You're somehow assuming all computer games involve grinding for some 1% drop.
You're basically describing old single player games that did rare drops to pad gameplay time, then the first MMOs where grinding was there to keep you paying for the subscription, and now the IAP fests where the grinding is there to make you pay something.
However, there still are games that do not involve grinding out there. Even some AAAs. You do not have to be predatory to enjoy some success making video games.
Edit: I missed that: "Even if the hours played and enjoyment received are perfectly equal."
They aren't equal. Do you call grinding for rare drops equal to enjoying a story or developing and applying some skill?
And how is hours played a metric of enjoyment? If you count hours played, the game i spent the most time in ever is Minecraft. Paid all of $20 for it.
I'm describing games like World of Warcraft, where I spent WAY too much time grinding for some elusive drop to get to the next quest in the chain. It's amazing how many wolves you can kill in Azeroth without finding a single paw :D
I would've gladly paid money to skip that bit and get to the fun parts even then and I was a mostly broke student at the time.
Now I play mostly story-driven single player games that don't rely on fetch quests to pad the runtime. Or games that really don't have an ending like Factorio, Dwarf Fortress and the like.
What fun parts? You just grind more, perhaps in a group. Or a larger group. I know, I could probably still lead a Kharazan (of the Burning Crusade flavor) raid from memory. The only fun part of WoW is the group interaction.
The sad thing is when people have only played WoW and its successors and start thinking this is the only way to do a game...
You're basically describing old single player games that did rare drops to pad gameplay time, then the first MMOs where grinding was there to keep you paying for the subscription, and now the IAP fests where the grinding is there to make you pay something.
However, there still are games that do not involve grinding out there. Even some AAAs. You do not have to be predatory to enjoy some success making video games.
Edit: I missed that: "Even if the hours played and enjoyment received are perfectly equal."
They aren't equal. Do you call grinding for rare drops equal to enjoying a story or developing and applying some skill?
And how is hours played a metric of enjoyment? If you count hours played, the game i spent the most time in ever is Minecraft. Paid all of $20 for it.