming back.

Ah, the grind. How I’ve missed you.

My journey though Unova in Pokémon White 2 continues. The nuzlocke is fun but unforgiving, and mistakes have been made. The fields are littered with the bodies of the dead; Pokémon, Pokémon never changes . . . though it does get slightly easier with each new iteration.
 

Of course I am also trying not to over level, which is hard because I am not looking the trainers up. That said, I’ve done a decent job keeping at about the level of the gym leaders using the assumption they will be two or so levels above their flunkies.

Since I need to level up it means I’ve been spending a lot of time grinding. RPG’s have long been one of my favorite genres, so it’s a mechanic I am somewhat familiar with, yet there is one issue I have trouble putting my finger on: what makes grinding fun?

 

Grinding in an interesting mechanic; on its surface, it’s a complete waste of time, a mechanic that serves solely to make the game longer. Yet, it is a core part of most RPG’s and some people can do it for hours, I’ve certainly raked up hundreds of hours doing it in various RPG’s and MMO’s. I certainly consider some of that time a waste, yet. . .

 

I keep going back to it. Often it’s just to get through the game to the story I am following, though other times It is actually fun. It’s just hard to explain why. It might just be that I like to do it while reading or doing something else; burning away nervous energy. Maybe it’s the feeling that my in game characters are growing. Maybe it’s like slot machines; people know they are unlikely to win, but with all the lights and beeping the reward centers of their brain are still activated and I keep putting in quarters. Maybe its all of the above, I’m just not sure. 

But this is not the case with every game; the grinding in some games is pretty bad. The grinding got old in SOTN, and Skies of Arcadia Legends was also bad in this regard, and they say the Dreamcast version was even worse!

Woo! spawn farming! A classic grinding strategy. But if you have to use it, you've probably reached that point where grinding is no longer fun

So why do I find the grinding in Pokémon so satisfying? Well, maybe it’s the feeling that you are growing something. Pokémon level up, learn new moves and evolve. And you can also change them out. This keeps things fresh, usually.

However grinding as a mechanic is a double edged sword. Many people like grinding but most people have a limit to that, and everyone’s limit is different, because even if it is fun, it is a time sink, and it has to be balanced with other elements like story and actual challenges.

Now, I am still working on that Pokémon white 2 fan project I mentioned last time, but I am having some problems posting it so it’s first installment is stalled in its 2^nd draft form at the moment. I’m not happy about it, but it is what it is. 

I am also thinking of the next game I will play, I am thinking I will try that Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, cause that’s why I got the switch in the first place: to play eight bit games in the year 2018. Those Megaman collections are looking mighty tempting. . . 

-Gedaemon

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