Most games that have player interaction within a digital world have a system of collecting in-game items. The implementation of an inventory is crucial to these games because being able to quickly and efficiently access specific items can sometimes be the difference between in-game life and death. Some examples of poor inventory management include restricting the player to an insufficient number of inventory slots, clunky menu design, excess difficulty picking up or dropping particular items, or failing to provide a way to sort through large numbers of items.
Examples[]
World of Warcraft[]
One of the common issues players have with the default setup in World of Warcraft is the inventory system. The player starts with a 16-slot inventory, but each inventory expansion comes in the form of an extra bag. Each bag can be designated as a destination for a few types of items, but even so, opening and closing all the separate bags can be a hassle, and remembering where you put a quest item in the middle of a fight can be a mess.
The Witcher 3[]
There are lots of items in The Witcher 3, and most of them are power-up items you could use to increase your attack, such as blade oil, etc. The problem is that they are used in fast paces and they get worn out really quickly. However, each time you try to use the item, you have to go through a rather complicated process. You have to open the inventory interface, then select the correct tab, then chose the appropriate item to apply to your sword. This process gets more exhausting especially when The Witcher 3 has an extremely slow loading speed. Although they tried to fixed the problem in later patches, the result was not as satisfying.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic[]
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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a fantastic game with a frustrating inventory system. It has multiple different sections that are meant to help you organize it and find what you want, but they don’t exactly do their job. With the number of items that are collected, both quest items and random items, it’s really easy to get a cluttered inventory, which can make it difficult to navigate to med packs and adrenal shots during combat.
Mass Effect[]
Mass Effect is an amazing game with great story, nice character design, exploration and an nightmare inventory menu. It is really hard for player to see all the items they have at same time. All items are under many different kind of small categories. The weapon menu is so small. If you want to change a weapon, you have to pass all the items that list before that weapon. it it ys very time consuming.
No Man's Sky[]
Although No Man's Sky failed in so many aspects, the inventory system is just as bad as other aspects in the game. In order to craft new items, you have to have empty spaces in your inventory, even if ingredients will disappear after crafting. This setting just limits the amount and type of resources the player can carry, while resource collection is a really important aspect of the game.
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Mafia []
Mafia game has a lot of options to choose from and hence the inventory gets full immediately. This leads to frustration since you want to have every item with you but you can't take them all. This sometimes limits the ability of gameplay as well as the character in game.