When the grind rules.

Snotling · January 2007

A few months ago, I quit WoW after reaching lvl 20. I quit because I felt that I was wasting my time. After cancelling the subscription, I started thinking: What was wrong with modern MMOs, what drew me to MMOs in the first place, and what makes them so fun?

I first thought the problem was the combat, so I tried a game with real-time combat: DDO. As it turns out, this game was actually worse than WoW. Combat wasn't the problem.

After thinking even more, I realised the answer: the grind. Soon, this led me to the answer to my second and third questions mentioned above. The draw of MMOs is the promise of adventure and exploration. I don't know about you, but I don't really consider killing the same mob over and over an "adventure."

As I look at the MMOs currently being developed, I see two types of MMOs, ones taking steps in the wrong direction, and ones taking steps in the right direction. Games like Vanguard and LoTRO are taking steps back, theyre sticking with the grind and making combat the primary aspect of their games. Games like PotBS and TCoS are taking steps foreward. They're minimizing the grind and putting more emphasis on exploration, advenure, and social aspects.

I hope that eventually, these types of MMOs will be the majority, and people wont have to grind all day just to go into the next zone, but currently it doesn't seem like the genre will head in that direction.

jezvin · January 2007

I think the grind is a lot more important than people think; the problem isn’t that the grind exists but that it is not fun, a game needs to be made that takes the grind and makes it a lot less repetitive and a lot more fun.

Snotling · January 2007

Originally posted by jezvin

I think the grind is a lot more important than people think; the problem isn’t that the grind exists but that it is not fun, a game needs to be made that takes the grind and makes it a lot less repetitive and a lot more fun.

You bring up a good point, but I think more grind = less exploration. It becomes more of an annoyance than fun.

Snotling · January 2007

Originally posted by Rhoklaw

The grind was implemented first in EverQuest and the reason being was because MMO's took on a new form of never ending gaming. How do you create a persistant online game without setting boundaries. Even with recent games such as World of Warcraft and City of Heroes, people are taking the grind to new limits by reaching max levels in months or even weeks and in some rare cases, days. You have to look at it from the developers point of view. You spend millions of dollars which can only be recovered if the game's longevity is there to keep people subscribed for atleast a year or two. The easiest way to keep people subscribed is of course to control their rate of leveling.
Perhaps one day, games won't require so much money to create and we could do away with "The Grind" so people can actually sit down and enjoy the game with everyone, instead of just those who level at the same pace as you. We all hate the grind, not because it makes the game progress so slowly, but because we miss out on the feeling of accomplishment. The grind when first introduced was actually a good idea and something everyone could live with. It wasn't until people started gaming hardcore or paying 3rd party levelers to get them to max level in a few days that games became pointless to play.
You are right though, the grind has been conquered because of 3rd party levelers and so a lot of games are being put on the shelf because no one wants to compete with that. Hopefully games like Eve Online will shed some light on how gaming should be done, where player dedication is rewarded based on time both in and out of game, instead of just in game.