History Main / LootDrama

** There's also now a rare (Possibly the rarest creature in [=WoW=]) that drops ''itself'' as an in-game flying mount. The approrpiately-named Time-Lost Proto-Drake has multiple paths it can patrol along, but nobody's followed it for very long because it's now well-known enough that most servers have a few people in its most commonly-seen areas at all times. In addition, the loot is bind on pickup. The monster itself is quite weak, any character at the level cap could solo it with their eyes closed, so its a case of blind luck or dogged persistence.

* ''Website/GaiaOnline'' has the Angelic Halo. It was one of the first Monthly Collectables released and it's virtually impossibly to get one. The admins and artists know this and love to screw with the users about it. Several cheap alternatives have been released because of the item's rarity.

* The Hockey Stick of Furious Angry Rage in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' could probably have been considered to cause Loot Drama at one time, though other additions (mainly other, similarly powerful, more accessible sources of extra monster level) have since made the hockey stick's benefit more marginal. When equipped, the hockey stick would cause any monster the player was fighting to become stronger by 30 levels (which effectively means + 30 to the monster's attack and defense), with the benefit of + 6 XP per battle. The + 30 did not add to the monster's HP (though that was [[{{Nerf}} fixed]] later), and its other stats are nearly moot if you can KO it in one hit. Also, up to 3 hockey sticks could be equipped to take up all 3 accessory slots, and their effects would stack to a whopping + 18 XP per battle. (The toughest monsters in the game back then had a base XP value of 36.) In short, they were [[GameBreaker extremely useful]], and nothing else in the game at the time came close in effectiveness. Meanwhile, hockey sticks are also an Ultra-Rare. The Ultra-Rare mechanic itself is unknown, but it is suspected that only a certain number of Ultra-Rares (around 2-4) can drop across the entire game per day. Add that to the fact that the hockey stick only drops in a zone that players usually have no reason to bother visiting and can only be visited by ascended players who are a Mysticality sign in their current ascension, and the end result was pretty predictable. (Thankfully, it's easily traded, which lead to some clans having them on a timeshare system.)

* The Hockey Stick of Furious Angry Rage in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' could probably have been considered to cause LootDrama at one time, though other additions (mainly other, similarly powerful, more accessible sources of extra monster level) have since made the hockey stick's benefit more marginal. When equipped, the hockey stick would cause any monster the player was fighting to become stronger by 30 levels (which effectively means + 30 to the monster's attack and defense), with the benefit of + 6 XP per battle. The + 30 did not add to the monster's HP (though that was [[{{Nerf}} fixed]] later), and its other stats are nearly moot if you can KO it in one hit. Also, up to 3 hockey sticks could be equipped to take up all 3 accessory slots, and their effects would stack to a whopping + 18 XP per battle. (The toughest monsters in the game back then had a base XP value of 36.) In short, they were [[GameBreaker extremely useful]], and nothing else in the game at the time came close in effectiveness. Meanwhile, hockey sticks are also an Ultra-Rare. The Ultra-Rare mechanic itself is unknown, but it is suspected that only a certain number of Ultra-Rares (around 2-4) can drop across the entire game per day. Add that to the fact that the hockey stick only drops in a zone that players usually have no reason to bother visiting and can only be visited by ascended players who are a Mysticality sign in their current ascension, and the end result was pretty predictable. (Thankfully, it's easily traded, which lead to some clans having them on a timeshare system.)

* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'', the Lootshare and Coinshare systems are made to mitigate this. Lootshare distributes the dropped items to all players fairly evenly, and Coinshare converts most valuable drops into gold and distribute it exactly equally, but with a 5% gold deduction. If you don't have either on, the loot will go to the one who dealt the most damage. Since some untradeable or unique drops such as charms will be lost if either systems are active, there is still potential for LootDrama.

** The original [[LordOfTheRings One Ring]] movie prop which the four main characters greedily fight for, replaying the corruption of Sméagol.

* Occurs in a ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}''/''Webcomic/BloodStain'' [[https://www.deviantart.com/shiniez/art/escapism-398392450 crossover comic]]. The main cast takes down a boss on the ''Moonstone Gate'' server for the first time. [[BloodMagic Vlad]] claims the Arcane Dragon of Magic for its magic resistance, while Ally is outraged that he took it (and is now bound to his character), as it has much more potent bonuses for her character build.

* UrExample: In ''Literature/TheTrojanWar'', Ajax and Odysseus argue about which of them deserves to receive the dead Achilles' arms and armor more, as Ajax brought back the body while Odysseus kept the Trojans off him (note that looting someone's armor and preventing the enemy from doing the same is ''very'' SeriousBusiness). Athena influences a group of Trojans to declare Odysseus as having done them the most harm, leading the Greek kings to award the spoils to Odysseus. [[RageQuit Ajax stalks off and ends up slaughtering a flock of sheep, believing them to be the Greeks who just despoiled him]], but realizes his mistake when he comes back to boast of his feat. Unable to stand the humiliation, he kills himself (and is still pissed off at Odysseus when he visits the Underworld years later).

** There's also now a rare (Possibly the rarest creature in WoW) that drops ''itself'' as an in-game flying mount. The approrpiately-named Time-Lost Proto-Drake has multiple paths it can patrol along, but nobody's followed it for very long because it's now well-known enough that most servers have a few people in its most commonly-seen areas at all times. In addition, the loot is bind on pickup. The monster itself is quite weak, any character at the level cap could solo it with their eyes closed, so its a case of blind luck or dogged persistence.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''[='=]s Battle Royale mode, landing someplace populated in a standard match means you have to quickly find some good weapons or you'll be one of the first 10 or so players to die. In 50v50 and other big team modes, you ''still'' have to quickly find good weapons, but for a different reason: loot is not localized (much like in regular matches) and if you take too long skydiving to a particular location, you'll find that your teammates have taken all the good stuff already, so while they can go to the frontlines with those awesome high-rarity rocket launchers and scoped assault rifles, you'll be struggling to contribute for your team with a basic low-accuracy assault rifle that was sitting out there in the open because none of your teammates wanted it. And there's the occasional player who, instead of trying to find their own loot, will simply follow you as you open chests and discover weapons ''[[{{Griefer}} just to take what you found first]].'' There is always the solution of "just land somewhere unpopulated," but good loot is harder to come by the further you are from any major location.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''[='=]s Battle Royale mode, landing someplace populated in a standard match means you have to quickly find some good weapons or you'll be one of the first 10 or so players to die. In 50v50 and other big team modes, you ''still'' have to quickly find good weapons, but for a different reason: loot is not localized (much like in regular matches) and if you take too long skydiving to a particular location, you'll find that your teammates have taken all the good stuff already, so while they can go to the frontlines with those awesome high-rarity rocket launchers and scoped assault rifles, you'll be struggling to contribute for your team with a basic low-accuracy assault rifle that was sitting out there in the open because none of your teammates wanted it. And there's the occasional player who, instead of trying to find their own loot, will simply follow you as you open chests and discover weapons ''[[{{Griefer}} just to take what you found first]].''

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''[='=]s Battle Royale mode, landing someplace populated in a standard match means you have to quickly find some good weapons or you'll be one of the first 10 or so players to die. In 50v50 and other big team modes, you ''still'' have to quickly find good weapons, but for a different reason: loot is not localized (much like in regular matches) and if you take too long skydiving to a particular location, you'll find that your teammates have taken all the good stuff already, so while they can go to the frontlines with those awesome high-rarity rocket launchers and scoped assault rifles, you'll be struggling to contribute for your team with a basic low-accuracy assault rifle that was sitting out there in the open because none of your teammates wanted it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''[='=]s Battle Royale mode, landing someplace populated in a standard match means you have to quickly find some good weapons or you'll be one of the first 10 or so players to die. In 50v50 and other big team modes, you ''still'' have to quickly find good weapons, but for a different reason: loot is not localized (much like in regular matches) and if you take too long skydiving to a particular location, you'll find that your teammates have taken all the good stuff already, so while they can go to the frontlines with those awesome high-rarity rocket launchers and scoped assault rifles, you'll be struggling to pull your weight with a basic low-accuracy assault rifle that was sitting out there in the open because none of your teammates wanted it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''[='=]s Battle Royale mode, landing someplace populated in a standard match means you have to quickly find some good weapons or you'll be one of the first 10 or so players to die. In 50v50 and other big team modes, you ''still'' have to quickly find good weapons, but for a different reason: loot is not localized and if you take too long skydiving to a particular location, you'll find that your teammates have taken all the good stuff already, so while they can go to the frontlines with those awesome high-rarity rocket launchers and scoped assault rifles, you'll be struggling to pull your weight with a basic low-accuracy assault rifle that was sitting out there in the open because none of your teammates wanted it.

* ''NerfNow'' parodies this trope (along with RandomlyDrops) in a strip imagining ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' to be an MMORPG: the rest of the team have to hold back a visibly angry Heavy Weapons Gal when the server randomly allocates an item beneficial to her class to the Sniper instead.

* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' has ''several'' items of that kind, which have their own rarity category, called Legendary. Without exception, these weapons require weeks of raiding efforts to be created, and just deciding who in the guild should get the item can be cause for much drama. Some epic drops in normal dungeons also fall into this category, such as an extremely rare mount ([[BraggingRightsReward which only looks unique and doesn't offer any improvements over normal epic mounts]], mind you).
** At least this type of items in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' all come in instanced dungeons, so the drama is at least limited to those who participated in the raid. One can only imagine the howling terror of a legendary item on a world spawn in that game.

** The last Legendary item released before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion was Thoridal, the Stars' Fury, a Legendary bow. There's only one class that deals damage primarily through ranged weapons: The Hunter. However, the bow curiously lacked a class limitation to them. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before one was looted to a Rogue - who'd use it as little more than a [[StatSticks minor stat boost]] - over two Hunters that could have used it. The fallout from the drama that caused broke out of even the server it happened on, with the entire ''WorldOfWarcraft'' community now knowing of it. ''That'' is the power of Loot Drama.

* Parodied in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' when a ''WorldOfWarcraft'' style [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMORPG]] has a special ability-boosting hat that a raid's boss [[RareRandomDrop only drops once every ten raids]]. When [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=080915 Torg gets the hat]] his first time playing the raid, other players who have done it 50 times without getting the hat are ''pissed''.

** This is also why there's very little stigma to using a GameShark to access the inaccessible, especially among those who have little to no chance of gaining one officially.

Sometimes, this is intended as part of the game experience (where it is often referred to as loot ''tension''), suffice it to say, this is generally considered bad game design.

* In ''AceOnline'', the [[RareRandomDrop really good rare drops]] are greatly sought after. Several bosses, particularly the ones who drop the parts of the unique Boss Armors, are always being chased by players of both nations within minutes, and sometimes even within seconds, of their spawning. Whole long-and-nasty bouts of warring often break out over the control of maps with these bosses.

* [[CosmeticAward The Isolator Badge]] in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''. To obtain this badge, you had to defeat 100 Contaminated Thugs that were only found in the tutorial zone. If you bypassed the tutorial, or you got bored fighting that type of thug (and it is really boring), this badge was LostForever. The developers eventually responded to complaints by adding... the Infected Thug enemies, who act and look exactly the same as Contaminated but don't count towards the badge. After ''more'' complaints, they finally added a spawn point. For ONE Thug. Every two hours. In a high-level [=PvP=] zone. And since villains can't get this badge and thus had nothing to lose, it was easy for {{Griefer}}s to just kill the Thug (it's still level 1!). And then stomp the non-PvP ready hero who was just here for the badge. After '''''more''''' complaints, this was finally rectified with the Flashback system, where you get to replay the tutorial mission and regain the badge.

* In ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', it's not so much that the ''owning'' of a rare ship causes drama, it's the desire of everyone else to want to blow it up and get credit on the kill mail. Because Eve is a single server, rare ships destroyed in combat are LostForever. A few different kinds of ships fit this trope:

** Limited edition rare ships include unique faction ships such as the Raven State Issue, or Tempest Tribal Issue, which were handed out as rewards for player tournaments. They are now nearly priceless, as some have been destroyed, and the owners rarely entertain buy offers. Due to their value, these ships are never actually undocked or used, being owned by collectors of unique items, despite the Megathron Federate Issue and Raven State Issue being the most powerful battleships in the game. And in the realm of indescribably valuable is the Apocalypse Imperial Issue. There used to be four. Now there is one. In the entire universe. No more will be made. It's been fought over, killed for, and stolen many times. And the current owner refuses to even host showings of it. Frigate class examples include the Gold Magnate (exactly one was given out as an event prize. It has since been destroyed in [=PvP=] combat and is now LostForever) and the Silver Magnate (given out at the same time as the Gold. Although originally more numerous, many have also been destroyed, so there are only 3 or 4 estimated to still exist.)

* [[CosmeticAward The Isolator Badge]] in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''. To obtain this badge, you had to defeat 100 Contaminated Thugs that were only found in the tutorial zone. If you bypassed the tutorial, or you got bored fighting that type of thug (and it is really boring), this badge was LostForever. The developers eventually responded to complaints by adding... the Infected Thug enemies, who act and look exactly the same as Contaminated but don't count towards the badge.
** After ''more'' complaints, they finally added a spawn point. For ONE Thug. Every two hours. In a high-level [=PvP=] zone. And since villains can't get this badge and thus had nothing to lose, it was easy for {{Griefer}}s to just kill the Thug (it's still level 1!). And then stomp the non-PvP ready hero who was just here for the badge.
** After '''''more''''' complaints, this was finally rectified with the Flashback system, where you get to replay the tutorial mission and regain the badge.

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', there were several instances of PlayerKilling over rare drops and one episode revolved around a crooked guild trying to extort a rare item from a lower-level player.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'': Ridill is a sword usable by six jobs that has a frequently occurring chance of additional attacks in a given attack round. It is dropped by Fafnir, a "notorious monster" on a 21-to-24-hour spawn timer (except every 4-10 days, when something else spawns in his place). The drop rate on Ridill is hard to quantify with a percentage, but exceptionally low; The "average" estimate is about 5%. And it is the source of a vast majority of the drama in the game. There are also several other items that actually have lower proliferation rates, but due to their specialized and not-so-glorious benefits, don't really cause as much drama.
** A fitting coincidence is that in the original Fafnir myth, one of his items (Andvaranauts as opposed to Ridill) pretty much corrupted people into being greedy assholes. How apt.
** Some servers had this compounded even further by groups dedicated exclusively to hunting Fafnir specifically to sell the drops. While exceptionally rare, it's somehow even more insulting than the cookie-cutter cheater linkshell because at least they ostensibly care about their own advancement instead of exploiting the game for money.
** Worse than Ridill, but less infamous, is the Defending Ring. It's one of the most powerful items in the game, reducing all damage the wearer takes by 10%. A notorious monster named Behemoth only spawns once every 21-24 hours. King Behemoth will randomly spawn instead of Behemoth starting 4 spawns after King Behemoth's last death (so he takes 4 days until as long as he feels like to spawn). King Behemoth drops the Defending Ring, but only an estimated 7% of the time. Assuming a flawless 4 days for each King Behemoth, it's about ''two months'' before this ring will statistically drop. Demand is so high that players winning it from the yearly staff-run in-game lottery (having chosen it over, among other things, more money than most players would ''ever'' need) are almost universally derided.

* In ''TheGuild'', a web series about people who play an MMORPG together, the group finds a rare item. Both Tink and Clara want it, and are engaged in bartering for it, [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom when Clara's children unplug her modem]], allowing Tink to win the item(Vork's thinking is that Clara obviously didn't want it, or she would have said so). Clara gets upset, and sets up a secondary account to PK the guild leader's character over and over out of revenge in secret. When it's eventually revealed that she was the one who kept killing him, it caused a temporary rift among the guildmembers.

* In ''EveOnline'', it's not so much that the ''owning'' of a rare ship causes drama, it's the desire of everyone else to want to blow it up and get credit on the kill mail. Because Eve is a single server, rare ships destroyed in combat are LostForever. A few different kinds of ships fit this trope: