The Grind
Over the last two years, my love of video games has withered considerably. And recently I realized why:
The *game* has been replaced with the *grind.*
I bought "No Man's Sky" a few days ago after various online sources convinced me that it had improved drastically, and the many many updates since it was released had turned it from a steaming pile of turds on a cold morning into a shining daffodil garden in spring.
So I paid for it, downloaded it, and played it for a few hours.
AND I FUCKING HATE THIS GAME.
This isn't fun. Nothing about this is fun. I'm constantly mining fucking rocks to get dust to make trivial amounts of fuel so my ship can *take off and land.*
I'm sure that if I grind enough, I'll be able to remove that headache with better gear. But why should I? I could ALSO remove that headache by NOT PLAYING THIS STUPID GAME.
Look, this isn't a slam on NMS, or at least, not just NMS. This is *everywhere.* The current paradigm in games is that you must slowly and painstakingly earn the ability to exist in the game universe by putting in arduous hours of grinding.
Hey game devs. They call it "grinding" for a reason. It’s not because it’s *fun.* It can be, if you’re creative and clever. But no one is creative and clever about grinding anymore.
How about you take a step back and look at what kind of things are fun, and then MAKE THOSE INTO GAMES? WHY DO YOU THINK OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER IS A SUBSTITUTE FOR GOOD DESIGN?
I DO NOT WANT TO SCOUR A FICTIONAL WORLD FOR FLOWERS OR ROCKS OR HERBS JUST TO KEEP THINGS GOING. I have next to no time as an adult; if I get a free hour or two, I AM NOT GOING TO SPEND IT DIGGING HOLES TO LOOK FOR SCRANTON ORE OR FINDING MEGABUNNY BUTT TUFTS TO CRAFT A MONDORIAN WARP COIL TO UPGRADE MY LUNAR DESCENT MODULE'S CEREAL BOWL ATTACHMENT TO LEVEL 4 SO NOW I CAN FINALLY USE A SPOON WHEN MY CHARACTER EATS SPACE CHEERIOS... if only I first find the plans for "spoon" by searching the ruins of a crashed starship for seven months first.
DO YOU HEAR ME?!!
AAARGH YOU NEVER DO.