Why was it such an unpopular opinion to want a porn game to be easy?
I understand the need to have interactive experiences & engagement to connect and give context between each CG / scene unlocks (so they don't ended up becoming just a gallery viewer), but i really don't see the reason why some games have to make it sooo grindy.
It's a porn game, i'm not here to "git gud", i'm here to git nut.
The answer or answers to that question are complex...
First it will revolve around the original intentions of the developer...
Some VN/Games are intentionally made to be grindy in order prolong game play because content is being made intentionally slow during development, perhaps to prolong the receiving of donation money... Trickling out small amounts of content that you have to spend a bunch of time doing high amounts of repetitive non-sense to open up... That being said, I do see a trend in the last year, for grind style game play to be lessening the amount of repeating elements needed to open up new content... In the past, games like Superpowered and some others, were absolutely horrible with their grind... You could end up doing the same thing over and over for a mind blowing amount of time before seeing just a tidbit of new content, before it was back to the grind... Even so, there are a few players/readers out there that seem to like that aspect of lengthy meaningless grind to get to new content... They feel the need to work for it through gruelingly lengthy amounts of grind... But, those players/readers are in the minority of general players/readers...
Secondly it revolves around the original intentions of the reader/players...
Some readers/players come upon this niche market just seeking something they can quickly mess around with to get to content so they can get their jollies, and then move on... So when they are suddenly having to run through mud, in the form of any kind of grind element, their patience is tested... What they were hoping was just a quick jaunt, jerk/rub, then done, instead, became a slow frustrating trudge... So of course they get angry, sexually frustrated, and/or irrational... Perhaps even to the point that they feel a need to spill out their feelings into the forums, either in a mature fashion or usually as an immature outburst...
But it's usually the readers/players looking for some entertainment value along side their need for jollies, that end up staying around, hoping to find something with more meaning and/or story depth... But even then, when a VN/Game has unnecessarily lengthy amounts of repetitive grinding, those types of players/readers will eventually grow bored and move on to something else... I think that is why many developers, who are opting for a grind element, are starting to switch gears, and lessen the amounts of grind needed to get to something new... I've seen it in many grinder style VN/Games, that have been releasing over the last year or so... Yet, there are still some out there that opt for super-grind, and unless they include some highly compelling element to their VN/Game that makes you feel like putting up with that sort of non-sense, they will never really be all that great over the long haul...
Thirdly it revolves around the attempt to add some game type element to the experience without huge amounts of complex game design...
Stat grinds are a prime example, where the developer is attempting to allow the gamer/reader to decide for themselves who's content they want to experience, and possibly how that content will play out... By doing some repeating events and/or making certain choices, various stats for a character will go up and/or down... And once certain thresholds are reached, new content with that character opens up... This helps to give a sense of measurable influence for the reader/player, over time... Doing a little work for it, because it feels better sometimes to do some work for your reward, in order to feel involved in how content plays out... Do all stat grinders work the same, alas they do not... Some opt for high amounts of stat grinding prior to new content, while others opt for a small amount of grinding instead... But it is typically an easier game play mechanic to institute in a VN/Game for gating content down one or multiple story paths... Stat grinds tend to work best in Visual Novels or games with VN style content... And many developers opt for stat grinding mechanics because they are much simpler to implement, usually... As compared to more complex game play mechanics... It all depends on the complexity...
Navigation grinders are another highly used grind mechanic, alas they are not always fleshed out very well... This mechanic comes in various forms... One form includes the game days broken down into sections, and are usually easier to implement... The second form has the game day broken down into hours and even perhaps minutes, and are typically a little more complex, yet prone to feeling like a much worse form of grind... When the game day is in a small number of chunks, it is easier to add in content that fills in the gaps... When the game is broken down into tiny fragments of time, it is much harder to fill in the game world with content so it doesn't feel so empty all the time... Also, typically it is much harder to discover new content when the game day is broken into such small increments, adding to the amount of necessary grind time... Again, it does depend on the designed mechanics, but typically the hours/minutes navigation grinders are huge time wasters... As the developers hide content within minute time periods at varying locations throughout an in-game week... Where as typically when the game day is broken into large chunks (i.e. morning, afternoon, evening, night) there is a tendency to find content faster... Obviously other factors can come into play, creating a huge waste of time grinding... Especially if locations don't have some sort of side content filler to make the game world feel more full/alive...
Grinding style game play is an easier to implement game mechanic, that depending on how it's used, can feel either fulfilling or feel like a huge waste of time... You also need to be cautious about judging a VN/Game too harshly, due to it's use of grind elements (depending on it's style of use) in the early stages of development... Before they've had time to fill in the gaps with content... Sometimes it's easy to notice early on that a VN/Game plans to be a huge time waster, and sometimes it's not so easy to notice... Sometimes a VN/Game starts off one way, but becomes another later on... Sometimes they are a roller coaster...
Me, I don't mind grind style game play, as long as it is a light grind... It really depends on the style of mechanic/s it decides to go with... Obviously I hate VN/Games with lengthy amounts of repeating grind... Where I end up spending a huge amount of time seeing the same event/s over and over just to see a tiny fraction of new content, before it's back to the races... More so when the grind events themselves take too much time, each time you have to do them...
I do understand their appeal to developers, especially newer developers... Because at their core, they are easier game play mechanics to implement... But what I hope for, is that they are done right, without being unnecessarily tedious, and/or so boring, that I don't want to continue reading/playing after experiencing too much of it... And I really get annoyed when you can tell that it is a donation milking ploy to unnecessarily draw out the development process, probably out of a sense of greed...
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