I remember having to play an old dating sim game which was a flash game and I had to grind my stats up just to win. I actually didn't do it just to get a girl, I only did it to finish a game. It was like the start of my game grind to play a game and finish it, whether it through normal means or cheats as long as I get the ending.
In fact, I had an idea for a novel because of that.
Kid me made a novel about some weak loser who gets bullied and got a chance upon a magical item which develops his body into the idea of which he wants to focus on. Like if he focus on strength, his physical body develops to become muscular and all acrobatic. Intelligence would be just becoming smarter and charm would make him more handsome and develop into a peak male body but without the strength benefits.
Then, he would chase around girls, winning their affection to the point where they confess and they would get immediately get rejected because I love what kid me wrote on the notebook.
'Its not about the affection, its all about the grind.'
I would definetly write this just because it kid me was so creative if not for the fact that he began writing about zombies, robots and bad guys being muscular horses that breathes fire. Too much info dump for me to rework on.