In Defense of Grinding

Grinding... camping... farming... whatever you want to call it, it seems to be a staple in many computer role-playing games.  I recently read an article about a World of Warcraft player that achieved level 90 by picking herbs and mining.  Now THAT is some serious grinding right there.

There are entire industries created around farming - for you.  You pay them a small fee, they give you a level [x] character.  People complain (I have no link for that... that is just my experience admining a MUD for 10+ years), people write articles about how it leads to wide spread societal abuse... yet, game designers keep grinding in the game mechanics.  Why?

I believe the answer is simple - and something I would have fought tooth and nail against as a "creator" until I stepped back and became a "player."  The answer is... it is fun!!

It never occurred to me before I loaded up Darksiders and began to grind away at zombie after zombie after zombie.  It was fun.  It was exhilarating.  It really didn't matter the score - I gathered my 500 souls to progress... I didn't care.  I wanted to go smash cars on more zombies. Yeah... they are easy as heck to beat. Made it even more fun.

So, I thought back to my days actually playing MUDs (as opposed to creating them), and I realized I loved grinding.  I would camp out at the easy level and grind away.  Did I raise myself up much... no.  But, there was something extremely satisfying with racking up the vampiric butterfly body count.

Am I saying just create a game where you grind and nothing more? No.  But, I do want to put in a defense for senseless violence.  Sometimes, a game... needs to be just a game. Wacking things on the head - repeatedly, is just plain fun.  Don't take that out of your game.  You can drive yourself mad trying to figure out the perfect progression algorithm.  Instead, go camp-out and slay some level one zombies.  Your blood pressure (and your fans) will thank you.