Hermione carried a charmed beaded bag that contained everything from books and clothes to a three-room tent. Video game designers often mimic J. K. Rowling’s approach by allowing players to carry an unrealistically large number of items. Players prefer this because an ample inventory bolsters two popular game mechanics: collecting and crafting. Crafting is a way to create new items from the ones you collected. Early games like King’s Quest and Ultima had forms of crafting, but it was 2011...
