Cheese Grinders

Lately I've noticed a lot of talk about Cheesing in video games. While at first I was really excited (mostly because I was reminded of that south park episode that did that tie-in to Heavy Metal which is South Park and Not Safe for Work). However, I quickly realized that this had nothing to do with that, but in fact had more to do with video-games and grinding (I then got excited again because I could write a blog post with a pun in it).

So before I dive too deep into anything; I'm going to define a lot of abstractions in this post and I will define them as I go. You are going to have to suspend some of your preconceived notions about the terms I will use, but I will try to keep from being too misleading.

What is Cheeseing?
It seems to be that players are calling 'cheesing' the act of using bugs and exploits in a game to more efficiently grind for stuff. Often this seems to be not what the developers intended. Players who cheese are often quick to comment that the developers 'cheesed first' by adding grindy game mechanics to 'artificially' expand the life of their game. 

This rough definition already tells us a lot about cheesing. It's an action that arises with the dynamic of grindy game-play. I'm defining a 'dynamic' in the MDA sense of it being an interaction of multiple rules. It also shows that it's sort of a negative thing and breaking players immersion in the game. It seems like it's unfair by players (and can be done by players to developers or by developers to players).

But there are plenty of games that have the component parts of grinding (resource gathering over time, levels, unlocked items and abilities) that seem to not be 'cheesed'. I think this really comes down to a a difference in the resource dynamics of the game. Simply put its a single question; Is the game about resource gathering or resource allocation (or resource management)?

Resource Gathering seems to lead to cheesing and grinding behaviors. Typically it's because resources are items that are inconsistent gathered (ie random drops) and 'spent' (repeatedly like a currency) and  restrict game-play options. Essentially random resources limit the possibility space (all the things they can think to do) the player can explore.  Players then grind these resources to expand their possibility space. Often with currencies players will be very efficient, or number crunch the resource gathering statistics to become most efficient (this action is important). Players will also typically hoard resources and/or use them as a type of currency if they can trade them. An interesting thing to note is that if players are not engaged, the time they play is a resource. This means they will find the quickest way to gather resources or items that expand the possibility space. So if your game has items or abilities that are unlocked by some sort of resource, players will attempt to find the most efficient way to unlock those abilities. Since time/effort is a resource, players will find the most efficient way to get random drops of items. 

Resource Allocation doesn't quite seem to lead to cheesing and grinding behaviors. Often the difference is that resource allocation starts with the entire possibility set exposed (or exposes it at a constant/non-random rate). Also the items that gate the player are not obtained through resource spending, or they are but the resources are gathered at a constant rate. In this way the player had direct agency over what options are exposed. This means the player is making decisions about what content they get to see. In a competition, this means that both players are working with the same set of resources. You can't grind this system, you have to achieve in it.

When breaking these systems down into their component parts you see this is a difference in the use of randomness. The additional use of  random number generation in systems tend to make it more prone to grindy behavior. What you are seeing is players pressing buttons for extrinsic motivators, like they are almost literally in a Skinner Box.

Suddenly player vitriol and their penchant for cheese makes sense.

I think a lot of the complaints and behavior simply come from players becoming aware of their place in the system and attempting to rebel. The random system kinda fakes the agency that players have, and players are becoming aware. I don't think that means that player wont play and guy games with skinner box mechanics but I do think it means that there is a market for games that specifically move away from these systems. 

The Point

Games that have heavily moved away from systems with heavy randomization have had a stronger competitive following. The strong competitive communities (Fighting Games, MOBAs, RTS, some First and Third Person Shooters) have very little randomness in their game systems. I think the prevalence of streamers and other hard core players in social media make the prospects of a less random game to be worth the additional complexity in its construction, especially if it appeals to their sentiments. Cutting out the grinding and the cheese is something that is a worth while effort to put into a game.