The annoyance of status quo inventory management in MMOs

Alec Meer – of the fantastic PC-gaming site Rock, Paper, Shotgun – had something he needed to vent about when it came to RPG inventory management. His complaint transcends the MMO genre, and reaches out to anyone that's ever pointed and clicked in games like Titan Quest or Diablo 2. Our own favorite genre of game has it particularly bad, of course. Mythos and World of Warcraft offer up particularly large helpings of 'bag space mangement' minigame time for those interested in playing.

Meer takes his frustration with these mechanics to the furthest reaches of gamer sanity, actually cracking the gaping maw of logic that is town portaling. States the writer: "These are worlds capable of incredible teleportation magic, the ability to travel instantly over miles of land, and what's it used for? Shopping." He goes on at some length about the artificiality of the whole extercise, pondering the mental image of a real hero laiden with four sacks, a potion bag, a keyring, several weapons... It's well worth a read if you've ever found yourself squinting to see how many squares a sword takes up.