From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-most-useless-items-we-have-saved-and-never-used-in-the-whole-game/ar-AA1LmKFV?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69e7df3bfa8e4e008b927055f19fab9b&ei=51

"But I might need it later"... If you've never thought those words to yourself, you've never played a game where stockpiling is an option.
From the simplest of phone games to the most intricate of RPGs, you'll
be gathering one thing or another. Sometimes it's as important as a
unique power source, and other times, it's as common as a wooden spoon.

Still, you grabbed it, stuffed it into your inventory (encumbrance
willing), and most likely forgot about it. In modern gaming, just
because you can pick something up doesn't mean you should. But you did
it anyway, and chances are one of these items made it to the end of the
game, never once leaving your pocket.

Food
You'll Eat It Later

Even after discovering health potions and learning healing magic, we
grab the food. It doesn't matter what it is or in what state it's in; if
it's edible, then we'll grab it. From bread and eggs to raw meat and questionable mushrooms, we're happy to carry a Vegas-style buffet in our pockets from our first rags to our end-game armor.

And sometimes, we'll actually eat it, and it'll heal us a bit or restore
some stamina, or on a blue moon, it'll give us some magic. But, there's
never a time when you don't have any food, and chances are that first
wedge of cheese is still fermenting in your pants as the credits roll.

Keys
Unlocked And Loaded

Locks, the bane of every adventurer, from fantasy to sci-fi, from
fiction to non-fiction. Although we're usually equipped with tools that
can open most doors, a door lock is the stuff of primordials. As such,
you'll spend a lot of time looking for keys, key-cards, odd-shaped
stones, or anything else that could be considered a key.

However, many times, after a key has fulfilled its purpose, it simply
remains in your inventory. It doesn't take up space or weigh you down;
it's just there. If it helps, you could view your key ring as proof of
all the wondrous places you've visited.

Materials
Crafty Carrying

Be honest, when the crafting mechanic was introduced, you had one of two reactions: "I am definitely going to use this," or "I will immediately
forget this exists". Crafting can indeed be handy and enjoyable,
allowing you to produce items that you wouldn't usually find. This is
the thought that prompts you to pick up every non-edible plant you see.

Every weird stone that shines, every piece of wood just begging to be
carved, and every animal byproduct will end up in your inventory, hoping
to be part of something bigger. Even if you are a crafting prodigy,
chances are that there will still be some leftover bones rattling as you
stare down the final boss.

Your First Special Weapon
It Got You Through Some Tough Times

One thing that Solo Leveling nailed about gaming is that we often tend
to ride out the first piece of sound equipment we acquire. It could be a
sword that does fire damage, a knife that causes bleeding, or a hammer
with a powerful AoE strike; we'll find a reason to use it.

But, eventually, some other attractive piece of gear will come into our
lives and become our new number one, but we can't bring ourselves to
part with our first special one. They took us far, helped us get
comfortable with the game, and made one or two bosses easier than they
should have been. Even though we'll never use them again, we keep them
in our storage until the very end.

Single-Use Weapon
A Harder Boss Is Coming Up, I Know It

You'll be exploring a small room or a place out of the way when you come across something you've never seen before: a weapon of great power. It
could be an explosive or a scroll containing a high-level spell that
decimates entire towns, but it's powerful, and it's yours. Then, you
read the fine print: "Limited use".

You start thinking of all the possible scenarios where you would have to
use them, like taking down an entire army or the most challenging boss
you've ever faced. Still, as you get used to tricky situations and get
better at the game, you choose to rely on your skills and save that
weapon for dire scenarios. And before you know it, it's the final boss,
and they have multiple forms and are immune to one-hit kills.

Ammo For A Weapon You Don't Use
Shoot Your Shot

When you realize that you're playing a game where almost anything that
can hold something can be looted, you'll default to the "Take All"
option whenever it's presented. Next to all the random knick-knacks
you'll find, ammo will pop up quite frequently. Assuming that you're a
ranged class or at least use ranged weapons, you'll happily scoop up all
the ammo that you can.

The problem is that, unless you have guns for fingers, you'll likely
choose two or three gun types that work for you and stick with them.
This means that the ammo for everything else will live in your personal
ammo box forever, and you'll gleefully keep adding to it without a thought.

Rare Gear That You Can't Use
Makes The Closet Look Nice

Character building has gotten so complex that stats can be altered to
create any kind of class you want. Sometimes you can pick a class as a foundation to determine abilities, but you're still shaping the
character. Even so, depending on the stats or class, there will be gear
that your character will be unable to use, from wearing certain hats to
using certain spells.

But picture this: You've got a chance to grab a rainbow-colored ultra-mega-rare pair of boots that you can't wear because you're not a necromancing baker. They're too valuable to sell, so you hold onto them because you'll find a much better use for them. As the end comes, you
have the comfort of knowing that you held onto the rarest thing that
could never be used.

Jewelry
Shiny For Every Occasion

Rings, amulets, and necklaces are standard accessories in all types of
games, and you're usually allowed to equip more than one of them, you
bougie adventurer. They can boost one stat or multiple stats while
adding additional passive effects and so on. And yet, among these
accessories are ones that are just… normal.

They don't do anything but look shiny, but that still means they have
some value. As you gather common and rare accessories, swapping them
around as your tastes change, you'll never actually get rid of them.
Maybe you'll sell the regular ones for some cash, but you'll always have
a reason to hold onto that Ring of Flower Picking.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Dimensional Traveler <[email protected]> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-most-useless-items-we-have-saved-and-never-used-in-the-whole-game/ar-AA1LmKFV?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69e7df3bfa8e4e008b927055f19fab9b&ei=51

"But I might need it later"... If you've never thought those words to >yourself, you've never played a game where stockpiling is an option.
From the simplest of phone games to the most intricate of RPGs, you'll
be gathering one thing or another. Sometimes it's as important as a
unique power source, and other times, it's as common as a wooden spoon.

Still, you grabbed it, stuffed it into your inventory (encumbrance
willing), and most likely forgot about it. In modern gaming, just
because you can pick something up doesn't mean you should. But you did
it anyway, and chances are one of these items made it to the end of the >game, never once leaving your pocket.

Food
You'll Eat It Later

Even after discovering health potions and learning healing magic, we
grab the food. It doesn't matter what it is or in what state it's in; if >it's edible, then we'll grab it. From bread and eggs to raw meat and >questionable mushrooms, we're happy to carry a Vegas-style buffet in our >pockets from our first rags to our end-game armor.

And sometimes, we'll actually eat it, and it'll heal us a bit or restore >some stamina, or on a blue moon, it'll give us some magic. But, there's >never a time when you don't have any food, and chances are that first
wedge of cheese is still fermenting in your pants as the credits roll.

Keys
Unlocked And Loaded

Locks, the bane of every adventurer, from fantasy to sci-fi, from
fiction to non-fiction. Although we're usually equipped with tools that
can open most doors, a door lock is the stuff of primordials. As such, >you'll spend a lot of time looking for keys, key-cards, odd-shaped
stones, or anything else that could be considered a key.

However, many times, after a key has fulfilled its purpose, it simply >remains in your inventory. It doesn't take up space or weigh you down;
it's just there. If it helps, you could view your key ring as proof of
all the wondrous places you've visited.

Materials
Crafty Carrying

Be honest, when the crafting mechanic was introduced, you had one of two >reactions: "I am definitely going to use this," or "I will immediately >forget this exists". Crafting can indeed be handy and enjoyable,
allowing you to produce items that you wouldn't usually find. This is
the thought that prompts you to pick up every non-edible plant you see.

Every weird stone that shines, every piece of wood just begging to be >carved, and every animal byproduct will end up in your inventory, hoping
to be part of something bigger. Even if you are a crafting prodigy,
chances are that there will still be some leftover bones rattling as you >stare down the final boss.

Your First Special Weapon
It Got You Through Some Tough Times

One thing that Solo Leveling nailed about gaming is that we often tend
to ride out the first piece of sound equipment we acquire. It could be a >sword that does fire damage, a knife that causes bleeding, or a hammer
with a powerful AoE strike; we'll find a reason to use it.

<snip>

Single-Use Weapon
A Harder Boss Is Coming Up, I Know It

You'll be exploring a small room or a place out of the way when you come >across something you've never seen before: a weapon of great power. It
could be an explosive or a scroll containing a high-level spell that >decimates entire towns, but it's powerful, and it's yours. Then, you
read the fine print: "Limited use".

You start thinking of all the possible scenarios where you would have to
use them, like taking down an entire army or the most challenging boss >you've ever faced. Still, as you get used to tricky situations and get >better at the game, you choose to rely on your skills and save that
weapon for dire scenarios. And before you know it, it's the final boss,
and they have multiple forms and are immune to one-hit kills.

But in games with replay value, you know the end boss cannot be smoked
with the one shot so you use it somewhere else.

Ammo For A Weapon You Don't Use
Shoot Your Shot

When you realize that you're playing a game where almost anything that
can hold something can be looted, you'll default to the "Take All"
option whenever it's presented. Next to all the random knick-knacks
you'll find, ammo will pop up quite frequently. Assuming that you're a >ranged class or at least use ranged weapons, you'll happily scoop up all
the ammo that you can.

The problem is that, unless you have guns for fingers, you'll likely
choose two or three gun types that work for you and stick with them.
This means that the ammo for everything else will live in your personal
ammo box forever, and you'll gleefully keep adding to it without a thought.

This is sanity as long as it does not encumber you.
Just cause you have not found a weapon in that caliber yet does not mean
you won't, in fact it's pretty much guaranteed and there may be
exceedingly limited in the later games meaning this is your only chance
to stock up.

Seen this in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the Tomb Raider games and others like
Fallout 3,4.
[Fallouts; Find plasma ammo, but have not found a plasma gun yet, and
extremely limited plasma ammo in the game unless modded.]

STALKER with the ammo for the sniper weapons, Tomb Raider with magnum
ammo

Rare Gear That You Can't Use
Makes The Closet Look Nice

Character building has gotten so complex that stats can be altered to
create any kind of class you want. Sometimes you can pick a class as a >foundation to determine abilities, but you're still shaping the
character. Even so, depending on the stats or class, there will be gear
that your character will be unable to use, from wearing certain hats to >using certain spells.

But picture this: You've got a chance to grab a rainbow-colored >ultra-mega-rare pair of boots that you can't wear because you're not a >necromancing baker. They're too valuable to sell, so you hold onto them >because you'll find a much better use for them. As the end comes, you
have the comfort of knowing that you held onto the rarest thing that
could never be used.

I often play games multiple times, so just cause it's something this
character cannot use does not mean another character cannot.
Various games have a shared inventory or other means to transfer an item between characters (like Diablo: Hellfire's "Cornerstone of the World")
or you snag an editor or something that will let you copy an item from
one char's save file and paste it into another's.

Jewelry
Shiny For Every Occasion

Rings, amulets, and necklaces are standard accessories in all types of >games, and you're usually allowed to equip more than one of them, you
bougie adventurer. They can boost one stat or multiple stats while
adding additional passive effects and so on. And yet, among these >accessories are ones that are just� normal.

They don't do anything but look shiny, but that still means they have
some value. As you gather common and rare accessories, swapping them
around as your tastes change, you'll never actually get rid of them.
Maybe you'll sell the regular ones for some cash, but you'll always have
a reason to hold onto that Ring of Flower Picking.

If you ain't stylin', you ain't tryin'.

In Bethesda's Elder Scrolls games I have even set up bookshelves and
collected a copy of every single book in game.

Once you have gotten Godly in strength, you have to have something to
keep the game worth playing, and collecting rarities is one of those
ways.

Just like rich asshats in the real world collect rare artworks,
antiquities, etc.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Xocyll wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <[email protected]> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-most-useless-items-we-have-saved-and-never-used-in-the-whole-game/ar-AA1LmKFV?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69e7df3bfa8e4e008b927055f19fab9b&ei=51

"But I might need it later"... If you've never thought those words to
yourself, you've never played a game where stockpiling is an option.
From the simplest of phone games to the most intricate of RPGs, you'll
be gathering one thing or another. Sometimes it's as important as a
unique power source, and other times, it's as common as a wooden spoon.

Still, you grabbed it, stuffed it into your inventory (encumbrance
willing), and most likely forgot about it. In modern gaming, just
because you can pick something up doesn't mean you should. But you did
it anyway, and chances are one of these items made it to the end of the
game, never once leaving your pocket.

Food
You'll Eat It Later

Even after discovering health potions and learning healing magic, we
grab the food. It doesn't matter what it is or in what state it's in; if
it's edible, then we'll grab it. From bread and eggs to raw meat and
questionable mushrooms, we're happy to carry a Vegas-style buffet in our
pockets from our first rags to our end-game armor.

And sometimes, we'll actually eat it, and it'll heal us a bit or restore
some stamina, or on a blue moon, it'll give us some magic. But, there's
never a time when you don't have any food, and chances are that first
wedge of cheese is still fermenting in your pants as the credits roll.

Keys
Unlocked And Loaded

Locks, the bane of every adventurer, from fantasy to sci-fi, from
fiction to non-fiction. Although we're usually equipped with tools that
can open most doors, a door lock is the stuff of primordials. As such,
you'll spend a lot of time looking for keys, key-cards, odd-shaped
stones, or anything else that could be considered a key.

However, many times, after a key has fulfilled its purpose, it simply
remains in your inventory. It doesn't take up space or weigh you down;
it's just there. If it helps, you could view your key ring as proof of
all the wondrous places you've visited.

Materials
Crafty Carrying

Be honest, when the crafting mechanic was introduced, you had one of two
reactions: "I am definitely going to use this," or "I will immediately
forget this exists". Crafting can indeed be handy and enjoyable,
allowing you to produce items that you wouldn't usually find. This is
the thought that prompts you to pick up every non-edible plant you see.

Every weird stone that shines, every piece of wood just begging to be
carved, and every animal byproduct will end up in your inventory, hoping
to be part of something bigger. Even if you are a crafting prodigy,
chances are that there will still be some leftover bones rattling as you
stare down the final boss.

Your First Special Weapon
It Got You Through Some Tough Times

One thing that Solo Leveling nailed about gaming is that we often tend
to ride out the first piece of sound equipment we acquire. It could be a
sword that does fire damage, a knife that causes bleeding, or a hammer
with a powerful AoE strike; we'll find a reason to use it.

<snip>

Single-Use Weapon
A Harder Boss Is Coming Up, I Know It

You'll be exploring a small room or a place out of the way when you come
across something you've never seen before: a weapon of great power. It
could be an explosive or a scroll containing a high-level spell that
decimates entire towns, but it's powerful, and it's yours. Then, you
read the fine print: "Limited use".

You start thinking of all the possible scenarios where you would have to
use them, like taking down an entire army or the most challenging boss
you've ever faced. Still, as you get used to tricky situations and get
better at the game, you choose to rely on your skills and save that
weapon for dire scenarios. And before you know it, it's the final boss,
and they have multiple forms and are immune to one-hit kills.

But in games with replay value, you know the end boss cannot be smoked
with the one shot so you use it somewhere else.

Ammo For A Weapon You Don't Use
Shoot Your Shot

When you realize that you're playing a game where almost anything that
can hold something can be looted, you'll default to the "Take All"
option whenever it's presented. Next to all the random knick-knacks
you'll find, ammo will pop up quite frequently. Assuming that you're a
ranged class or at least use ranged weapons, you'll happily scoop up all
the ammo that you can.

The problem is that, unless you have guns for fingers, you'll likely
choose two or three gun types that work for you and stick with them.
This means that the ammo for everything else will live in your personal
ammo box forever, and you'll gleefully keep adding to it without a thought.

This is sanity as long as it does not encumber you.
Just cause you have not found a weapon in that caliber yet does not mean
you won't, in fact it's pretty much guaranteed and there may be
exceedingly limited in the later games meaning this is your only chance
to stock up.

Seen this in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the Tomb Raider games and others like
Fallout 3,4.
[Fallouts; Find plasma ammo, but have not found a plasma gun yet, and extremely limited plasma ammo in the game unless modded.]

STALKER with the ammo for the sniper weapons, Tomb Raider with magnum
ammo

Rare Gear That You Can't Use
Makes The Closet Look Nice

Character building has gotten so complex that stats can be altered to
create any kind of class you want. Sometimes you can pick a class as a
foundation to determine abilities, but you're still shaping the
character. Even so, depending on the stats or class, there will be gear
that your character will be unable to use, from wearing certain hats to
using certain spells.

But picture this: You've got a chance to grab a rainbow-colored
ultra-mega-rare pair of boots that you can't wear because you're not a
necromancing baker. They're too valuable to sell, so you hold onto them
because you'll find a much better use for them. As the end comes, you
have the comfort of knowing that you held onto the rarest thing that
could never be used.

I often play games multiple times, so just cause it's something this character cannot use does not mean another character cannot.
Various games have a shared inventory or other means to transfer an item between characters (like Diablo: Hellfire's "Cornerstone of the World")
or you snag an editor or something that will let you copy an item from
one char's save file and paste it into another's.

Jewelry
Shiny For Every Occasion

Rings, amulets, and necklaces are standard accessories in all types of
games, and you're usually allowed to equip more than one of them, you
bougie adventurer. They can boost one stat or multiple stats while
adding additional passive effects and so on. And yet, among these
accessories are ones that are just… normal.

They don't do anything but look shiny, but that still means they have
some value. As you gather common and rare accessories, swapping them
around as your tastes change, you'll never actually get rid of them.
Maybe you'll sell the regular ones for some cash, but you'll always have
a reason to hold onto that Ring of Flower Picking.

If you ain't stylin', you ain't tryin'.

In Bethesda's Elder Scrolls games I have even set up bookshelves and collected a copy of every single book in game.

Once you have gotten Godly in strength, you have to have something to
keep the game worth playing, and collecting rarities is one of those
ways.

Just like rich asshats in the real world collect rare artworks,
antiquities, etc.

Xocyll

Only asshats play Fallout with combat skills other than Unarmed.

"Your power fist does 192 hit points damage to the Gross Mutant!"
--
Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a
sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage.
The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath,
whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There
Genubath lived with Pharaoh’s own children.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 4/22/2026 5:41 AM, Xocyll wrote:

If you ain't stylin', you ain't tryin'.

In Bethesda's Elder Scrolls games I have even set up bookshelves and collected a copy of every single book in game.

Once you have gotten Godly in strength, you have to have something to
keep the game worth playing, and collecting rarities is one of those
ways.

I think you just proved the author's point. :D
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 21 Apr 2026 17:36:58 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<[email protected]> said this thing:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-most-useless-items-we-have-saved-and-never-used-in-the-whole-game/ar-AA1LmKFV?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69e7df3bfa8e4e008b927055f19fab9b&ei=51

"But I might need it later"... If you've never thought those words to >yourself, you've never played a game where stockpiling is an option.
From the simplest of phone games to the most intricate of RPGs, you'll
be gathering one thing or another. Sometimes it's as important as a
unique power source, and other times, it's as common as a wooden spoon.

Still, you grabbed it, stuffed it into your inventory (encumbrance
willing), and most likely forgot about it. In modern gaming, just
because you can pick something up doesn't mean you should. But you did
it anyway, and chances are one of these items made it to the end of the >game, never once leaving your pocket.

I always save my starter equipment. You know, that rusty sword that
does 1-3 damage, the rags that server as armor, the silly hat. Not
that I ever think they'll be useful, but as a reminder of how far I've
come.

And sometimes just to use against the harder enemies once I've
levelled up enough, just to rub it in their faces how over-powered
I've become. "Ha, I'm killing you with a rusty butter knife!!!" ;-)

The hardest part is not selling the old gear accidentally.

--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 21 Apr 2026 17:36:58 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<[email protected]> said this thing:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-most-useless-items-we-have-saved-and-never-used-in-the-whole-game/ar-AA1LmKFV?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69e7df3bfa8e4e008b927055f19fab9b&ei=51

"But I might need it later"... If you've never thought those words to
yourself, you've never played a game where stockpiling is an option.
From the simplest of phone games to the most intricate of RPGs, you'll
be gathering one thing or another. Sometimes it's as important as a
unique power source, and other times, it's as common as a wooden spoon.

Still, you grabbed it, stuffed it into your inventory (encumbrance
willing), and most likely forgot about it. In modern gaming, just
because you can pick something up doesn't mean you should. But you did
it anyway, and chances are one of these items made it to the end of the
game, never once leaving your pocket.

I always save my starter equipment. You know, that rusty sword that
does 1-3 damage, the rags that server as armor, the silly hat. Not
that I ever think they'll be useful, but as a reminder of how far I've
come.

And sometimes just to use against the harder enemies once I've
levelled up enough, just to rub it in their faces how over-powered
I've become. "Ha, I'm killing you with a rusty butter knife!!!" ;-)

The hardest part is not selling the old gear accidentally.

Let me show you this: The El Hajjaj viper sword does more damage and can
be dual wielded unlike the rusty sword. This is an improvement and you
can use two of them. You don't need that rusty sword.
--
Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a
sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage.
The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath,
whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There
Genubath lived with Pharaoh’s own children.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 22/04/2026 01:36, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

"But I might need it later"... If you've never thought those words to yourself, you've never played a game where stockpiling is an option.
From the simplest of phone games to the most intricate of RPGs, you'll
be gathering one thing or another. Sometimes it's as important as a
unique power source, and other times, it's as common as a wooden spoon.

Still, you grabbed it, stuffed it into your inventory (encumbrance
willing), and most likely forgot about it. In modern gaming, just
because you can pick something up doesn't mean you should. But you did
it anyway, and chances are one of these items made it to the end of the game, never once leaving your pocket.

One of the things I dislike about CRPGs vs. TT RPG's is the constant
amount of loot on offer in the former with the only purpose being you
sell it. I'm not sure where the idea even came from as it's really not a factor in the TT RPG's I've played.

I'm ok with something that is better, or just has real value, but really
just how many mail shirts can one person carry?
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:13:23 +0100, JAB <[email protected]> said this
thing:

On 22/04/2026 01:36, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

"But I might need it later"... If you've never thought those words to
yourself, you've never played a game where stockpiling is an option.
From the simplest of phone games to the most intricate of RPGs, you'll
be gathering one thing or another. Sometimes it's as important as a
unique power source, and other times, it's as common as a wooden spoon.

Still, you grabbed it, stuffed it into your inventory (encumbrance
willing), and most likely forgot about it. In modern gaming, just
because you can pick something up doesn't mean you should. But you did
it anyway, and chances are one of these items made it to the end of the
game, never once leaving your pocket.

One of the things I dislike about CRPGs vs. TT RPG's is the constant
amount of loot on offer in the former with the only purpose being you
sell it. I'm not sure where the idea even came from as it's really not a >factor in the TT RPG's I've played.

I'm ok with something that is better, or just has real value, but really >just how many mail shirts can one person carry?

I mean, it's not /entirely/ without precedent in tabletop to overload
players with loot. It's not considered good form (and it disparagingly
gets called 'monty-haul gaming') but some people enjoy it.

CRPGs feel into the habit because --especially in the early days-- it
was the easiest way to reward players. Limited to primitive parsers
with even more limited disk-space, you couldn't really rely on story
or characters to give players a sense of satisfaction for a quest well
done. Nor did the limited mechanics allow players to do much more than hack-n-slash their way to victory; the digital game-master that
controlled the adventure only allowed a pre-programmed number of
options for any encounter. So combat became an increasingly important
part of the genre... and because one fight was so much like the next,
the only way to spice things up was to add different weapons.

In tabletop, you have more options. You can reward players with
artwork that might lead them to the next adventure, or an alliance
with a powerful noble that they can call upon in a future quest, or
the deed to some frontier that needs defending; all things that can be
used by DM and player to move the campaign forward. But for the
longest time (and still to this day in some regards) the limited
capabilities of the computer just don't allow this degree of freedom.

So, because of tradition and limitations, programmers rely on just
throwing weapons +4 at the players and hoping that satisfies. In some
cases, it does ("Borderlands" is basically this trope exemplified).
But it's not my favorite style of gaming.


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