Baek

A classic mechanic in many games, namely shooters, is the weapon mechanic of a simple two-weapon slot system where the player has a primary and a secondary weapon. There is, however, a considerable amount of games that allow you to use a variety of weapons that are selected commonly using a weapons wheel or something of the sort. These guns, swords, wrenches and otherwise are found, bought, or looted (depending on the game) within the world, and more are found as the player progresses through the story.

Now, imagine that you are playing through a game such as DOOM or Fallout, and you gather weapon after weapon from story, enemies, and the occasional chest/treasure trove. You gather more and more to your arsenal, and you subconsciously feel yourself getting heavier (is it lag or…?). Eventually, a small but irritatingly itchy question comes up: How could having all of these weapons on me be physically possible?!

Of course, some games balance the system out and even add logic to this philosophical dilemma, such as Borderlands's backpack storage and Fallout's weight system, and because we are talking about the dimension of videogame physics, reasoning can be thrown out the window. This does not, however, mean that there is anything wrong with the system. Gamers everywhere can tell you that they enjoy walking around looking innocent while having a rocket launcher in their pocket (along with an assault rifle, carbine, grappling hook, sniper rifle, smg, samurai blade, mini-gun, baseball bat, bloodscythe, broken whiskey bottle, and a small tactical warhead slingshot). This is just how gamers work.

What do you think about having an infinite (or finite) number of weapons at your disposal? How does this affect the way a game plays and how you play it?