Do you feel bad when you steal their things?

[ThunderAeroI]

AS you pillage entire villages and worlds for gold and items, do you ever feel bad for the people you leave behind once you have stolen all their property?

Sometimes I feel bad, but Hell I'm here trying to save the world, your donations are welcome. Thanks



In all seriousness, what do you think about the way game mechanics provide you gold and items.

[Evil Twin]

If I'm playing an RPG, I feel bad stealing things and doing evil things in general. I hate doing evil playthroughs.

On the other hand, playing Thief makes me happy because I get that pleasant *schwing!* noise whenever I steal something.

[Robert Maxwell]

I'm going to murder them all anyway, then I don't have to feel guilty.

[ThunderAeroI]

I tend to be evil in games where it is harder. I suppose for example I am evil in Oblivion / Skyrim and nice in Fallout.

[FPAlpha]

I think it's way past time designers started to actually find a better way for loot drops.

Why do i get man made weapons and equipment when i kill an animal? This has always bugged me.. it can't be that hard to write an algorithm that restricts loot to the type of creature you kill.. animals should only give fur, leather, meat etc whereas when you kill a human you may get some euqipment etc.

It can't be that hard.

[ThunderAeroI]

The entire computer rpg is broken. Loot drops is one part of it. Looting everything is another. Limiting loot per mob is easy, but progression becomes the problem. This is one reason i really like eve. Its by far the most 'real'of in the way loot works for you and npc.

[Robert Maxwell]

I don't see what would be wrong with replacing it with a "bounty" system. Each creature drops something that you can either use directly (e.g. meat you can eat) or can sell to someone else (e.g. a pelt, teeth, etc.) So you don't have the absurdity of forest monsters carrying gold pieces, but you still get a financial benefit from it (eventually.)

Progression would be solved through that same system. Creatures which are more difficult to kill would drop more valuable body parts. With dragons, it seems likely that dragon scales would be highly valuable (useful for making armor or something.) Of course, adventurers also like to go out and try to kill dragons, so perhaps if you find a dragon's lair, you will also find the bodies (and valuables) of the adventurers who tried to kill it before you.

For random loot drops, why not bodies of other adventurers/errant travelers? You'd be most likely to find these away from roads. If these fantasy worlds are really so dangerous for the unwary, they should reflect that.

I think most RPGs these days do provide consequences for looting people's houses, though.

[Kelthaz]

Option A) Monsters drops body parts (skins, scales, etc.), these body parts can be sold in stores for money, and this money can be used to buy goods and equipment.

Option B) Monsters drop gold which can be used to buy goods and equipment.

Monsters carrying gold is just a streamlined version of the same thing.

[Robert Maxwell]

I suppose all this talk of "realism" is a bit silly, in any case, given how many RPGs are about adolescents handling heavy, dangerous weapons and magic spells, using them to slaughter literally thousands of creatures representing dozens of species all over the world, then defeating usually not one but several planetary-level threats, with a team of no more than five people who generally had little or no combat training prior to a few weeks ago.

I mean, what's unrealistic about any of that?

[Kelthaz]

Lufia II, a somewhat obscure RPG on the SNES, flat out stated that monsters carrying gold was simply an abstraction of the whole process. In the opening cutscene, your character brings some monster carcasses to the item shop in exchange for gold. After that, your party simply receives gold when they kill monsters.

So, after playing Lufia II back in 1996, that's how I've always viewed the whole process. Monsters don't carry gold; it's just saving time by automatically doing the tedious legwork for you.

[6079SmithW]

As per Skyrim, no. The npc's should be more aware or instal better locks. I mean, i'm the Dragonborn who is saving them from annihilation. They should be thankful and give me their stuff as reward.

[ThunderAeroI]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

---

I suppose all this talk of "realism" is a bit silly, in any case, given how many RPGs are about adolescents handling heavy, dangerous weapons and magic spells, using them to slaughter literally thousands of creatures representing dozens of species all over the world, then defeating usually not one but several planetary-level threats, with a team of no more than five people who generally had little or no combat training prior to a few weeks ago.

I mean, what's unrealistic about any of that?

Ok; but..... what is your point :^)

Realism in an RPG... that would be interesting. What games actually come close to being realistic in the RPG category.

[-Brett-]

ThunderAeroI wrote:

---

AS you pillage entire villages and worlds for gold and items, do you ever feel bad for the people you leave behind once you have stolen all their property?

I'm more likely to laugh at the simulated misery I'm leaving in my wake.

[Smellincoffee]

Plundering in Pokemon didn't bother me in the least: if someone has put it in a nice Pokeball for you, obviously they want you to take it. KOTOR was different, though, and I felt a bit squeamish the first time I looted a corpse. And then once I burgled every single apartment in an entire complex, but I didn't feel guilty until I entered a room with someone in it, and she told me to leave or die. I think I threw a grenade at her.

Of course, in an FPS the mentality is completely different. Getting someone's weapons or a pick-up seems like a trophy.


I have never felt bad for burninating peasants or their wee thatch huts, though.

[Alidar Jarok]

If it's an RPG where they yell at you, I'd feel bad. But in classic games where you can take things right in front of them and they don't bat an eyelid, I just assume they're implicitly giving me permission to take what I need because I need it more than them.

Then again, I am the guy with the sword.