Learning to Love the Grind
This is probably not the revelation of the decade, but more and more games are adopting RPG-ish elements to enhance their own gameplay. On-screen avatars may be able to upgrade equipment through found coins, and may "level up" as they defeat enemies - making them more capable of defeating ... uh, bigger enemies. I even played a BREAKOUT game the other day with the ability to upgrade and customize your avatar in ways that would once relegate it to the "RPG Ghetto." Except that back then, it wasn't a ghetto, it was one of the hottest genres in computer gaming. But I digress...

The cynical side of me sees this additional "grind" as a lame means for designers to encourage players to replay old areas just to "grind" more levels so they can better deal with harder, higher levels. Re-kill monsters a few dozen times, gain an extra couple of levels for +4 hit points and +10% damage per hit, and then you'll finally get that edge over the end-boss --- at a cost of only one extra hour of repetitive gameplay!

And there's a frustrated old-schooler side of me who sees the very definition of "role-playing game" get dilluted as the every other genre jumps in and loots the genre of its identifying virtues, all the while decrying "role-playing games" as being a "boring" video game genre for nerds only. Of course, then developers keep trying to rush to the rescue of the genre by making it more like the action games the cool kids are playing.

But then, there's the gamer in me.

And as embarrassing as it is to admit it, to a point - I don't mind the grind. I even like it sometimes. I like the regular feedback, and the feeling of incremental progress. The artificial boost to my skill in the game is addictive. It is its own scaling difficulty modifier, in some ways. The bottom line is that it works. It's fun. I find that these stolen RPG elements improve most games. I find myself cheering on that stupid tower - four more enemies and it will level up, becoming an even more potent bastion of defence for my unspecified treasures.

But again - that's only up to a point. When the optional grinding starts dominating the gameplay, it becomes an issue. There's probably a fine line in there somewhere that is different for every player.

But there is something to that whole feeling of "leveling up" and upgrading on a regular basis that really is addictive and fun. Even if it leads to a little bit of grinding.

Labels: Game Design

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:58 AM (Permalink)