Grinding

The repeating of simple actions many times to collect resources or complete goals.

Games often only let players choose what to do from a small set of possible actions. Even so, the choice of which action to perform can make the gameplay interesting or can the challenge of succeeding in performing the action. However, some games require players to, at least some of the time, repeatedly perform actions that are trivial to do so many times that the primary challenge becomes to endure. This type of gameplay is called Grinding.

Examples

Games that require players to collect resources for later use, e.g. Minecraft, World of Warcraft, and Eve Online, often exhibit Grinding since the actual looking for the resources and collecting of them is rather easy to do but is something that needs to be done a lot.

Games with a high level of granularity, e.g. the Hearts of Iron and Europa Universalis series, can easily force players into Grinding just to set all parameters correctly or move all their units.

Using the pattern

Grinding may not

Resource Management

Complex Gameplay

Collecting

Left 4 Dead series Achievements Challenging Gameplay Casual Gameplay Exaggerated Perception of Influence Mules AI Players Quick Travel Grind Achievements Persistent Game Worlds Non-Player Help Encouraged Return Visits

Consequences

Give that Grinding typically is experienced as a form of labor, it adds Excise to a game. Even if Grinding is not perceived as enjoyable by players, having completed a goal based on it (e.g. Grind Achievements) does provide a basis for a sort of Game-Induced Player Social Status.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Excise, Game-Induced Player Social Status

History

New pattern created in this wiki.

References

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Acknowledgements

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