Grinding
========

Thursday 4 June 2009 09:05

Are some people really that stupid that they don't
realize they are grinding? In GTA IV it goes like
this: Most people play the multiplayer games with
the default options, or just slight variations on
it. Blips: All, Police: Off, Auto-aim: Allow,
Traffic: Medium. That's nice. But if you don't like
to loose because you know you are a loser, you can
always host a game with a set of less used options,
like Blips: None, Auto-aim: Disallowed, Time of
day: Night, Weather: Foggy, Weapons: Weak, Traffic:
Parked. After a short while you'll be better than
almost any of the players in a game with those
options, since other players don't get that much
experience with those options. With very little
effort such a grinding player can win those games,
since he will rarely encounter another player that
is used to those options: Because not a lot of
people play games with those options, and those
players that do host their own games with those
options for their own grinding purposes. The flawed
lobby system of GTA IV makes it possible for
grinders to play 100% of their games in self-hosted
games with options optimized for just their own
benefit, winning those games with very little
effort and nothing obvious in their stats that
shows this grinding behavior. The lobby system
doesn't gather those grinders that like playing
with certain options into one game with those
options so they can compete against each other, it
just lets them grind in separate hosted games and
annoy other players. It's like inventing you own
sports and then declare yourself world champion in
it while never competing with anyone since you're
about the only one practicing it. That's a bit
childish, but GTA IV players are supposed to be
18+, which makes such behavior really pathetic.

If I just made you realize you're a grinder without
any skills and the illusion of having skills was
the only thing that made your life look worthwhile,
please fill out a donor form before quitting.

by Roland van Ipenburg
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ipenburg/blog/posts/play/2009/06/04/grinding/