History Main / NinjaLooting

* Most modern online games will allow loot to be picked up by other players after a set amount of time has passed. In games with unrestrained player killing enabled, this means that a player could kill a hundred creatures before obtaining a coveted item ... only to be [[BackStab backstabbed]] by your [[{{Griefer}} party member]] just as you reach over for your loot, and having to watch as said "friend" runs off with your loot. Another variation exists in games where players drop loot after death - said Griefer will wait until you defeat a foe and pick up its loot, before killing you while you're still weak and helping himself to your inventory.

** On the other hand, ''salvaging'' another player's stuff from his wrecked ship does not count as stealing. [[UnderStatement This is slightly controversial]].

** And in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0029.html this strip]] from ''TheOrderOfTheStick''.

* Successfully averted in ''AQWorlds''. Every player involved in a fight recieves exactly the same dropped items, since there's no way of trading in the game, but it's possible to involve yourself in a fight by healing someone already fighting the monster, and you still recieve anything it drops (including experience and gold).

* This is infuriatingly easy to do on accident in ''NewSuperMarioBrosWii''. Due to the way that powerups move, it's nearly impossible for everyone in a 4-player game to get an equitable share.

* Also averted in MabinogiFantasyLife and its sister game {{Vindictus}}. In the former, loot went to the party member who finishes the monster, and this privilege is usually reserved for the biggest contributor to the monster's demise. In the latter, loot drops come in the form of "evil cores", which don't go away until everyone has looted from them.

** You could also do something like this on purpose for your weaker units; have the strong units weaken the enemy, then use the weak ones to finish it off.

The act of dishonorably acquiring items at the scene of a kill in an MMORPG (but can also happen in Tabletop [=RPG=]s). Ninja looting takes many forms, but the end result is that a player obtains an item that they were "not supposed to", much to the ire of other players present. Ninja looting is often, but not always, a form of [[{{Griefer}} Griefing]]. A couple ways this can happen:

Almost automatically causes LootDrama. See also KillSteal.

* Some games, especially early ones, have no built-in system for distributing loot and the first person to get to a corpse can take from it whatever they like. This can lead to players rushing to a monster killed by someone else and taking the loot before the person who did all the work has a chance to. Other games only allow the party that killed a monster to take items off of it, but that can still lead to situations where one member of the group tries to loot every kill first and leaves little to nothing for the others. This is the type of system that the term "ninja looting" directly comes from, with the logical basis being that they are "stealthfully" (or just very, very quickly) taking loot from a kill.
* Most modern online games will allow loot to be picked up by other players after a set amount of time has passed. In games with unrestrained player killing enabled, this means that a player could kill a hundred creatures before obtaining a coveted item ... only to be [[BackStab backstabbed]] by your [[Griefer party member]] just as you reach over for your loot, and having to watch as said "friend" runs off with your loot. Another variation exists in games where players drop loot after death - said Griefer will wait until you defeat a foe and pick up its loot, before killing you while you're still weak and helping himself to your inventory.

* With some systems there's also [[kill steal]]ing... the person who deals the deathblow gets the XP (unless they're grouped with others, in which case the XP is shared), so some people will let another player wear an enemy down to their last HP, then swoop in and take the kill.

* Most modern online games will allow loot to be picked up by other players after a set amount of time has passed. In games with unrestrained player killing enabled, this means that a player could kill a hundred creatures before obtaining a coveted item ... only to be [[BackStab backstabbed]] by your [[GRiefer party member]] just as you reach over for your loot, and having to watch as said "friend" pleasantly passes the time before running off with your loot. Another variation exists in games where players drop loot after death - said Griefer will wait until you defeat a foe and pick up its loot, before killing you while you're still weak and helping himself to your inventory.

* With some systems there's also killstealing... the person who deals the deathblow gets the XP (unless they're grouped with others, in which case the XP is shared), so some people will let another player wear an enemy down to their last HP, then swoop in and take the kill.

Note that in all cases, the rule(s) being broken by Ninja Looters is 99.9% of the time a rule which was made up and enforced by the community over the "real" rules of the developers of a game (much like say swearing during mass is not illegal, only frowned upon) or by societal "standards".

While a Video Game Trope, some form of Ninja Looting is possible in Real Life too, in the form of "First come first served" being the unofficial basic ruleset. A person will feel "cheated" if a few seconds prevented him or her from grabbing the wanted item before the first one (whether this is justified or not).

Basically, all forms of Ninja Looting provoke a strong sense of Backlash-Entitlement and is usually as powerful as a function of how valuable the item taken was or how hard everyone involved worked in order to just have it taken from them.

** Another variant of ninja looting can occur wherever there are mining deposits, herbs, treasure chests, or lootable quest objects. Players A and B are both miners, abd both see a rich mining vein. Player A lands next to the mining node, but a hostile monster is right next to it which attacks him, so Player A must spend time killing the monster before he can mine the node (you cannot perform mining while something is pounding on you). While Player A is fighting, Player B swoops in, mines the node, and rides off.

* A variation happen in the ''FireEmblem'' series. In some chapters, NPCs help out your party. Though they're normally stupid or weak, they love to go up to an enemy holding a droppable item that you weakened and finish it off, making the item disappear forever.

* A possible UrExample goes back to the early editions of DungeonsAndDragons where the party thief was often the one called upon to scout ahead for traps and monsters. Being thieves, many of these characters could be counted upon to pocket any treasure they found while beyond the supervision of the rest of the party (or skim some off the top, if the party grew suspicious about the lack of loot).

*** One should notice that this system isn't that perfect. Especially random items are often not rollable, even for classes who need the stats on them. And no, they are not tradible either. The only way to get them would be to ask the others if they could pass.
*** Honorable mention goes to ''Frozen Orbs''. Being totally useless for some time (Auction price fell beyond sell price.), Blizzard announced that they would make it possible to buy other stuff with them. Cue lots of people rolling Need on them (After everyone else rolled Greed, of course.). They changed it now.

* Most modern online games will allow loot to be picked up by other players after a set amount of time has passed. In games with unrestrained player killing enabled, this means that a player could kill a hundred creatures before obtaining a coveted item ... only to be [[Backstab backstabbed]] by your [[Griefer party member]] just as you reach over for your loot, and having to watch as said "friend" pleasantly passes the time before running off with your loot. Another variation exists in games where players drop loot after death - said Griefer will wait until you defeat a foe and pick up its loot, before killing you while you're still weak and helping himself to your inventory.

** The 3.3 patch introduced a modified version of the original Need Before Greed dungeon loot system, which is automatically (and irrevocably) activated whenever a group uses the Dungeon Finder. You can only roll "Need" on an item if it's one that your class/spec can specifically use. Otherwise your only options are "Greed" and "Disenchant" (if someone in the group has that ability). Both use the same roll; the only difference is whether you receive the item or its disenchanted materials. In short, it's no longer possible to Need roll on anything that's not equippable by you or useful for your class.

** The community of EVE being what it is, this system is the source of a whole new set of griefing and pirating tricks. For instance, particularly obnoxious griefers would kill a certain gatekeeper enemy but leave the necessary key on its corpse. Since newbies needed that key to progress, they had to "steal" it from the corpse, which then allowed the griefer his 15 minutes of "revenge" time.
** On the other hand, ''salvaging'' another player's stuff from his wrecked ship does not count as stealing. [[UnderStatement This is slightly controversial]].
* In ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles III'', there are pizzas that restore you to full hit points. In a one-player game, only one pizza will appear at a given location, but in a two-player game, there will be two of them. If one of the players is spiteful or stupid, he can eat both of the pizzas, so that the other player will lose the opportunity to replenish his hit points. The character who hogged both pieces of pizza gets no benefit from doing this; it's just a [[JerkAss "funny" possibility.]]

* This is infuriatingly easy to do on accident in ''NewSuperMarioBrosWii''. Due to the way that powerups move, it's nearly impossible for everyone in a 4-player game to get an equitable share.

* A variation happen in the ''FireEmblem'' series. In some chapters, NPCs help out your party. Though they're normally stupid or weak, they love to go up to an enemy holding a droppable item that you weakened and finish it off, making the item disappear forever.
** You could also do something like this on purpose for your weaker units; have the strong units weaken the enemy, then use the weak ones to finish it off.