Be There, Do That

Be there, do that thing. But what if I've been there, done that? No matter, for this task must be done.

Menial tasks requiring repetitive, mindless input...or tasks that reduce to such, even if they're far more difficult. If it doesn't teach, doesn't engage the mind....why can't we throw some Higher Order Input at it?

While some might make allusions to simulative immersion, having to manually punch 100 stalks of corn will usually accomplish quite the opposite. Putting timers or Temporal Resource costs on a task is quite appropriate...but why punish the player?

One reason is as simple as instituting a Time Sink. Simple, stupid tasks keep you playing, and inflate the superficial appearance of the value of the game. Another reason is, higher order input takes more work to implement; if farming corn is reduced to basic elements of the game, no further coding is necessary if you make the player farm their own corn.

TODO: More on "farming your own corn"