Why MMOs have grind?

[old.Tohtori]

I think the answer is obvious, hoping for some form of discussion and speculation here.

My best educated guess would be; 24/7 gaming.

Normal games have a 10-30 hour gaming span, some shorter, some longer, and when longer, they too have a bit of grind in them.

When you have a game that can be played, without it ending, 24/7/365, there's bound to be need for some grind and repetition.

So, without grind, MMOs would be, in essence, 30 hours long of intense stuff, but hardly worth the "online" feature.

 

[Helme]

Because there's really no other way to show progress in a game without a story based handling.

 

[liloe]

Well a good grind can actually be fun. As long as you can play with other people and use different tactics, it can be really fun.

I'm playing D&D Online atm and with the different classes there are lots of ways to do quests. There are also added secrets to reward taking all kinds of classes with you.

Yes, the game is centered around PvE and it's really fun. =)

 

[Huntingtons]

to give your character a value to you. you sweated to get it to xx levels and giving it xx good items. and its a part of the game. like FPSs need weapons or combat.
and the other reasons mentioned.
You could make an MMO without the grind but it needed to focus on something different thing.

 

[Laddey]

Many different reasons tbh. Like liloe and Huntingtons said are 2 good points. Also for noobs to get the hang of grouping, to test out different duos/trios/groups. Meeting new people, a change from story based questing etc. The list goes on!

 

[Lamp]

£$£$£$£$£$£$£$

 

[Raven]

To build a community, make friends and enemies. Or at least that was what it was about in the early days of daoc. Doesn't feel like it in newer MMOs though, WAR is better than WoW for the public quests imo, brilliant idea.

 

[Golena]

The bottom line is that they need you to keep coughing over money each month.
If you can complete everything in the first month you won't pay for the second and the third etc. While a normal game can be one you can play through in a month then put on the shelf the business model for a MMORPG means that you have to have a reason to come back month after month.

Now without the grind you'd need far more content, it's far easier from a developers perspective to make you do something 10 times than it is to write 10 new quests.

It also ensures that you become attached to the character. If you've spend 3 weeks grinding your character to level 20 then your more likely to come back for the 4th week than go to the next game since you've put that effort in and want to enjoy the rewards of having done it. The developers ensure that there's always that one extra milestone you want to reach to ensure you return the next day.

 

[old.Osy]

I'll be the first to say EvE Online. The discussion is thus killed.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Rather good points, and nice to see there's no usual "rabble rabble".

Except:

I'll be the first to say EvE Online. The discussion is thus killed.

EVE is grind as much as the next guy, hell, even more so as there's no apparent "hiding it behind fluff" either.

 

[Calaen]

I dont consider playing a mmorpg a grind tbh, maybe its because I only really ever play one character until I eventually leave the game. I am not really a roll 20 other classes kinda guy.

Warhammer seems to have enough variation to stop me thinking about what I am doing.

If you have one character you can spend your time well, the grind comes when people want to play a new class or get the new FOTM to get easy rp's So they are looking for the easiest/fastest (non interesting way) to level up.


I play for the social aspect, I spent my teens sat in front of a tv with whatever console was the best at the time on for hours. I don't get any stimulation from playing on my own anymore, with the exception of my Wii when friends are over or my DS when traveling. Its nice to have a laugh and a joke on comms when you are dicking around.

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

Most MMO's are role playing games, and those have grinds. An MMOFPS most likely wouldn't have too much of a grind, because as in counterstrike a character is pretty much a one-track thing.

In MMORPG's you'll need grind, because a role playing game needs to immerse you in the gameplay. In reallife you don't wake up and suddenly have an x amount of abilities. You train, practice and finally after 4 years of hard study you can play a basic Bach suite on piano. It doesn't just pop in your head.
RPG's need to create a same kind of achievements sense.

Also, if you'd start most MMORPG classes at their top level, you'll have so many possibilities and options, that you'd probably not know where to start. You need to learn to play your char. FPS's are just plain L-Mouse = shoot, scroll = diff. Weapon, R-Mouse = zoom, WSAD - movement. Kinda comes pretty naturally.
Try that with a level 50 DAoC char.