I remember reading an interesting article on this topic a while back, I can't find the original, but this link shares the same sentiment:
https://www.designer-notes.com/?p=369
"Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game."
Whilst I can agree with that statement, I prefer to take a slightly different approach to dealing with the grinding problem. Because I think it entirely comes down to how you decide to frame it.
- First of all, I think "grinding" itself has quite a loose definition. You could ultimately analyse any aspect of a game and ask yourself the question "Why am i doing this?", for example, you could look at big RPGs like Skyrim and even say that a fair number of the quests you do are just a means to an end, they are something you are doing to progress in some form. Whether it be to gain levels, get further along in the story etc; At the core, for some players, both of these could be treated as a form of grinding. Even if the repetition is reskinned, the ultimate task and end goal it achieves can remain the same. For certain games, you could argue that the whole process of the game is a grind. Lets take minecraft for example, I'd argue that every aspect of that game ultimately comes down to some form of grind, however its still fun to play.
"So you're mining stuff to craft with and crafting stuff to mine with" -- You can extend this into everything you do, ultimately you are progressing so you could perhaps build a base, but there still isn't that much "point" to having a base, it doesn't necessarily serve as much other than something cool to have. The interesting thing here is that you don't really pay attention to the process.
- So what I would do is reframe the topic and identify how can we make the "grind" fun? Rather than trying to remove it, because I think the logic can apply to more game mechanics than meet the eye, you just don't notice it because the actual mechanics themselves are planned with a bit of care:
- Make the process a bit more engaging, perhaps as a result of having side incentives or mechanics that compliment the grind so that you can complete multiple objectives in one go. E.g. if you need to hunt a specific creature for a specific drop that only falls every now and then, then the actual process of hunting should still feel rewarding.
- Try to avoid forcing the player to go back to basics. A lot of grinding should feel progressive, that is, once you have done something, that task should become easier to do.
- Interlink different mechanics so that they all compliment each other, rather than having a flat linear progression. This means that you can continuously progress horizontally and expand your characters skill-set/resources while also moving forward in one direction. I feel that the best games are ones where you don't feel forced into one avenue, but can attempt something once you feel ready to do so.
- Consider how the player is punished for failure. This can fall into how you want difficulty in your game to work, which is a bit of a different topic, but is nonetheless important. Lets say that death was punishing, you lost all of your items and a bunch of money when you failed a quest because you weren't a high enough level, if going into a quest without being a high enough level would spell certain doom, then players would be dis-incentivised to want to attempt that level, and therefore, they will feel the need to grind more just to avoid failure. At this point, I personally do not like this approach, because it is in-essence forcing the player to grind if they want an increased chance of survival. I much prefer to not punish the player for failing, but reward their success instead. This may mean that players are more willing to take a stab at a quest before they may feel ready because they may be able to complete it with their skill alone.
As a gamer, if there is a quest or challenging interaction, I much prefer to think about how I can "beat" that challenge on a skill level, i.e. which enemies to kill first, what traps to be aware of, rather than having to constantly worry about losing all my loot.
There's nothing worse than having to grind to make up for things that you lost, and this is when it becomes tedious.
I will add however, it also depends on the expectation of the game, and the ultimate value of loot. If your game is about gathering lots of items and building them up, having money etc; then losing that stuff can feel awful. On the flipside however, if there is an expectation that you will die and lose, and that gathered items are just something you acquire quickly, this can change the dynamic. For example in recent looter shooters/battle royale games, there is an expectation that you can just die, so you dont want to be spending too long running around finding things. The skill there can come from finding the balance between quickly and efficiently acquiring items, but also focusing on getting to a point where you have effective weapons. When this is the expectation, generally repeating the process of initial loot gathering isn't bad, simply because that part of the game is quick and should never really become a grind in the first place.
So, value/importance of loot and its accessibility also plays a part.
You can actually push this to the point where it ends up being more fun, because you have limited time, and thus your character builds up in different ways, because you dont have the time to get the exact setup you want. The major success of roguelite games came from the notion that each time, you start with a fresh slate, and it never feels like a grind, because you are experience new items and mechanics each time you start up a world. Similarly, with randomly generated games, or tycoon games, I never found the start to be a grind because the world was always a little different at the start, and you had an opportunity to explore multiple avenue's of progression.
The end goal here is to try and remove the concept of grinding from the players head entirely and not have the player feel like they are completing chores to progress. Every action the player makes should feel as interesting as it can be, and there should be motivation behind actions. An interesting approach here is to indirectly make grinding harder, because if it is too easy, it will feel mundane. For example, if a player needs to go and acquire a particular item, rather than them walking from A to B, getting item, and walking back, if we can make that journey a little more interesting, and perhaps itself require some setup (good supplies, weapons etc
there will be a certain flow to the game, and a newly developed knowledge skill ceiling that experienced players will know to cater for.
Based on what I said originally about core game mechanics such as quests/dungeon clearing technically being a grind, if players felt the same way about the more mundane mechanics as they did about those, then perhaps they wouldn't really even consider it a grind and would simply enjoy the process of exploring the game world. Driving around in games like GTA can technically be a grind, because you aren't really doing anything other than driving, but it's bloody fun to do so
So yeah, looking at it technically, the mechanics could still be considered a grind, but that doesn't mean they have to be monotonous, or that you should feel pressured to do so. The best mechanics are ones which make up part of the natural progression and don't necessarily need to be repeated, or if they do, they are in a different context.
Bit of a waffle, but just a dump of my opinions and ideas. Granted, I only play a selection of games, so my personal experience may not be representative of all games. Similarly, I don't like playing really hard games where you have to play a level 30 times before you can beat it, that to me feels like more of a grind than mining a bunch of stone and smelting it in sandbox game, which I find quite relaxing