Tuesday, July 31, 2007

What is a grind?

In a comment to a previous post Verilazic said "
Reading the article by the guy who doesn't like end game didn't make a lot of sense to me. I guess I just don't see how 1-70 isn't a grind, but 70 is. I find both a grind in the same areas (namely killing the same things over and over, regardless of quests), and not a grind in the same areas (namely pvp and most instances, particularly when running with friends).

What's the difference between lvling and, well, repping/raiding/farming? Speed? the lack of anything but gear as a reward? I actually find 70 more fun than lvling to 70, just because I can pvp now with my friends who reached 70 ahead of me."

It got me to thinking what is a grind exactly. How does the saying go? "I can't describe it but I know it when I see it!" Or in this case "when I feel it!"

For instance:

Leveling for the first time to 70. Not a grind.
Leveling for the second time. A grind.

But that's my opinion and it's all perception. I could ask this blogger if she thinks leveling alts are a grind. She'd probably say no.

Just about everything we do in the game are repeated actions. Maybe once we start doing things for the sake of doing them and not for fun does the feeling of "grind" come creeping in?

2 comments:

Joyd said...

People will generally use the term grind to refer to anything that they don't like that takes a while. Leveling through Azeroth isn't doing the same thing over and over again, but it totally sucks, so I'd call it a grind. I enjoy running steam vaults, so running it a bunch of times doesn't feel like a grind. Level 70 pvp for tokens and honor is a grind; the same amount of level 39 pvp isn't. It's all subjective. Tetris is doing the same thing over and over again, but it's not a grind.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, perhaps it's just a question of whether it's fun or not. Which can be rather subjective.

I find pvp at 70 to be a bit of a grind, unless I'm running a premade with friends. But I find 39 pvp to be tons of fun, whether I'm in a premade or not.

About this blog

"I don't *need* to play. I can quit anytime I want!"

Search This Blog