I enjoy the fact that the amount of "Likes" Gath gets per thread is on a very steady and severe decline.

Other than that, I have to agree that speeding up the animations would be okay. Perhaps to make it more interesting, make it so that the "accuracy" of a hit doesn't strike from so far away. I'm kind of amazed at how big the range is on the meters to actually hit the sweet spot. Then again, this could really hurt people on slower machines/connections, so maybe not. Either way, I think the basic structure of the mini-game is just fine. If it's not your cup of tea, then ignore it. Many people ignore crafting for that very reason.