I've always wondered why games go out of their way to give us "moral" choices and then turn a blind eye when it comes to looting every single piece of crap you can find. It doesn't matter if you got it from a broken pot or a locked safe, you are virtually stealing, and yet the most a player gets is a slap on the wrist. Hell, more often than not we are encouraged to do it through incentives like upgrades and rare items.
You go to bed, I'll just take a look around... The first thing I do when I enter a house or a similar building in a game is search around for anything I can take. I blame this habit largely on the Legend of Zelda. It's the game that established a "if I see it , it belongs to me" mindset that I've had in games ever since. It doesn't matter if it's a rupee, a piece of heart or even an old shoe or a piece of string, I want it all! And god forbid if you have a locked chest on the second floor. No Mordin, I haven't seen your wallet. I swear!I played Mass Effect 2 as a Paragon. I was a pillar for humanity, a shining beacon for all the universe to admire. I'd find your lost space cat while shooting space pirates in the face without breaking a sweat. Yet I cracked every single safe, I hacked every locked door and pilfered every cabinet of valuables. And through it all, my peculiar habit of taking things that don't belong to me never seemed to bother anyone. In fact I was encouraged by receiving money, upgrades and replica spaceships.
The closest I ever got to being punished for my nimble fingers was in Fallout 3, but that did not stop me from breaking into a woman's house, taking all of her possessions and selling them back to her before blowing her up with a portable nuclear launcher. Lock me in, Chief! I'm a menace to society. So what I'm saying is that I'm tired of being a thief. I'm tired of looking through every inch of 12 identical houses and hacking 25 identical chests for items and collectibles. If you want to immerse me in a game, treat me like you'd treat a human being who just broke in your house and is going through your fridge. Don't let me take stuff that doesn't belong to me without lasting consequences!
Now if you'll excuse me, I think I saw some pots that need breaking.
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