I like games where grinding is an option instead of requirement, and still I'll collect more Exp and extras because I can't keep myself from doing it - which means I'm grinding even though I don't like it, bad habits can't break because I have to complete game as close to 100% as possible.
For example, my favorite game Final Fantasy 8 I bought with the official walk through guide just so I could cheat and do everything to perfection, which meant lots of grinding to get every little thing possible.
I think I able to do it because I like to only play games when waiting for something else to happen or when really nothing else to do, so playing games and grinding I only do when don't feel like sleeping - then when the cinematics occur after passing specific parts I treat that as a movie or TV show I can enjoy without interruptions, whereas regular grinding can be interrupted anytime for any reason without bothering me. Actually, when I grinding a game I hoping for some interruption to stop me from continuing.
Your mention of phone games made me think of an Android game called Andor's Trail I been playing for almost 2 years now maybe more, it free and open source and offline RPG similar to Dragon Warrior.
It's the most unique game I've ever played because of its simplicity, but more than being simple, the best part is that this game is fully playable while it is being developed - not only that but because this game is created entirely by non paid volunteers, they have a forum community where people post what they like it or don't about it etc.
So, every few times a year the game will get significant upgrades improvements and other add ons etc, like new skills weapons maps quests storylines etc.
Anyways, how this relates to grinding is that there are items in the game classified as Legendary or Extraordinary, and some of them are random drops from enemies - others are simply received by completing quests or killing bosses.
To sum this up, the most sought after items are the ones with the rarest drops, because it all depends on luck not just doing something to automatically get it.
Legendary drops are 0.01% drop rate and extraordinary are 0.1% drop rate from specific enemies - which means about 1 out of 10000, or 1 out of 1000 chance. Obviously killing ten or twenty thousand of the specific enemy doesn't guarantee EVER getting the items.
That's the best part, like real life it's a gamble, and none of these items are required to finish the game - and these items are not much more powerful than regular items bought at the store.
Well, back to how this relates to grinding, like many others who play this game we hang out at the forum and talk about the game - so of course a thread was started to show off collecting the complete set, so I set off to do this and I was determined to get them all without any of the various cheating techniques.
Man did it take forever, I think a year of it maybe less, not grinding everyday - but doing few or few hundred fights any spare time I had, waiting at doctors/dentist/etc.
One item took me over 21700 kills, of course that was one of the Legendaries, others were way less of course - but for this item I was posting questions about if something was wrong as I killed way over 10000, but any gambler knows that the odds don't guarantee wins.
So as I'm grinding each item and going on to the next, I'm like faaak I just spent months getting one item why the fuck do I keep doing this? Of course I know it's a bad habit and waste of time blah blah blah, but like any good drug addict - I'm no quitter. So, any spare time I'm grinding, even on the shitter - god bless phone games!
So I'm on the can phone in hand getting ready for long grind, hoping it's not a short shit so I can play longer, I'm moving on to where many of these enemies are so I can kill lots and have them respawn again - and after killing like ten or less I got a Legendary.
Now I'm in shock on the can not even started on my shit yet thinking I better save this before I drop phone in toilet or some other accident that'll erase my item - later on I saved my game file on several different phones in different locations just to be sure to never lose those items.
2 years later I'm still playing the game but done grinding since I got the entire set now, that is until they add more items - then I'll be on the grind again.
By the way the actual game is pretty good and long too with many side quests etc.
