It’s no surprise that loot-driven games have some of the most dedicated player bases in gaming. If recent demand for Destiny 3 is any indication, looter-shooters and ARPG players are extremely protective of the games they play and their potential sequels and expansion updates. A plausible reason could be that their gameplay loop and loot systems are highly addictive.
In 1996, Diablo’s loot system popularized this emerging sub-genre, and since then, things have become increasingly popular for it and almost every ARPG and looter-shooter that followed in its footsteps. Color-coded loot and loot systems have unabashedly seeped into every genre, be it MMOs or single-player action-adventure titles.
Players spend hundreds of hours grinding for loot across these games, many of whom return for new seasonal updates and expansion launches. Despite launching 11 years after Diablo 3, Diablo 4 sold over 10 million copies in less than three months. Likewise, Destiny 2’s lifetime revenue may have crossed $2-3 billion, if recent rumors are anything to go by.
At its core, all of this possibly ties into one thing: a highly engaging and satisfying loot system. But what makes these loot systems so addictive?
Why are loot systems so addictive?
I recently introduced one of my autistic friends to Diablo 4, someone who has never played a loot-focused game before. He described his experience with it as “dangerously addictive,” at which point I laughed and mentioned how many new players had a similar reaction, and that some even believed that Diablo 4 to gamers is what crack is to a drug addict.
This sentiment remains true for most games emphasizing loot. From Diablo to Path of Exile, and from Destiny to The Division, these games are highly addictive because of their tight controls, meticulously crafted loot systems, and highly sensory audio design.
Most, if not all, of these design decisions take several psychological principles into account to produce an experience that positively alters brain chemistry. The random loot drops create unpredictability that builds anticipation and excitement. Chasing new loot gives a sense of direction, and obtaining it results in an immense dopamine rush, making moment-to-moment progression more satisfying than ever.
All of this is usually wrapped in tight controls, precise combat, and audio design that exemplify the thrill of obtaining a legendary weapon or gear and rushing ahead in anticipation of what’s next.
What exactly is a loot system?
A loot system in a video game is a set of protocols that dictate the kind and quality of rewards players obtain by playing the game. These can be random loot that players receive from opening in-game chests or unique, curated loot that drops from completing certain side quests or defeating an enemy.
In most APRGs and looter-shooters, loots are available in the following categories:
- Legendary
- Epic
- Rare
- Uncommon
- Common
Every popular ARPG or looter-shooter franchise, such as Diablo and Destiny, have their own take on these loot categories as well. For instance, the highest-tier loot in Destiny 2 is Exotic (yellow), whereas in Diablo 4 it is Mythic Uniques (Purple).
The psychology behind random rewards
What separates most games with elaborate loot systems from the ones that simply offer loot of any kind is random rewards. Games like Diablo and Borderlands emphasize random loot drops, whereas most single-player RPGs and even some MMOs focus on curated loot. The former is arguably more exciting to pursue because it’s unpredictable and stimulates the brain’s reward system, leading to dopamine release.
Most loot-focused games rely on an RNG-based system for random loot drops, which, if human psyche is anything to go by, both excites and frustrates players. It also ties into the whole idea of anticipating the next (more on this below), whether it’s rerunning an activity after nearly missing a chance to obtain the desired loot, or being simply excited for the next legendary weapon or gear drop to tweak a build.
This anticipation of obtaining the next big random loot keeps players motivated, many of whom end up spending hundreds, if not even thousands, of hours building and evolving their characters in a single loot-focused game. Although slightly toxic, this push-and-pull dynamic is intense, and it works.
It goes without saying, but there’s rarely a moment as cathartic in games as when someone opens a loot chest after a long-winded boss encounter only to spot an orange glowy item whose drop is usually followed by a unique, humming sound that potentially sends shivers down one’s spine.
Why Diablo changed loot forever
Much of this wouldn’t have existed if not for Diablo, which in 1996 introduced color-coded loot to 2D isometric RPGs and popularized loot-based systems in video games. Diablo’s real-time combat and loot-driven approach to role-playing was unique and revolutionary, at least as far as gameplay-focused RPGs were concerned.
Diablo’s color-coded loot wasn’t an original idea, nor were random affixes on loot that encouraged grind and replayability. Both came from different games, but Diablo molded these ideas into something more presentable and engaging, ultimately creating a highly addictive gameplay loop that has yet to be dethroned.
Subsequent Diablo titles continued to implement new ideas to complement this gameplay loop, such as Diablo 2’s Rune Words and its build-altering stat bonuses, as well as refine existing ones.
While Diablo 4 is considered a more casual-friendly ARPG compared to Path of Exile and Last Epoch, it’s still one of the most polished loot-focused ARPGs with immaculate gameplay and top-class audio and visual design.
Why players never feel “finished”
One of the downsides of having an intricate loot system is that players may never feel satisfied or finished, no matter how much time and effort they invest into buildcrafting. There are plenty of reasons for that, but it begins with the anticipation of what’s next.
Whether it’s chasing the next legendary item, undertaking an activity that encourages certain builds, or reaching a power threshold that demands better build optimization, there’s almost always a need for change; it’s the only constant in games with loot-based progression systems.
That’s, however, just the beginning. The more players dabble in any loot-focused game, the more reasons they find to tweak their build. Whether it’s min-maxing to carve glass cannon builds to test their own abilities, or creating a textbook overpowered build specifically to farm a certain endgame activity.
But even for casual players who don’t care about buildcrafting or endgame content, the anticipation of obtaining a powerful weapon that offers a new way to play is exciting enough to keep pushing forward. And then, there’s the whole ordeal of obtaining better rolls of existing weapons.
Games like Diablo, Destiny, and The Division are designed to be infinitely replayable, and their loot systems are the core catalysts pushing and testing that ideology. The more players engage with these activities, the more chance they have of obtaining better rolls or versions of weapons.
In Destiny 2, they are commonly referred to as “god rolls,” the same weapon with better traits. In Diablo 4, some of the best Uniques can drop with different affixes, and chasing what works the best in a particular build keeps the grind going.
This is one of the reasons these games have found success in live-service, as new updates almost always bring unique variants of tantalizing loot that can completely alter character or weapon build, or at the very least, add new and exciting ways to play.
New loot almost always brings new or revamped activities that have a chance to drop these items, which keeps players engaged in those activities in the hope of securing good loot at the end. Hence, despite never feeling finished or contented, most of these hardcore players can never distract themselves from these highly engaging gameplay loops.
It’s also precisely why games like Borderlands 4 and Outriders are less popular compared to some of their live-service counterparts, not because they don’t offer build-altering loot and have addictive gameplay in place to keep players coming back, but because they lack a wide array of endgame content and new endlessly replayable activities that keep them hooked forever.
It’s this very paradoxical nature of loot games in which players never feel finished in an endless sea of content that keeps them hooked on these games.
How loot systems spread across gaming
Diablo’s color-coded loot system transcends modern videogame genres and can be found almost everywhere. From PlayStation’s prestigious first-party open world offerings to indie rogue-lites as well as the rapidly emerging extraction-shooters, its influence seeps into every corner of games. Rightly so, because it makes progression feel more dynamic.
While Hellgate: London was the first RPG to mash guns with color-coded loot, Borderlands popularized it by creating random, procedurally generated weapon loot, boasting over 17.75 million combinations of guns. It opened the floodgates for how vast and flexible a loot system can be.
MMOs understood the value of a well-defined loot system as well. They understood how it makes the grind more encouraging and buildcrafting more extensive. Games like World of Warcraft introduced raid-exclusive gear and popularized armor set bonuses that later seeped into modern looter-shooters/MMO hybrids such as The Division and Destiny 2 (very recently).
As of now, it’s almost impossible to find an open world game without a lite loot system in place for progression. A hack-n-slash turned action-adventure game, God of War (2018), is a prime example of this evolution. BGS’ darling, Skyrim, didn’t have a color-coded loot system but featured unique and hand-crafted loot that made exploration immensely rewarding and is one of the reasons players keep coming back to it.
When loot systems become frustrating
As addictive as a good loot-focused game can be, it can also be equally frustrating. At the center of it all lies the infamous RNG system. The other day, my friend and I replayed a boss encounter 20 times in Borderlands 4, only to not get a single drop of the legendary weapon we were farming.
Once in Destiny 2, I got the god roll of a weapon I was farming in the first try, while others online complained about not receiving that particular roll even after 50+ runs. RNG can make things frustrating and is one of the biggest barriers of loot-focused games.
Not everyone has the time or patience to farm a single activity 70 times to obtain their desired weapon or gear. It’s also one of the reasons so many players have a love-hate relationship with games like Destiny 2 and Warframe, where loot grind can be abysmal.
RNG is responsible for unpredictable (mostly poor) loot drops and excessive grinding, but it’s not the only issue that plagues these games. ARPGs and looter-shooters can be overwhelming for casual players, not to mention downright exhausting to understand their layered mechanics. Clumsy UI design (I’m looking at you, Borderlands) and excessive inventory management can make or break the game for many.
One of the reasons I took a six-month break from Diablo 4 was because inventory management became too cumbersome after every Helltide and Whispers of the Dead events, and soon I was spending more time organizing my inventory and stash than hunting loot.
There’s also the looming shadow of microtransactions. While loot boxes have fortunately mostly disappeared from the AAA space, there are still gacha games and some MMOs that rely heavily on paid loot boxes for providing some of the best loot in the game.
Collectively, these can make loot-based games highly inaccessible and frustrating for both newcomers and genre veterans.
Will loot systems continue evolving?
Modern loot-based titles are still built on the fundamentals popularized by the original Diablo. As far as innovation goes, the genre seems to have stagnated, with both the fun and frustrating bits remaining largely similar.
That said, there have been subtle shifts in certain aspects of these randomized reward systems. More and more titles are adding the ability to craft higher-tier loot to reduce dependency on RNG. Diablo 4 recently introduced the ability to convert Uniques to Mythic Uniques with customizable affixes, which were once the highest-tier loot mostly available through occasional drops.
Likewise, Destiny 2 introduced weapon crafting with the Witch Queen expansion, allowing players to collect weapon patterns and craft curated rolls on their own terms. This system, although a chore, added a more consistent way to earn their god rolls. Bungie has since scaled back on weapon crafting, as it made loot chase too predictable and diminished the thrill of a random weapon drop that could be a much-desired god roll for a player.
With AI tools evolving at lightning speed, developers may find ways to make randomized loot drops more fair and favourable for players. The Division 2 popularized targeted loot farming, making specific gear chase more convenient without diminishing the thrill of acquiring random loot that perfectly fits into one’s character build.
With time, it’s possible to balance RNG, crafting, and targeted loot farming and introduce systems and progression models to reduce grind and make these games more accessible to newcomers. But for now, this seems more like wishful thinking than anything, especially since ARPGs and looter-shooters are rapidly dying.
FAQs
Why are loot systems addictive?
Because the uncertainty and anticipation of obtaining loot creates a strong dynamic between friction and release that tickles the brain’s reward system.
Did Diablo invent loot systems?
No, its random dungeons and reward system were influenced by the 1980s computer game Rogue. In general, Diablo was heavily influenced by Dungeons & Dragons, like most RPGs of that era.
Why do players grind for better loot?
The anticipation of obtaining the next powerful loot and the power fantasy that comes with it is exciting to pursue.
What games have the best loot systems?
All Diablo and Borderlands games, Path of Exile, and Destiny 2 boast some of the best loot systems.
Can loot systems become unhealthy?
Yes, it can when the RNG is broken, and the grind becomes abysmal. Also, when developers introduce paid loot boxes.
