View source for Grind Achievements

[[Category:Achievement Patterns]]
[[Category:Patterns]]
[[Category:Needs revision]]
[[Category:Patterns created on the Wiki]]
''Achievements given by repeatedly performing some action in a game.''

Many activities in games are either trivial after being done for the first time or become routine as one's expertise as a player grows. They may still be necessary to complete the game, but to recognize the effort players' can put into that specific type of activity game designers can reward players with [[Grind Achievements]]. These achievements differ from most other achievements in that players will sooner or later get them it they persevere. For games while allow several different ways of playing, [[Grind Achievements]] can be a way to official confirm the way a player has chosen to play a game.

=== Examples ===
High-Score lists can sometimes function as keepers of [[Grind Achievements]]. This is the case when the scores they keep track of start to depend on endurance rather than meeting challenges that steadily become more and more difficult. Early console games such as [[Pac-Man]] and [[Donkey Kong]] qualify to this, since reaching the highest recorded levels require uninterrupted gameplay for several hours (the first perfect score for [[Pac-Man]] took about 6 hours, which by 2010 been shaved to less than 4 hours<ref name="Pac-Man"/>).

More modern games, especially those built as online games or distributed through online platforms such as Steam or XBox Live, have specific grind achievements. The cooperative first-person shooter series [[Left 4 Dead series|Left 4 Dead]] also has many [[Grind Achievements]]. Looking at the second installment in the series, [[L4D2]] rewards using certain types of weapons and ammunition (hitting 50 common infected with incendiary ammo gives ''Burning Sensation'', killing 100 with a chainsaw gives ''Chain of Command'', and decapitating 200 infected with a melee weapon gives ''Head Honcho''). Performing other easily done activities are also rewarded (''Cl0wnd'' for honking the noses of 10 infected clowns, ''Cache Grab'' for opening 5 foot lockers, and ''Grave Robber'' for picking up 10 items dropped by fallen survivors), as is achieving more important gameplay closures (e.g. ''Shock Jock'' for  reviving at total of 10 dead survivors through using defirillators and ''Gas Guzzler'' for collecting 100 gas cans in the game mode scavenge).<ref name="L4D2"/> Similarly, the class-based first-person shooter [[Team Fortress 2]] has [[Grind Achievements]] for both general activities (e.g. ''Race for the Pennant'' for running 25 kilometers, ''Batter Up'' for having done 1000 double jumps, ''Firefighter'' and ''Hardcore'' for reaching 500 and 1000 kills respectively, ''Supreme Soviet'' for getting ÜberCharged 50 times) and those specifically for the individual classes (''Team Doctor'' for accumulate 25000 heal points as a Medic and ''Hot on Your Heels'' for killing  50 enemies from behind with a flamethrower).<ref name="TF2"/>.

The action-adventure game [[Torchlight]] gives [[Grind Achievements]] for most types of activities and events possible in the game: walking (''Walkabout'' for taking 25000 steps), gambling (''Gambling Addict'' and ''Gambling Fiend'' for doing this 50 and 100 times), fishing (''Angler'', ''Fisherman'', and ''Fisher King'' for catching 50, 100, and 100 fish), smashing items (doing this 1500 times gives ''Master Smasher''), selling items (10000 transactions gives ''Cash for Trash''), getting gold (having collected 250000 gold gives ''Rich''), killing enemies (''Wabam!'' for 5000 monsters and ''Supreme Slayer'' for 50000 monsters), achieving critical hits (''Gibbed'' for blowing 25 enemies to pieces), drinking potions (''Potion Whiz'' for 5000) and dying (having done this 500 times gives the consolidation price ''Tormented''). ''Enchantment Overload'', given for successfully enchanting one item 10 time, many not seem like a [[Grind Achievements|Grind Achievement]] from its description but is also one since each enchantment has a slight risk of ruining the items and the accumulated risk statistically means that many items will have to be enchanted to get the achievement (in fact, the game design mitigates the risk by having another achievement build on these failures since ''The Need for Greed'' is given for suffering 20 disenchants.<ref name="Torchlight"/>

[[Fallout: New Vegas]] in the [[Fallout series]] has [[Grind Achievements]] for crafting and repairing a certain number of items (''Crafty'' for crafting 20 items and ''Jury Rigger'' for repairing 30 items) and others for simply discovering places in the game world (''Walker of the Mojave'' for 50 locations and ''Master of the Mojave'' for 125 locations). It also has [[Grind Achievements]] that reveals what type of weapons one uses (the achievements ''Lead Dealer'', ''Love the Bomb'', ''Old-Tyme Brawler'', ''New Vegas Samurai'', and ''Blast Mastery'' are given for causing 10,000 points of damage with guns, explosives, unarmed strikes, melee weapons and energy weapons respectively) and what type of healing one uses (healing 10,000 points with food gives ''Desert Survivalist'' while doing so with Stimpaks gives ''Stiim-ply Amazing'').<ref name="F:NV"/>

[[World of Warcraft]] have main different types of [[Grind Achievements]] with different requirements of players' levels of skill or knowledge. The achievement ''Got My Mind On My Money'' exists in many levels for acquiring gold (given when players pass 5000, 10000, 25000, 50000, and 100000 pieces) as do ones based upon completing quests (50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 3000) or daily quests (5, 50, 200, 500 ,1000). Those participating in player vs. player combat can grind toward achievements of ''Honorable Kills'' (awarded for 1, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, 25000, 50000, and 10000 such kills). While these has the same main name, once based upon obtaining mounts and vanity pets have individualized names (''Stable Keeper'', ''Filling Up The Barn'', ''Leading the Cavalry'', ''Mountain o' Mounts'' and ''Can I Keep Him?'', ''Plenty of Pets'', ''Plethora of Pets'', ''Shop Smart, Shop Pet...Smart'', ''Lil' Game Hunter'' respectively). Many exploration achievements exist in the game as well, and these are the basis for [[Grind Achievements]] for exploring whole regions (''Explore Eastern Kingdoms'', ''Explore Kalimdor'', ''Explore Northrend'', ''Explore Outlands'') and the whole world (''World Explorer''). There are also many [[Grind Achievements]] based upon collecting sets of achievements given for completing dungeons and raids. Examples include ''Classic Dungeonmaster'', ''Glory of the Hero'', ''Northrend Dungeonmaster'', ''Northrend Dungeon Hero'', ''Outland Dungeonmaster'', and ''Outland Dungeon Hero''.<ref name="WoW"/>

== Using the pattern ==
[[Grind Achievements]] can easily be constructed from requiring the success of small goals, that is requiring [[Collections]] of [[Optional Goals]] to be completed. Given this, they can also can be constructed from the goals that make up [[Testing Achievements]] but combining them only makes sense when providing a [[Testing Achievements|Testing Achievement]] for the first success and then the [[Grind Achievements|Grind Achievement]] after the specified number of successes have been achieved. Examples of [[Grind Achievements]] built on what could have been [[Testing Achievements]] include ''Club Dead'' in [[L4D2]] (awarded for having used every type of melee weapon to kill a common infected) and ''The Whole Gang's Here'' in [[Fallout: New Vegas]] (awarded for recruiting all companions).

[[Goal Achievements]] can also be used as a basis for [[Grind Achievements]] but since these goals most likely require [[Gameplay Mastery]], this solution is more likely to work for games striving for [[Challenging Gameplay]]. Although [[Handicap Achievements]] can be difficult to use as a basis for [[Grind Achievements]], most of the options and consequences of [[Achievements]] in general are available to [[Grinding Achievements|Grinding]] ones as well. The ''Hat Trick'' achievement in [[Torchlight]], awarded for beating the game with all three classes, can be seen as either a [[Grind Achievements|Grind Achievement]] built on [[Goal Achievements]] of completing the game or [[Testing Achievements]] of testing all classes.

A main design choice regarding the individual tasks involved in the [[Achievements|Achievement]] is if the exact same task can be done several times or if different tasks have to be done. The former typically requires that [[Spawning]] of monsters or quests are used and may consist of more [[Grinding]] since it is exactly the same task that is repeated. If different tasks are used this may maintain [[Thematic Consistency]] for [[Predetermined Story Structures]] and can promote [[Game World Exploration]]. The latter also adds the choice of having a set of tasks which all need to completed or just requiring that a subset is necessary through a [[Selectable Set of Goals]] (which gives players a [[Freedom of Choice]] as long as they are aware of all parts of the set). The first levels of the ''Milestone'' [[Achievements]] in [[Team Fortress 2]] do this, e.g. requiring 5 sniping [[Achievements]] out of all those available for the sniper class to give the [[Grind Achievements|Grind Achievement]] ''Sniper Milestone 1''.

Another design choice of course consists of how many times the individual tasks in total need to be performed. This typically depends on the type of activity but cannot be to low since that would instead create a [[Testing Achievements|Testing Achievement]]. A common strategy, as shown by [[Fallout: New Vegas]], [[Torchlight]], and [[World of Warcraft]] examples above, is to provide several different [[Grind Achievements]] which are identical except for the number of tasks that need to be performed. By thus creating [[Goal Hierarchies]], this allows new [[Grind Achievements]] to take over as goals as soon as one has been reached. The ''Milestone'' [[Achievements]] in [[Team Fortress 2]] has this structure as well, having several levels for each class for example ''Sniper Milestone 1'', ''Sniper Milestone 2'', and ''Sniper Milestone 3'' for gaining 5, 11, and 17 more specific [[Achievements]].

=== Diegetic Aspects ===
[[Grind Achievements]] that depend on [[Spawning]] to provide the required tasks most often have a problem with [[Thematic Consistency]].

=== Interface Aspects ===
To show how many times a goal has been achieved and how many remain before the [[Grind Achievements|Grind Achievement]] is rewarded, [[Progress Indicators]] are typically used in combination with [[Grind Achievements]]. Further, since games using [[Grind Achievements]] often have many of them, the information about them are typically available through [[Secondary Interfaces]].

=== Narration Aspects ===
As for diegetic aspects, [[Grind Achievements]] can be problematic for [[Predetermined Story Structures]]. This since they may break the [[Thematic Consistency]] by having events and encounters occur many times or by slowing down the unveiling of the [[Predetermined Story Structures]] with menial tasks.

== Consequences ==
[[Grind Achievements]] share many of the consequences of [[Achievements]] in general, e.g. being a type of [[Rewards|Reward]] and a basis for [[Meta Games]]. Since they consist of reaching some form of goal multiple times they promote [[Collecting]] as a gameplay activity. Achieving them are also quite naturally require [[Grinding]] and when the individual tasks have clear properties as goals the [[Grind Achievements]] create [[Goal Hierarchies]].

Although maybe not as efficient as [[Goal Achievements]], [[Grind Achievements]] can provide [[Value of Effort]] [[Rewards]] by offering to show how dedicated players have been to the game, a gaming group, or game community. This since dedicated membership can in itself provide [[Game-Based Social Statuses]].

== Relations ==
=== Can Instantiate ===
[[Achievements]], [[Collecting]], [[Game World Exploration]], 
[[Game-Based Social Statuses]], 
[[Goal Hierarchies]], [[Grinding]], [[Meta Games]], 
[[Rewards]], [[Value of Effort]]

=== Can Modulate ===
-

=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
[[Collections]] with [[Optional Goals]]

[[Collections]] with [[Goal Achievements]] or [[Testing Achievements]] 

=== Can Be Modulated By ===
[[Progress Indicators]], [[Secondary Interfaces]], [[Selectable Set of Goals]], [[Spawning]]

=== Possible Closure Effects ===
-

=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Predetermined Story Structures]], 
[[Testing Achievements]]

==== with [[Spawning]] ====
[[Thematic Consistency]]

== History ==
New pattern created in this wiki.

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="F:NV">[http://steamcommunity.com/stats/Fallout:NewVegas/achievements/ List of Fallout:New Vegas achievements in the Steam Achievements system] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="L4D2">[http://steamcommunity.com/stats/L4D2/achievements/ Valve Software's list of L4D2 achievements] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="Pac-Man">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man Wikipedia's entry on Pac-Man].</ref>
<ref name="Torchlight">[http://steamcommunity.com/stats/Torchlight/achievements/ List of Torchlight achievements in the Steam Achievements system] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="TF2">[https://steamcommunity.com/stats/TF2/achievements/ Valve Software's list of Team Fortress 2 achievements] and percentages of gamers receiving them.</ref>
<ref name="WoW">[http://www.wowwiki.com/Achievements WoWWiki's main page regarding achievements in World of Warcraft].</ref>
</references>