[ericdykstra]

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?

[tomc1985]

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.

[odbol_]

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.

[softawre]

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.