Grind, it's when you take a break from the game's main story or advancement to go somewhere to raise your levels or gain more money or items.
Everyone here or any gamer should have grinded at some point and know this can be a long and tedious thing to do. So when you grind, what do you do to pass the time? Do you watch it all happen or do you read a magazine or flip the channel to watch tv quick?
When I grind, I tend to multi-task. Most of the time, I usually Skype with my friends or I watch a movie. It usually passes time so much faster when I do those things.
When I grind I am 100% focused on the game. If I try to listen to music I get distracted and then I mess up in game. Usually that means I die or the whole group dies.
I mostly finish the game once i start and listen to some music on the side. But if the game has some good music score, I just go with it. Switching to other chores or entertainment makes me lose the feeling of continuity of the game at hand.
When I'm grinding, I'm usually also playing a game on my phone, or listening to music, or even studying....unless it's an intense battle that I'm focusing on, then I don't pay much attention to the game while grinding
It depends. Sometimes, even if you are just grinding out EXP, certain games require more focus and skill than others. Either way I don't like to grind and I avoid games that have grinding nowadays but I have done it before and I've done it a lot. Usually I just listen to music or chat with friends during it. If I'm not chatting with friends, my mind is roaming and I'm thinking of other things I guess, whether those things are related to the game or related to something else.
I hate grinding. I just loathe it. Unless the battle system is so strategic and special and brilliantly-designed that it's fun to do for several hours and you don't miss the plot, developers should really find a way to cut it out!
I didn't mind grinding in Persona 4 because there was an element of strategy in it that also allowed you to get things done quickly. It's even better for Persona 3 where you get to send your team ahead of you to scout and fight for themselves, and level up. This battle system isn't even all that special or brilliantly designed, it's just a little fun.
Final Fantasy VIII even eliminated the need for grinding by having the boss be the same level as you are when you fight. There was a lot that I didn't like about that game, but that one aspect was a stroke of sheer brilliance that I wonder how it didn't become a widespread thing.
Gaming shouldn't be a chore at any moment. Down with grinding!
To answer the question in the original post: I just do it. There's no "while" or "on the side" about it. Maybe that's why I dislike it so much!
Depends on what I'm grinding for. If it's IP in League, then Music is all I need. The game requires too much focus to multi-task beyond that. Otherwise I like setting up multiple windows and putting on a netflix show or some stream while I play.
Generally I try to avoid grinding in most games though. It takes too long and isn't usually worth the time.
Often I'll put the game in windowed mode then watch a movie in the corner.
As of late though, I've switched to a 2 monitor setup and it has been great. Now, I can do all sorts of things such as a full screen game + movie on the other, or do whatever else on the 2nd screen (surf the web).
It's almost like having a Nintendo DS in a way, haha.
No matter what I'm doing, I have to have background noise. I make grinding a lot more fun with some apropos music. Upbeat, angry music usually does the trick and gets me in the zone. I can't really have a movie or YouTube going on in the corner since it'll just distract me (tiny attention span is tiny).
What games are you people playing that you can do all this extra stuff? All the games I've every grind on have required I pay attention if I didn't want to end my streak via death. That said the battle music becomes tiresome quickly so I usually build a mp3 list and play that while I streak for a decided upon goal.
I almost always have a video playing or I leave the TV turned on whenever I'm playing games, especially ones that I don't feel much need to immerse myself into, so when I'm grinding, I just pay a little more attention to the videos than the game. I rarely do this anymore, though, and I usually just give up the game if it requires me to build up levels apart from just playing the game itself because I feel it just takes way too much of my time.
