Loot, for those of you who don’t know, is a term used for equipment, armor, currency, and other pick-up-able items that you would find in a videogame. You usually get loot for completing a quest, or killing an enemy in a RPG, though the lines have definitely gotten murkier over time. The distinction that I still think holds true is if you can find an item with many slight variations, it qualifies as loot. You probably wouldn’t call an ammunition pickup loot, but you would call a +1 Steel Sword loot, for instance. So, now that you’re all edumcated, let’s get down to it.

I'm going to pick up all of this junk, stuff it in a chest, and totally forget about it forever.

What makes for good loot in games? What makes for a good loot system in games? Why is obsessively collecting things fun at all?

The most impactful example of loot and looting in video games has to be Diablo, released in 1996. In Diablo, you play as one of three classes and you are charged with defeating Diablo, the Lord of Terror. The loot in Diablo is good because it presents a clear reward for progression, with harder enemies giving out better loot, and because figuring out what is better isn’t a headache.

All the needed info is right there, presented clearly. Loot like this is hard to find and really gratifying when you stumble across it.

The items also have a number of stat requirements which increase replay value by offering you a number of different playstyles besides just the class differences. In Diablo 2, 3 and Titan Quest (a mythological themed hack’n’slash lootfest very similar to Diablo) the items are even easily visible when you’re fighting an enemy, so you can tell what they’re going to drop ahead of time, which increases anticipation.

You know what weapons these enemies are going to drop just by looking at the enemies. You'll be able to tell if a weapon or armor piece is rare early on, which makes defeating tough enemies with rare items fun.

These games also all make good use of chests and treasure boxes. These items are usually positioned after bosses or near the end of dungeons to give a reward besides the items from the boss and to increase the anticipation to finish an area. Yes, you’re low on health potions and you know there’s a tough boss ahead, but man, you could find that +5 Staff you’ve been wanting in the chest behind them.

Most games took their loot systems and loot design from Diablo, so they’re generally well thought out, but there are some odd choices some games make. Borderlands is another loot filled game, though through the lens of an FPS-RPG, rather than an isometric RPG. Borderlands is a generally good game, but I think the loot and loot system have some issues. First of all, unless a weapon is massively overpowered, you can’t figure out much about it when an enemy is using it. You might be able to tell what kind of weapon it is, but only if you’re pretty close, as the cell shaded design of the world makes the weapons tough to distinguish.

It's hard to figure out what kind of weapon an enemy is using, especially when a bunch of bad guys are shooting at you, which is always.

Another choice I’m not too fond of is one that World of Warcraft made with its loot system. While the actual loot in WoW is pretty interesting design-wise, the loot system revolves around a lot of random drops. Essentially, bosses and enemies in WoW have a set group of loot that they can drop, with each item on the list having a certain percentage to drop once the boss/enemy is defeated.

For this particular boss, the drop rates aren't even known yet. This doesn't really seem like good, or even fun, loot design.

This encourages “farming” of items and bosses. Farming is when you keep killing the same boss over and over again to try to get an item drop. MMOs are designed differently than other games, specifically to keep you playing, but having a mechanic that actively discourages progression doesn’t sit well with me. It feels a little too much like a Skinner box, and the fact that designers would think in such a blatantly manipulative manner is a little off-putting.

So, now that we’ve talked about what makes good loot/a good loot system, let’s go a little deeper: Why is collecting loot fun at all? Well, there’s a number of reasons. One of the first is just aesthetics; who doesn’t want to create an awesome looking character by equipping them with cool weapons and armor? There’s something very gratifying about building a unique look in these games, and though Diablo was a bit primitive graphics wise, the later games really allowed you to create an awesome looking hero.

Somebody spent many hours (or even possibly some real money) making this Demon Hunter this awesome.

Besides customizing how you look, there’s also the satisfaction you’ll get from making your character move effective in a general sense, or designing a particular build. For instance, you might be building a character that has a really high damage per second, so you equip armor and weapons that increase your attack speed.

You can design your gear around your build, aiming for a specific kind of gameplay or experience.

Lastly, collecting things, useful or not, is pretty fun. Pokémon is a living example of this, as is the absolutely gigantic amounts of different kinds of Oreos you can find in China. Maybe you don’t even want to equip the full set of that awesome armor, you just want to have all the different sets in your storage and use something else. People like collecting rocks in real life, so collecting different suits of armor in games doesn’t seem that odd to me.

Bet you thought I was joking. Nope. China has a huge variety of Oreos, with different flavors and style of cookie. You don't realize how much you'll miss peach Oreos until you can't get them anymore

Loot and loot systems are huge parts of gaming history, from table top games like Dungeons and Dragons to AAA games like Destiny. Every game puts its own unique twist on the concepts pioneered by earlier games, but every game with a decent loot system shares some qualities. It’s hard to improve upon a system like Diablo’s, but game developers and designers deserve credit for exploring new ground. So next time you’re playing your favorite lootfest, ask yourself what the game is doing to make their loot system more unique and interesting.