There's nothing like Christmas to remind a MMOGer that much of our game time is centered around bagging gobs of loot as fast as we can. There's all that scurrying and hurrying to find the perfect gift that shows our loved ones exactly how special they are to us. At least, as special you can get when shopping at 9:00 PM in a Walgreens on December 24th. Sure, Great Grandpa Bob really wants that Celine Dion Holiday Special CD, who wouldn't? And we all know Aunt Petunia loves her Pringles. Hey they're even in a red can! No need to wrap 'em up, just slap on a bow!In times of frantic loot grabbing like these I often think about how much crap we haul around with us in our virtual worlds. Almost all MMOGs I've played involve dragging around five or six Santa sized sacks of garbage; half of which contain stuff I absolutely must have at all times; although I often can't remember why. I don't know how many hours I've spent staring at stuff in my inventory going, "OK, what was this again? Was it a quest item? Do I still need this scroll or potion? Yeah, I better save that for later when I know I'll need it." Ten levels later I'll look at my Insignificantly Minor Potion of Liquid Mana Love and wonder why I didn't just use it already.
Inventory management can be even more of a hassle in a game like Dungeon Runners where all your junk is combined in one grid-based space. You've got your backup crossbow that takes up six slots next to your mana potions that take up one slot, next to that rusty shield you plan to sell that takes up four slots in a square formation. And oops, you just picked up a sword that takes up four vertical slots. Now you have to re-arrange your entire inventory like some type of Tetris mini-game. If I'd wanted to play Tetris I would've fired up my old GameBoy! (Can you hear the Tetris theme song in the back of your head yet? You're welcome.) So why is managing our inventories such a gigantic hassle, and what are some possible alternatives to current inventory design?
It seems like inventories haven't evolved much since the early days of computer role-playing games. It's either bag space or grid space or something similar. City of Heroes is one of the few games I've played where inventory management wasn't a factor; but only because loot itself wasn't a factor. While I found the CoH model fairly refreshing, I don't think the absolute absence of loot is necessary to solve inventory management hassles. As much as we might complain about hauling around the next great weapon, piece of armor, or other doodad, the allure of acquiring upgrades to our gear is an undeniably compelling component of the RPG experience.
What if, instead of forcing a limit on a player's inventory space, there simply was no limit. What if we all just had a Magic Portal to the Realm of Junk where all the neat stuff we acquired was transported as soon as we picked it up. The magic Realm of Junk might be inhabited by happy, little, anal-retentive gnomes that automatically categorized our stuff by Type of Item, Level of Item, Quest Item, Consumable Item and other useful sorting mechanisms that would allow us to quickly and easily sort through our massive piles of stuff. Retrieving the item would simply involve the gnome shooting it back to us through the ether. Why have realistic bag space in a world populated with orcs, elves, and magic?
On the other hand, designers could implement a minimalistic approach that allowed current gear to be continually upgraded or modified rather than replaced. Perhaps you'd pick up a gear upgrade pack that was player crafted or dropped from a monster and then immediately apply it to your existing gear. This might cut down on the total number of items to haul around. Or, you could take the ultra-realistic approach of only being able to carry a few weapons and items on you at a time (a-la Gears of War); thus creating unique gameplay opportunities by forcing players to choose gear on the fly. After killing a mob, if he dropped a better weapon, you'd simply swap it out and leave the old one behind. That sounds better to me than carrying around three sets of gear based on what role I'm going to play in a raid. Then again, it also might hamper player economies; especially if those economies are heavily based on dropped loot.
In any event, as MMOGs continue to evolve I hope game developers spend a little time thinking about ways to better manage inventories and all the garbage we carry around. If acquiring loot is a primary component of gameplay, the management of the loot deserves some attention too.
