Hey guys, Imaginary stepping in to keep this week under control. Don't mind me.
Working for shit often sucks, but it’s also often necessary to obtain a… sense of pride and accomplishment. If you never have to work to acquire rare items or powerful abilities in video games, then those accomplishments don’t feel very rewarding. I know this because Action Replay was my best friend in Pokémon games. However, that’s not to suggest that tacking on a reward for something automatically makes it worthwhile. Imagine grinding 10 hours to receive an item that boosts your HP by 2 points. In most games, that’s a pitiful reward for such a long amount of time required. And that brings me into my two points for this article: lame rewards, and lame grinds.
Let’s start with the former which is where I believe HuniePop rests. Based on the massive success of the game there is clearly a market for people who want to play a Bejeweled-esque minigame before getting to be with their waifus. I’ve got nothing against that part. I’ve never heard anyone complaining about having to solve a million puzzles before unlocking their next target girl. I’ve just heard that when you do, you unlock some hot art. What the fuck? That’s it!? I played through all these levels and dating requirements to… get some art? Maybe a few moans during the minigame? Back in 2005 I could see the appeal of this structure, but its Big Boy 2019 now. We got english voice-acted visual novels releasing nowadays. I simply can’t see the point of investing time playing the levels to get to your waifu art. What’s the motivation at that point unless HuniePop has some godlike Bejewled innovations that I don't know about?
When I grind through a game for an hour and the sex ain't even good.
This problem seems to go both ways too. Often it’s the grind itself that makes you want to commit suicide either due to its length and/or boring nature. Take for example some of these clicker games. I want a sex scene as much as the next guy, but I’m not prepared to spend three hours grinding levels for it unless it’s a masterpiece. In that case the reward may be a fine scene by industry standards, but the work needed quickly makes you just say this whole shit is stupid and go back to reading doujins. It’s also horrible when the grind is long, yet offers you no idea what the sex scenes are going to be like. Do they contain dialogue? Is there voice acting? Do they contain well-written dialogue? That’s the true gamble right there.
When I grind through a game for an hour and the sex feels achieved.
So, what did we learn? For starters, there needs to be a balance between the grind and the reward, otherwise people are going to be quick to give up. Porn isn’t exactly hard to find. I honestly haven’t done enough research to understand how HuniePop got so popular, but it proves there’s a market for people who want to feel like they’re earning the opportunity to get with these characters instead of having it handed out to them (or people just like Bejeweled). Developers should feel free to capitalize on this, provided they A)Let your boy know what my reward is going to be like because I’m not about to spend 2 hours grinding so Harley Quinn can say “Ahh shit… ugh.. wow.. you’re so hot…” This could be as easy as providing one short, basic scene in the beginning and it will allow consumers to make their own individual judgement calls about whether the grind seems worth it. And B) make the grinding tolerable or interesting. This part will separate the boys from the men lads. Mark my words.
Do you like to work a bit for your sex? Where's Kinky anyway? Let your imgination run wild in the comments below!
