No one likes doing chores unless they’re in a video game

Growing up, taking care of real-world responsibilities and menial tasks, it often felt like an interruption to my precious play time. Now that I’m older, my taste for real-life chores hasn’t changed except that I find myself drawn to busy virtual work in gaming sessions.

Everyday activities make great side content

Many video games feature trivial quests that can be repetitive and menial as a form of optional side content. These activities can range from activities such as cooking meals and potions for money or upgrades to cleaning houses and even managing crops and plants via farming or gardening.

the Yakuza and grand theft auto The games are known for their unrelated mini-games that have players doing a wide range of things from household tasks to collecting trivial items.

Often times, they can have in-game currency or high-scoring arcade-like mechanics that encourage you to try them out even if they have nothing to do with the main content. Sometimes, they can also increase character stats or net exclusive items depending on how dedicated you are, making them worthwhile pieces of side content.

Trivial quests embody open worlds

Doing chores and trivial tasks in open world games can be a great way to make worlds feel more alive when the player is engaging in things that make sense in a given environment.

Rockstar Games titles are prime examples of this, e.g Red Dead Redemption 2′The game’s open world is known for being particularly immersive and realistic. In this game, you can groom your horse, clean around camp, collect food and resources, and even take care of yourself while dealing with your fellow NPCs.

These quests are not essential to playing the game, and while they do yield some minor rewards, they are mostly there because they make sense in an open, immersive world. Players are already expected to return to camp and interact with it regularly. Since these tasks are easily accessible, it is easy and smooth to find yourself doing them.

Another Rock Star game, bully, It’s a similarly immersive game that not only rewards you for showing up to your classes on time, but you end up having to do chores within the game as punishments for breaking the rules. While these can sometimes be less optional than usual, they still feature fun, high-scoring mechanics that make perfect sense for the setting.

Sometimes, chores are the whole game

There are also examples where routines are the main attraction of the game and a reason to start playing it. Many games have taken the concept of a virtual chore and spun an entire game around it, with varying levels of intensity.

Games like Powerwash, vacuum, simulator and Farming simulator Just focus on doing one task or a few “chores,” and build the entire game around them with unique tricks that make it entertaining.

Meanwhile, Animal crossing and Stardew Valley Focus on tasks like farming, arranging furniture, and collecting items, all of which are very streamlined as part of a strange and unique game world. Although these games are repetitive in nature and low-stakes, their appeal comes from the simplicity of the quests, the soundtrack, and the gradual progression of the world as a whole.

Typically, players can never properly “beat” these games because they literally continue indefinitely as long as the player is satisfied with the returns for their time. Sims It features very little real-time action, instead having players manage daily tasks on an ongoing basis in exchange for instant rewards and feedback.

Tactile feedback goes a long way

A big part of the reason players enjoy taking on seemingly trivial tasks or playing entire games built around them is that they are often accompanied by tactile feedback or audio that makes them engaging.

Doing the same tasks in real life is often boring and requires a degree of self-motivation. Video games, on the other hand, provide physical sensations, sound effects, and other feedback that make them almost addictive in some cases.

Powerwash simulator Known for its satisfying visuals, players can see levels become progressively clearer one line at a time, followed by a satisfying ‘ding’ sound as each line is completed. Combining these things along with the in-game financial rewards for clearing each item provides the perfect combination of sensations that will keep players coming back.

It’s easy to be tricked into doing this anyway

Even if you’re not a fan of doing repetitive quests in your games, it’s not hard to find yourself engaging in them anyway, even if it’s just for quality of life purposes.

Although survival games are not inherently boring in many cases, they often contain a lot of items, crafting resources, and other tasks that you have to deal with to progress. Although farming, mining, and other things are usually reduced to simple button presses, they can also fill your inventory over time, which will require you to solve it later.

No matter how you play, you’ll likely find a full inventory at some point in games like minecraft, You may need to create a storage space within the game and spend a lot of time organizing it to keep your items conveniently stored.

This is not a requirement to play the way you want, but the more time you spend, the more likely you are to encounter a full inventory and disorganized storage. At some point, it will usually be a good idea to spend some time managing your inventory and keeping things stored in an easily identifiable way.

You may find yourself doing these things without even thinking about it, as you have the option to create unique and creative storage structures and methods within the game. In survival games like minecraft, You may find yourself doing these things anyway, and the stronger you get, the easier it will be to manage endgame content.

Chores are a fact of life, whether you like it or not, but video games open up a whole new way to make them fun and engaging. Not only can they be directly useful, they can be the main attraction of the game, attracting players by turning menial tasks into satisfying, full-fledged experiences.

Now if only someone could translate the motivation I feel into a game like unloading To the real world…