I don't understand the concept of "grind" in gaming

TruffleSnout

T
When you paint your descriptions in broad enough strokes, anything can be defined as a grind. And if you paint your descriptions with narrow enough strokes, anything can be defined as "not grind". In other words, whether something is a grind or not is based purely on how you word your opinion. It's word play and nothing else.

Example:
"Skyrim is a grind. Every single mission is 'go here, kill/get/deliver something'. There is nothing else to do in Skyrim."

See how I worded that? My very word choice just made Skyrim sound like a grind.

An opposite example:
"Elite is not a grind. Last night I went to a RES where there was a HUGE number of police, including a police Anaconda, and we all ganged up on a bunch of Pirate dropships who were harassing a Harmless T9 just going about his business. Then I went to another RES where there was only like 4 police and I had the fight of my life against a wing of Vipers."

See again? I just used different words, and made Elite out to sound like those were two completely different encounters, when in reality they were actually very similar.

(note: no games were harmed in the production of this post. I don't personally feel like either of these games is a grind in my own opinion.)
 
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Hawk Eye

H
SiriusLee said:
Tony Hawks, now there's a game where you grind ;)
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Nice one ;)

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Fyrd Judge

Fyrd Judge
Grinding - process of engaging in repetitive tasks. People who hate grinding are usually the ones that don't clean their teeth every day.
 
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HipToss

HipToss
Bazorlag said:
Objective in those games is to beat the high score, isn´t it? Maybe we need ED scoreboard too... No wait, it´s sort of coming now isn´t it? Funny how it goes.
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None of these games finish. Aside from Donkey Kong and its epic level 22 "kill screen"
 

AndyC77

A
Its a term made up by the mmo crowd that religiously seek out the fabled grind because they have nothing better to do than spend thousands of hours doing the same thing over and over.
 

Mr_Blastman

Mr_Blastman
Katkon said:
To me, "grinding" implies repetition, monotony, boredom - the sort of things that are polar opposites to what I want to derive from a game, which is FUN/ENJOYMENT. I don't play games to amass massive amounts of digital wealth or assets with no real world monetary value. I play games to have FUN!
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Some folks have to compensate.
 

Dommarraa

Dommarraa
Is the trip to Sag A* just a 12 hour party ? Nope, not even for the most ardent of explorers, but if it was easy, nobody would bother. Repetition to the point that it requires effort to continue is not always grind. Repetition where the goal does not justify the effort IS grind.

It is subjective, but if I find my internal dialogue using the word "grind" in my evil plans, I stop and do something else.
 

deathmagnet

deathmagnet
Katkon said:
This is a word that's used more and more frequently on this forum, particularly by those relatively new to the game/forum. And I just don't understand it!

To me, "grinding" implies repetition, monotony, boredom - the sort of things that are polar opposites to what I want to derive from a game, which is FUN/ENJOYMENT. I don't play games to amass massive amounts of digital wealth or assets with no real world monetary value. I play games to have FUN!
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The reason I did the the "grind" is because when I play highly competitive games I like to compete at a high level. Combat is by far the funnest part of the game for me, problem is I am not very good at it...lol...and this has been the case in many of the games I have played. So my solution is to have the best equipment/gear that you can have to help offset my lack of skill. In this game that equipment is expensive and the fastest way to get that money is through trade, so, I ground out different trade runs so that now I can proudly boast that I fly a 160 million credit combat python (still need to save up for the armor), as well as 2 specialty Condas. I earned a couple Grind Hard Awards (inside MoM joke, we also have a Speedo Award) and I wear it as a badge of honor.

Katkon said:
I did this recently. I spent a couple of months with Heroes & Generals and GTA V, only to come back to ED. It's that good. I've played this game longer than any other - ever. It's been over a year now. And believe it or not, I only learned how to trade properly 2 days ago, based on using one of the guides posted on here. The key is not to use the 3rd party trading tools, but to go out on your own and hunt down/find a lucrative trade route. It's not easy, and will require a bit of patience and problem-solving, but it's oh-so-rewarding!
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Couldn't agree more (+1 rep for this). The 3rd party trade tools taught me the ropes but now I hunt out routes myself. I currently found a 2700crpt AB route but the caveat is that for 1 leg I am required to smuggle in Imperial Slaves. It makes the normally boring trade a little more interesting and funny. "Sneaking" a Conda into a star port is just hilarious to me. Like no one notices that giant ship approaching the station. The extra challenge of a high speed dock with no shields is also challenging and fun.

Edit: Not to mention the possibility of getting caught and being stuck with a nearly million credit fine...
 
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trollson

trollson
Once made 75,000 leather helmets in a MMORPG to "learn" how to make a magic sword...

Grind:
(a) Doing something you don't like, repetatively, before you can do something you do like.
(b) Doing something repetatively to let you do something with different names, bigger numbers, but otherwise the same.
(c) Something to keep players busy until developers can think of something interesting for them to do.
(d) Something to keep players busy so the developers only have to do the minimum.
 

RancidRance

RancidRance
The way I see it almost all games are Skinner Boxes. You do X and get a reward and I'm fine with that, as long as the time and effort for X are in proportion to the reward.
 

Captain N

C
Sure, games always end up being repetitive if you play them long enough.

The kicker is that the amount of time after which they become nothing but repetition varies.

Become a grandmaster first before you call chess repetitive.
 

p.opus

p.opus
Katkon said:
This is a word that's used more and more frequently on this forum, particularly by those relatively new to the game/forum. And I just don't understand it!
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I am not going to requote the whole post, but I just wanted to say how perfect it was. I too have been bothered by the term grinding and exactly what that meant. I'm an old school game player and every game I played could be considered Grinding. Now I will admit one thing. Doing the same thing without any context is not very fun. Elite is the ultimate sandbox, in that there is no real "story". There is no "endgame". You are NOT the dragon borne, you are NOT trying to pull off the "big heist". You are not the center of the universe. For your missions to have "meaning" it is YOUR responsibility to provide that.

Elite Dangerous provides all the framework for you to become, whatever you want. The difference between Elite and other Sandbox games. In other sandbox games, you are a character and the developer is the story teller. In Elite, the developer only provides the location. You are the character AND the story teller. If you are "bored" it's only because you haven't told a good enough story.

Go out and make some stories. The forums are great places to share them.

I would much rather read someone relay his adventures from the black than to hear someone whine about a game mechanic or how "boring" the game is.

Perhaps it's not a boring game, but rather boring people are playing it....
 
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