Just stop talking in absolutes, clearly some people like it and some don't, so it almost seems to be a personal preference.

If you're putting the two groups on equal footing, I think you'll find that you're greatly exaggerating the number of people that like this sort of broken inventory metagaming. Adding a couple minutes at least twice an hour to go back into town and lighten your load isn't something that I would expect to be a common desire.

Inventory management is all well and good, but the sort of inventories we're talking about are badly broken and don't provide much in the way of strategy. I've played through FO3 and FO:NV and found the inventory system to add very little positive to the game. It's extra challenge in an extremely arbitrary fashion and lends itself to stealing everything that's not nailed down in case you run into a traveling trader or somebody else with caps.

Then your inventory fills up and you have a ridiculous system to sort through to figure out what things you can drop safely, what things are quest items and what things you'll want later on.

I'm sorry, but that is not a well functioning inventory system. It's one that worked OK, when there were a limited number of items or during a short game, but it's dysfunctional and certainly something that could be improved.

I never said that limitations weren't good, but the fact is that the systems I've seen do very poorly in terms of both realism and fun. You may not agree with that assessment, but I'd be shocked if it was a common desire to have more tedium added to games.

Don't mind it all that much, but hate it when it's overblown.

So basically you are right, I am wrong and you don't at all care about people who actually do like the system. Well that puts your opinion into perspective.

It depends on the game. Something like Doom doesn't really matter, although it is a little frustrating that I can't drop my chainsaw to make room for more chaingun ammo. But in a game like Fallout where scavenging for supplies is a game mechanic then an IMS is important. For Fallout 3 I spent a great deal of time looking for realism mods, and inventory management was an important part of the that. If I could have created the perfect inventory system for myself in Fallout I'm pretty sure that half the people on this thread would hate it, most would give kudos to trying something new and a select few might find it to be an adequate system.

The basic issue comes from trying to balance weight, size and shape. I like the tetris system from Diablo for how it handles this, but I would have liked to have the option to increase storage space during the game, perhaps at level ups. I disliked how Morrowind handled encumbrance. The Rusty Sword of Dullness may have an encumbrance of 5 but the Awesome Sword of Killing is the same shape and size but gets and encumbrance value of 50. Or how going over your limit completely immobilizes you, with all the armor and weapons you are lugging around picking up a spoon shouldn't be what hinders you. Fallout 3 was a small improvement in that being over your carry limit simply meant you could not run but instead had to walk everywhere, but it was the same penalty for being 1 pound over or 3000 pounds over. It would have been better, I think, if they had gradually reduced walking speed and combat effectiveness as you go further over the limit. I like in Torchlight how the game doesn't pause the action when going into your inventory. This makes swapping weapons and armor more of a tactical decision.

Could not disagree with you more.

IMS IS a core ingredient for RPGs, as it should be. One of the things that separates RPGs from FPS games and the like. Sure most FPS games have a sort of dumbed down, simplistic inventory system (in that you can and do collect and use items, weapons) but the whole point of RPGs since the genre's inception has been to simulate being a character in a fictionalized environment. Somewhat ironically and contrary to common beliefs, elements such as 'storytelling' and 'acting' are not at all integral to RPGing. These are secondary elements that work best in RPGs because of the mechanistic design.

IMS is a big part of the whole 'system'. You can explore, 'role play', and collect stuff in pretty much every other genre but what makes RPGs a distinct genre unto itself are the quantified game mechanics. Without those you would have 'cops & robbers' type 'role playing' but no roleplaying GAMES.

While restricted inventories might be a pita if they are to restricted, they often enhance gameplay in my opinion.

I think it is essential that you don't pick everything up. That was one point that made New Vegas so much better than Fallout 3. Now that ammo actually weighs something, makes you think about your load-out and what is important for you to pick up.

Solid points. I would go further though if I were to design my ultimate IMS system. I try to ignore the unrealism of most RPGs, such as the fact that in a game like Jagged Alliance 2 (vanilla), one of the best RPG/strats ever made, it is possible, even common for a single woman weighing 100 lbs to carry 4 Ak-47s, 3 med kits, 4 TNT devices and a ton of ammo and still run around like a track star. But if I had my way a single character(even a male) would be encumbered in accordance with how much he was carrying (taking into account weight as well as size/shape of items) WITHOUT any magical weight limit where he can carry as much as he wants without penalty until he reaches one pound over some ridiculous amount based solely on 'Strength'/physique. So if you are carrying $1,000 in your pocket there will be a small encumbrance penalty. This would go a long way towards eliminating the silly convention where heroes carry 3-4 50 caliber machine guns (because who wants to carry a sidearm if you can carry an extra .50 MG?) or a full suit of plate armor plus a broadsword, a heavy crossbow, 4,000 gold coins etc.

In Daggerfall gold had weight. That was quite interesting ...

If I designed the IMS I would use a paperdoll to show what storage space you have available based on what you are wearing and represented by a tetris system. For example when wearing a pair of blue jeans you have a couple of not very big pockets to put stuff in. Some money and keys, maybe some food items. A pistol would take up the whole thing and a rifle wouldn't fit at all. Switch to a pair of cargo pants and you just increased the amount you can carry. Add a vest and you have more pockets to fill. That shiny metal bikini might look good on your character (though never as good as it did on Princess Leah) but it's just not practical, what you really need is one of those suits from 1984 with the zippered pockets everywhere and never looked good on anyone. (Almost ashamed to admit I had 3 of those myself) If you strap on a hip holster that should negate the use of one hip pocket, likewise a shoulder holster replaces the vest. You could put on a tactical vest but space is much more limited. Anything that doesn't fit goes in your fannypack, backpack, satchel or duffle bag. Weight would still come into play as someone carrying 50 grenades on their person will have a harder time getting around then someone carrying, say 99 red balloons. Stats like Strength and Endurance will tell how much you can carry before it becomes a problem rather than some sort of artificial limit. When you get into a situation that requires full speed and agility then drop your backpack and become instantly unencumbered. If you feel you really need something from it you can access it right there on the ground, but it might not be the smartest thing to do while the bullets are flying.

I personally have strapped several assault rifles and a rocket launcher to my loaded rucksack so I'd like to see more realistic options in my games.

You just described Jagged Alliance 2 w/ 1.13 mod'.

The only way to even argue it's "extra challenge" is to argue that hitting pause to go get a drink or take a leak is challenging. I mean, we're basically talking about a book keeping task in this case. That's not challenge. Having to cart 3 loads out of Vault 13 because you want the guns for extra repair fodder isn't any more challenging than using Excel.
No it's more that MOST gamers are horrid at putting this kind of shit into perspective. I'll exclude EVE players a simply state most gamers don't like working in Excel spreadsheets. If I start adding line items to Excel "rusty boots" and "vagabond outfit" does it become more exciting? Nope. You can add all the flavor, which is probably what you actually enjoy in these systems, in ways that don't add an arbitrary book keeping system to the game.
And then they contradict their own "Hey you don't need everything" hints by making you need: a fuckton of guns/melee weapons for repairs (or a way to earn massive amounts of caps), throw loads of shit around for you to pick up (gee, I wonder what will be useful/valuable, better check the wiki), put in a quest that requires you to bring a bunch of scrap metal to someone (something you'd only have kept around if you were crafting) and a bunch of other dumb stuff.

Fallout 3 and NV are examples of getting it 98% wrong, you're already allowed to carry between 200 (or more) pounds of stuff and still jump, fight, and run for miles, there's no AP penalty for being overburdened in a fight, they could have done away with most of it and had the exact same game.

Yes, I've also noticed only you, OP and hedwards being strongly against inventory managment while the rest of people around seem to like it or agree with it being put in games.

edit: Oh and OldFatGuy. We still seem to be in the vast majority thou :-P

Okay, let's put this another way, tons of people liked the Lord of the Rings movies, but I bet if you asked them what was "good" about them they'd mostly be wrong (because they simply don't understand why they actually respond to a good movie), they might tell you "That scene with the Balrog was fucking epic!" and while that may or may not be a decent scene it could have fuck all to do with what makes the movie good.

So essentially, yes, I get it, you know that you like a particular game, most people know that. What most people are terribly bad at is understanding why and this whole thread is a great example of that.

Oh yes, do tell me what should I like, I always like that!

At any rate, strictly from the practical perspective: Encumberance limits are easy to remove via patches that came out for majority of games that have them. It would be far harder to add those. Therefore, having them often gives you a choice, not having them wouldn't.