Video Games

I think this is why I dislike a lot of games.

There are definitely a lot of games where what I've just described is bad design and punishing grind. But in Subnautica it's purposely part of the game experience and fits in. It's a survival game where progressing from teetering on the brink of death to building the technology to let you build the technology to escape the planet is the point. You're not just tediously searching the wilderness for loot, you're finding and exploring lots of creepy wreckage for both tech components and documents that explain why and how your ship crashed. They did a pretty good job of sprinkling the exploration and survival with surprises and rewards. You also know very little about what the main story is till you go look, cause it's a mystery/survival/exploration game.

So I think your point is valid about a lot of games but not so much with this one. That said, there's grind and there's core game activity that some people don't like, so they call it grind. Which it is, to them, but they should have bought a different game. Some people said Assassin's Creed Black Flag was a grindy game, because they're weirdos who don't like being a pirate.