[As he is often wont to do, Cedi gets at the subject of overstuffing one's self in games with the thought and analysis worthy of a scientific journal. Today's topic: Grinding in RPGs/mobile games! Do you, like Cedi and countless others, find yourself compelled to grind just to get so OP that you wipe that flamboyant grin off Kuja's face? Let us know in the comments! And while you're at it, contribute to our Bloggers Wanted prompt, where the Dtoid staff could find its front page overstuffed with user blogs! - Wes]
Level grinding is a very curious thing. Many times when critics refer to grinding in RPGs, it’s a complaint. Yet grinding has remained a staple mechanic of effectively every game within the genre, and even several games outside of it, for decades. It seems weird, doesn’t it?
The concept itself was borrowed from tabletop RPGs, which are built around characters growing stronger from completing encounters. Yet the vast majority of GMs don’t want players to be too strong or too weak for any given plot climax, so they always orchestrate encounters in such a way to provide just enough EXP or loot for their desired difficulty curve. Most video games don’t have the luxury of being GMed by a human brain, so they’ve instead settled into the trend of repeating encounters which (traditionally) never diminish. Strange how such a tiny change completely alters the dynamic of what EXP and leveling up means in two otherwise similar mediums, isn’t it? I myself am no exception to the trap of the grind. I’ve repetitively mashed buttons for hours, days, sometimes even weeks just to get a few more points into my stats. Too many for any practical purpose, for sure.
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