Grinding (video Gaming) - Various Games' Approaches To Issues of Grinding

Various Games' Approaches To Issues of Grinding

• RuneScape is notorious for grinding, as character development requires the player to do repetitive tasks to level-up skills. An example would be the "Slayer" skill, which requires players to defeat a certain number of a specific type of creature. The monsters are randomly chosen based on the player's combat level. Players gain experience while fighting the monsters, which increases both their Slayer level and their combat skills. Because the effort is repetitive and time-consuming, it is considered "grinding". A newer skill called "Dungeoneering" was introduced that does not require grinding, due to randomly generated scenarios to play through. Yet advancing in dungeoneering requires players to "grind" dungeons and complete them over and over. The grinding play style has led to a large macroing playerbase, which Jagex has had difficulty dealing with.

• The Lord of the Rings Online features a "title system" in which players are rewarded special titles, and often new abilities, for killing massive quantities of particular types of enemies. This can make grinding lucrative, as the player benefits from the added experience points and can receive a title they can show off to other players. For example, killing large amounts of Wargs grants the player the "Warg-Slayer" title. Killing even more Wargs results in more advanced titles, such as "Warg Foe" and so on. This system also exists in City of Heroes/City of Villains, where these titles are named "badges".

• Guild Wars tries to reduce grinding by using a very low maximum level (20). Equipment with maximum statistics become easy to obtain at maximum level. Players can still improve themselves by acquiring new and different skills so they can create more varied combinations of skills, or they can gather points for titles that improve certain skills usable only in PvE. The game was designed to be difficult even for players who have reached the maximum level and obtained the best equipment, but without creating huge gaps between the hardcore and casual players so that both could enjoy the same challenges. Additionally, any more time spent playing only produces better-looking characters, rather than stronger characters, so that, unlike most MMORPGs, success is a matter of strategy rather than time spent in the game.

• Guild Wars 2, the sequel to Guild Wars, tries to reduce grinding by favoring dynamic events, events that cause a ripple effect in a non-instanced location, instead of the traditional MMO quest structure. Unlike like its predecessor, the maximum level in the game is 80 and the time spent leveling between levels is shorter than in traditional MMORPGs, meaning one does not have to grind as much to get to the top level. Like Guild Wars, equipment gained from the grinding experience that does exist, is only differentiated by its outward appearance and not by its statistics, meaning hardcore and casual players have access to the same quality, in terms of statistics, gear.

• Eve Online features a system that does not require continuous play to increase character skill. Characters are plugged in to their ship's computer and are trained at a rate based on their attributes. Attributes can be enhanced to decrease training time. Training occurs continuously, in real time, whether the player is logged in or not. Some of the advanced skills can take as long as a month or more of to reach the next level. Players still have to grind for ISK (money), minerals, and NPC faction standing.

• Final Fantasy XII features a "Chain" effect, which occurs when a player kills the same monster over and over; doing so increases the number on the Chain and increases the quality of the items dropped by the killed enemy. With a maximum of 999 chained kills, the Chain can only be broken by killing a different monster, or leaving the area.

• MapleStory features a party quest, called the Dojo PQ, that can be done with several players or solo. It is available to all players level 25 or above. It is a boss rush, in which the player or players revisit many bosses, one by one, all in a row. There are two rewards that promote grinding in this particular party quest. The first is after you beat every boss, you get Dojo points, which, when accumulated in large amounts, can be used to get equipment for your character which boost stats. The second is that you get a title for 24 hours when you beat a certain boss 100 times.

• World of Warcraft features dungeons that can be played in segments, so that players can play the game in smaller chunks of time. This is because most people can't afford to dedicate several hours of continuous playing time to complete them. The game also includes a "resting system" which increases the rate of experience gain for casual players, based on the amount of time spent out of the game. Similar systems exist in other games, including Lord of the Rings Online and City of Heroes.

• Some games, e.g. FarmVille, consist exclusively of elements that in other games would be considered 'grinding'. Chris Melissinos, curator of the Smithsonian's upcoming "The Art of Video Games" exhibit, expressed his dismay at his wife's appreciation of Farmville saying, "It's all grind!" His wife explained that, "I only choose to plant things in my farm that bloom beautifully;" Melissinos understood that the enjoyment of watching her farm grow was a self-defined goal rather than a game-defined goal, ultimately concluding that Farmville is really no different than any other game.