There are plenty of games that have "busywork" aspects. The term for it in gaming is "grinding" (implies mindlessness, even though it is sometimes used in a different context). The vast majority of RPGs, especially old-school JRPGs and MMORPGs, require you do "grind" to get to a certain level to unlock more stages.

Many modern mobile games are literally just mindless busywork with an option to pay money to skip some of the busywork. The whole "clicker" genre is totally mindless.

There are plenty of games that fit your criteria, so maybe you're just playing the wrong types of games?

Most of the asian MMO scene is ridiculously grind-y. There seems to be a market over there for colorful, repetitive, good-god-that-is-a-hell-of-a-grind MMORPGs.

Re playing Chrono Trigger this weekend. The "fast-forward" button and instant saves real make it a fun experience for the story without the chores of the grinding.

This was a treat for me the first time I found emulators. When I was a kid I could tell you all of the different types of PRNG that the Dragon Warrior games for instance used. In DW1, if you reset, you'd fight the same monster 3 steps above you, but in DW4 that wasn't the case.

It was fun to test my without a reset button and waiting 10 minutes.

…and, I'm missing a word, so I said the opposite of what I meant:

If only some games had less busywork as part of their gameplay.

To reply @stdbrouw and @ericdykstra: I hate grinding. Old-school RPGs and mobile F2P games are guilty of this. But all other games that have random collectibles in an open world, or "do X Y times" trophies/achievements are just adding stuff to keep you busy. I heard some people like this, but it's not my thing.

I like grinding, so I thought this game was entertaining for a while, not just for its artistic statement, but for its actual gameplay. When I'm in the mood to play video games, my mind is so mushy that I can only comprehend repetitive tasks. Following a storyline or achieving a complex goal is too much for my brain to handle after a day of work.

Interesting. Do you play any competitive multiplayer titles? Perhaps when you are in a different mood? Or do you avoid them completely?

Hahahaha, ignore my other reply then :)

> It's also a reflection on modern gaming in general. If only some games had busywork as part of their gameplay, they'd feel less tiring and more fun.

Like grinding in an MMORPG? I'm not so sure.

That's why I never really got into MMORPGs, the gameplay feels like a task that should be automated.

Once people start developing bots for a game it has pretty much reached this point. While usually not kosher, in some games I think developing a bot for them would be more interesting than the game itself

>> If only some games had busywork as part of their gameplay, they'd feel less tiring and more fun.

Is this a joke?

A huge number of games have mindless busywork as part of the play. Whole genre's are based on it.

You're trying to achieve/build/win/unlock X? Great, spend the next 14 hours mindlessly and repetitively mining rocks until you can't carry any more rocks, and then putting them in the rock store, and mining more rocks!

You dont play Wurmonline by any chance? :)

I was thinking of "ARK - Survival Evolved" which I've been playing quite a bit lately. Great game, you get to ride dinosaurs, but buggy as hell and the grind, oh the grind....

Hm, that's a side of gaming that is foreign to most people who call themselves "gamers" (even casual gamers). A game like starcraft is much more complex (by orders of magnitude) than chess, a game with a respected intelligence component. AI cannot (yet) outperform human teams in mobas like league of legends or overwatch. These are the titles i think of when thinking about "modern gaming".

Far more effort has been put into chess AIs than into AI's for modern games. I don't suspect it would be hard for a talented team to make an unbeatable AI for any of the games you've listed.

EDIT: nevermind, I see it was a typo on OP's part, rendering my comment irrelevant. OP wanted less busywork, but forgot the word "less". :-)

If only some games had busywork as part of their gameplay

Mass Effect, Fallout 4, and Destiny come immediately to mind. Considering that I don't play a wide swath of video games, I'm sure I've missed many more.

"As mankind's last and best hope, busy though you might be, you're the only one qualified to get the old woman's cat out of a tree."

The one that hops to mind immediately for me is "Papers, Please", where the player is an immigration agent that must verify documents for those wishing to enter a fictional country.

> This must be what most people working on a desk must feel like

Out of curiosity - as opposed to?

Being a facilitator for human interactions or doing creative stuff.

You can't do creative things at a desk? Where else would you do them? What if you want to sit?

You can do all that and more if you don't take everything literally.

People who take things literally can't do creative work at a desk?

> If only some games had busywork as part of their gameplay

Try Mass Effect