That sinking feeling.

One of the main ways of making a paying customer renewing a subscription is to repeat a task over, and over, and over again - giving a reward every 300th repetition or so. The time-sink is the bane of the MMO design. It's cheap, lacking in creativity, and keeps the paychecks rolling in. But getting rid of time sinks is unmaking what the RPG genre, in general, is all about.

To question "Why have time-sinks?" is basically asking the question "Why should I be bothered to go through all levels of Super Mario Bros, when I'm eventually going to get to the end anyway?"

The answer - challenge. It's not easy sitting through the more boring aspects of a game (or less interesting I should say) - that's what makes getting to the end worth it. Of course, today's MMO's don't have much to offer at the end... And there lies the problem... And I can't think of a solution. Besides making the "grind" more enjoyable...

I feel like a mouse, pushing a button for food, over and over again... Worrying.