Video game packrats, obsessive compulsives, and that one guildie of mine whose MMO inventory literally has everything he’s ever looted: Today’s Daily Grind is for you, and by you I mean all of us. Inventory systems seem like they’d be basic UI components that you’d never give a second thought, but they are one of the first things I judge a game on. I want to see what I have, what makes up my pixel existence, without extreme clicking or long hover delays or annoying things that seem designed to slow me down. It seems simple, but some games completely fail.
The neat thing is that I don’t think great inventories are something only modern games (like Guild Wars 2) do well. Dark Age of Camelot, shown above in the ancient pic I found in my guild archive, had an inventory system that appeals to me both graphically and organizationally — cute, tiny icons and clear text. Ultima Online’s inventory was originally completely free-form, so players could arrange their crap however they wanted (although in the modern client, I prefer the grid).
On the other hand, when I logged into The Elder Scrolls Online for the first time since launch a few months back, I spent quite a while hunting for the magic button that would gridify my inventory since the default was a cumbersome, useless list. It turned out I needed a mod, and now it’s all good again. (But whyyyyy, ZeniMax.)
How about you folks? Does the inventory system make a big difference to you in an MMORPG? Which MMORPG has the best inventory system?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
