![Trine 2 - Deadly Dustland Treasure](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Trine_2_-_Deadly_Dustland_Treasure.jpg)
In video games, loot is the collection of
items picked up by the
player character that increase their power or level up their abilities, such as
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general ...
,
spells
Spell(s) or The Spell(s) may refer to:
Processes
* Spell (paranormal), an incantation
* Spell (ritual), a magical ritual
* Spelling, the writing of words
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Spell'' (1977 film), an American ...
, equipment and weapons. Loot is meant to reward the player for progressing in the game, and can be of superior quality to items that can be purchased. It can also be part of an upgrade system that permanently increases the player's abilities.
Functions
Early computer role-playing games such as
SSI's ''
Gold Box Gold box may refer to:
* Decorative boxes made in gold
*'' Gold Box'', a series of video games of 1988 to 1992
* Gold box (phreaking), a phreaking box to create a bridge between two telephone lines
{{disam ...
'' series rewarded player progress with in-game treasure, which was typically preset in the games' programming. Recent games tend to randomly or
procedurally generate loot, with better loot such as more powerful weapons or stronger armor obtained from more difficult challenges. The random nature of loot was established in the
roguelike
Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player charac ...
genre of games and made mainstream through
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
's ''
Diablo'' which was based on roguelike design principles. Fixed items, determined essential for game progress, may also drop alongside random loot.
In single-player games, loot is often obtained as treasure through exploration or
looted
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
from defeated enemies,
and loot is considered distinct from items purchased from in-game shops. In multiplayer games, loot may be provided in such a manner that only one player may acquire any given item. "Ninja-looting" is the resulting practice of looting items off enemies defeated by other players.
Players may choose to employ a
loot system
In video games, loot is the collection of items picked up by the player character that increase their power or level up their abilities, such as currency, spells, equipment and weapons. Loot is meant to reward the player for progressing in the ...
to distribute their spoils. In a
PVP situation, loot may be taken from a defeated player.
In
role-playing video games or
loot shooters
Loot may refer to:
Film
*''Loot'' (1919 film), a film by William C. Dowlan
* ''Loot'' (1970 film), a British film by Silvio Narizzano
* ''Loot'' (2008 film), a documentary
* ''Loot'' (2011 film), an Indian film
* ''Loot'' (2012 film), a Nepali fi ...
, loot often forms the core economy of the game, in which the player fights to obtain loot and then uses it to purchase other items. Loot is often assigned to tiers of rarity, with the rarer items being more powerful and more difficult to obtain. The various tiers of rarity are often indicated by particular colors that allow a player to quickly recognize the quality of their loot. The concept of color-coded loot rarity was initially popularized with the 1996 game ''
Diablo'' and its 2000 sequel ''
Diablo II
''Diablo II'' is an action role-playing hack-and-slash video game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2000 for Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, and macOS. The game, with its dark fantasy and horror the ...
'', whose designer,
David Brevik
David Brevik (born February 14, 1968) is an American video game designer, producer and programmer who served as the co-founder and president of Blizzard North. He is best known for the critically acclaimed ''Diablo'' franchise. Currently he s ...
, took the idea from the
roguelike
Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player charac ...
video game ''
Angband''. In ''Diablo'', equippable items were either white (normal), blue (magic) or gold (unique), and ''Diablo II'' expanded on this with either grey (inferior), white (common), blue (magic), yellow (rare), orange (unique) or green (set). Blizzard Entertainment later re-used the system for the 2004 game
World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
, where items were either grey (poor), white (common), green (uncommon), blue (rare), purple (epic) or orange (legendary). Following ''World of Warcrafts popularity, most loot-driven games have since based their own system off this same color-coding hierarchy, (e.g. ''
Titan Quest
''Titan Quest'' is an action role playing hack and slash video game developed by Iron Lore Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was published by THQ in 2006. It was released on Steam in 2007, and later ported to mobile devices by DotEmu and ...
'', ''
Borderlands A borderland or borderlands are the geographical space or zone around a territorial border.
Borderland or borderlands may refer to:
Places
* Borderland, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in Mingo County, West Virginia
* Borderland (ele ...
'', ''
Overwatch
''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games f ...
'', ''
Torchlight
''Torchlight'' is an action role-playing hack and slash dungeon crawler video game developed by Runic Games and published by Perfect World, released for Windows in October 2009. The fantasy-themed game is set in the fictional town of Torchligh ...
'', ''
Destiny
Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
Fate
Although often ...
'', and ''
Fortnite
''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to- ...
'').
The quality of loot often scales with the tiers but not always.
Loot boxes
Loot boxes are a particular type of randomized loot system that consists of boxes that can be unlocked through normal play, or by purchasing more via
microtransaction. They originated in massively multiplayer online role-playing games and mobile games, but have since been adopted by many
AAA console games in recent years. The system has garnered a great deal of controversy for being too similar to
gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...
, along with giving players a means to circumvent normal progression through additional monetary transactions. Games that allow for certain players to have unfair advantages over other players via paid loot boxes are referred to as "pay-to-win" by critics.
References
{{MUDs, state=collapsed
MUD terminology
Video game terminology
Video game gameplay