General Discussion

I have often wondered about this.  Nearly every Asian-style MMO I have played has been a grind-fest.  Little or no story lines, no emphasis on role-playing.  No plots, hardly eny meaningful quests.  Just grind, grind, grind, grind.

What is the attraction?  I cannot get my head around it.  I know it has something to do with a cultural differences, and someone once mentioned that it was because they are more community based, but what has that got to do with grinding games?

I wish I could understand it, as then I might be able to enjoy some of them more, if I realised the point.

I hope this post does not sound patronising, as it is not intended.  I am not saying that our games are better than their's.  I would just like to know what it is about.  If I could suss it out, then I could really get into some of those free2play's in my hard drive.

Because they are mindless zombies who don't care about having fun in a game?

Nah seriously, simple answer: They don't! Noone does.

"Why do americans like to solo so much?" or "Why do russians always speak russia in general chat?" are examples of equally erm.. less qualified questions.

2 reasons come to mind right off the top of my head.....

1.) The Asian market seems to like games that have a higher emphasis on PvP than PvE questing. They like many Westerners think that battling other players is far more gratifying then killing AI mobs even though most of their games involve endless grinding on the AI to get to the good PvP. The main difference is the PvP in Asian market games usually has some world defining meaning to it, usually in the form of Clan/Guild territorial control.

2.) The Asian mentality that anything worth having is worth a lot of effort to achieve. This permiates Asian society on the whole and it reflects in their games. (This is meant as a complement to Asians so please don't start accusing me of stereotyping like some asshats on this forum like to do.)

These seem to be the main 2 reasons although there may be more.

Bren

The above poster is correct. Instant gratification is a western invention.

Because it builds up community. In order to level up faster you need to group, which in turns gives more exp per players, (most of the asian mmo). Unlike WoW , Lotr that makes you share your exp when in group, which makes players want to solo more unless you are in end-game raid.

And when you constently group with the same bunch of guys, you will becomes friends! This is how i know a couple of them and still get in touch till today even we are not playing the same mmo anymore!

I would think item shops more than grind.

Originally posted by arctarus

Because it builds up community. In order to level up faster you need to group, which in turns gives more exp per players, (most of the asian mmo). Unlike WoW , Lotr that makes you share your exp when in group, which makes players want to solo more unless you are in end-game raid.

And when you constently group with the same bunch of guys, you will becomes friends! This is how i know a couple of them and still get in touch till today even we are not playing the same mmo anymore!

This is another very good reason. Well said.

Bren

Ive asked myself the same question.

But i think its because they have some repetitive labor gene.  Thats why so many asians on youtube are wtf awesome at instruments, they practice their whole life and dont find it boring

Several get paid for it.

its training for when they start thier full time farming careers :D

seriously

maybe its just  the choices open to them /shrug