Grind It, Baby

That's right, kids, lets talk 'bout grinding.

RPG grinding.

Like it or not grinding has become a part of gaming, a tradition going back to many of the earliest RPG's. Be it for levels or loot grinding has almost become ubiquitous in gaming, almost to the point of the grind becoming the gameplay.

Why do we grind? The most common reason is to gain levels. In Pokemon Soul Silver I have reached a point where my Pokemon simply don't cut it anymore. At an average level of 24 they are, for reasons unknown and probably unrelated to my perceived incompetence as a trainer, getting stomped by enemies a couple levels lower than themselves. What's a cat to do? Grind.

I set up camp on route 37, just outside of Ecruteak City. I have spent a couple hours combing the grass, encountering mid-teen level Vulpix, Pidgeys, and Stantlers.

Stantlers are by and far the best experience points in the area, giving more than double that of the other Pokemon. Fighting them, however, can be fairly annoying, particularly if it's my Gyrados Poseidon doing the fighting.

Poseidon's intimidate cuts the wild Stantler's attack!

The wild Stantler's intimidate cuts Poseidon's attack!

The staring contest alone can sometimes take hours

Poseidon's intimidate cuts the wild Stantler's attack!

The wild Stantler's intimidate cuts Poseidon's attack!

Over and over and over again.

Grinding isn't limited to levels or loot: some players feel the need to grind the game. The Living Story in Guild Wars 2 has fallen victim to this practice, with players swarming the severs on the Tuesday updates in order to be the first to see the latest content. These players complete the new content in a matter of hours, then spend the next two to four weeks bitching about the lack of new content and the obvious shortcomings of the present.

We've cleaned up after this flowery bitch for over a year and you guys wanna rush this?

Meanwhile those of us that don't make it to opening update ceremonies or, like me, prefer to play the content quite a bit, are left all alone in an empty arena fighting something that needs half a server to take down.

It's criminal, people.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another 800 Meowths I need to kill while I wait for the Flowery Bitch's BFF.