Ignoring toys, it seems to me that there is a fairly simple divide amongst modern games, not every game fits firmly on one side or the other but the two sides which I'm going to name as game and grind are very obvious. I shall explain myself by defining the two types below and their main differences.
#1 Story: Story is normally attached to grind, not always but it is a good starting guide. RPG style games are usually more grind than game.
#2 Player Levels: These are a big giveaway that it's grindplay not gameplay. If the player just gets more powerful over time without doing anything different then it's a grind. Keeping player powers until later is not quite the same thing, starting off simple and slowly introducing more complex elements is a standard game progression. These more complex rules are simply absent from the initial game and are slowly added, grind doesn't add more rules, grind just increase the size of your phallus.
#3: If the first level of a game starts off with a highly powerful player who manages to lose this power and be reset back to powerless at the end and then the real game begins. Well thats a good sign of grind, the first taste is free the rest requires hard grinding.
#4 Repetition. Both grind and game are repetitive, the difference is that grind pretends not to be and that game is proud of its repetition. Grind says just keep playing for another 8 hours while we change the scenery and this will all be over. Game says go back and try again from the beginning, maybe you will get further next time.
#5: The main difference between grind and game can be seen in what reward is given to a skillful player. With game a skillful player has a longer experience, their reward for playing well. They will discover parts of the game that other players can only dream of. In grind the only thing standing between the player and the end is time, a good player will simply progress faster, the only way to really lose is to get bored and stop.
#6 The reward for grinding well is to experience less grind, the reward for gaming well is to experience more game. Yes I am repeating myself and yes I am proud of it.
#7 Account selling, if you see someone selling an account for a game on ebay, then that game contains grind. Grind is the only thing that can be sold as a game account. Some games have grind, let's call them achievements or badges attached to them like rotting barnacles but still remain games. There is no value in selling a game where the first 50% is missing but people will happily spend money to never have to experience 50% of a grind.
#8 If while playing a game you think to yourself that maybe you could train a monkey or possibly even a chicken to do this while you sleep. Then its a grind.
Not all games are "good" and not all grind is "bad" but I certainly appreciate game more than I appreciate grind. The problem is I don't think todays gamer even likes games, I'm pretty sure they just want grind and a badge collection.
