The Warring States of NPF - "How'd They Do That?": Inventories

On request from certain people, I've decided to share the first in my series of video game "how'd they do that?"'s.

HOW'D THEY DO THAT?
Inventories
Now as we all know, with the exception of maybe a few of those "realistic" first person shooter games, most of our favorite video games allow for the players to carry around an inordinate amount of stuff. I can cite the games Icewind Dale 2, Final Fantasy VII, and Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and you'll get an idea of what I mean. Now you may wonder, what earthly reason could possibly allow these mere mortals on our TV screens/moniters/hand-held gaming systems, to be able to carry so much stuff, and still fight/acrobatically twirl/totally kick evil in the rear. Well, after a careful analysis/years of careful research and experimentation (one evening of getting all tipsy off of one too many cans of soda), I have finally ascertained that this accomplishment of heavy lifting could only be accomplished in one of the following ways:

1) The Quantum Physics Theory: This theory basically revolves around the idea that there is a multi-verse. Each time you actually somehow break the fabric of time and space, and the item which you desire is magically transferred into your waiting hand. Questions concerning this theory undoubtedly arise. "Why don't I just reach into my inventory for a +5 Vorpal Adamantine Paris Gun of Doom and Destructive Mightiness?" "What keeps me from being sucked into another dimension?" etc... The answer to these questions can all be summed up in a word. Entropy. Now as we all know, according to the laws of thermodynamics, the universe is constantly becoming more chaotic. Because of this inevitable slide towards chaos, the rest of the multiverse must attempt to keep things in order to balance things out. Now, the odds of you suddenly leaping into another universe, are of course infinitely greater then the odds of you happening to find a sling bullet in your inventory, or even 500 sling bullets for that matter. The odds of your finding some great artifact however like the aformentioned paris gun, are very slim, and thus, the universe will attempt to keep one from you, unless you have already put said weapon into your inventory, in which case the likelihood of it being there would multiply greatly. This is of course an overly simplified version of this theory.

2) The Olympic Heavy-Weight Champions Theory: This theory, which is probobly the most mundane, revolves around the idea that every major character in a game is actually an olympic heavy-weight champion, and can thus carry this hideous amount of stuff. He carries it all in a poorly balanced bulky duffle bag, and his super strength allows him to fight, and jump, and do all other types of heroic things with this huge Santa-like sack.

3) The Teleporter: For all of you Star Trek fans out there this will sound familiar. Basically, what each character has is his/her own huge ship in the sky. Now, this ship is full of all of his weaponry, armor, and ridiculous amount of equipment that s/he has collected over the years. Whenever the character needs something s/he will make use of some sort of communication device (varies depending on the game) which will immediately tell their ship to beam them down the requested item. This is a very slick system, but is somewhat out of place in certain games. In the opinion of the author this is the least plausible of the theories presented here.

4) Navi the Item Fairy: This is possibly the most logical, and seemingly convincing of the theories presented here, and it is also the one to which the author will adhere in any argument involving the fabled inventory. This theorum revolves around the idea that every single game has a small character such as Navi (see Zelda: Ocarina of Time). These little creatures whether they be fairies, or little butterflies, or pokemon, or whatever, all carry rediculously big bags full of your stuff. Using their inate magical powers, these creatures psychicly figure out when you are going to reach into your "mystical bag of holding" for an item, rummage through their own bag that is just so ginormous it's not even funny to talk about, and drop your Sword of Slays Everything but Squid into your smaller, much more manageable bag. You then pull said weapon from your bag, probobly saying something like "Gee, I'm happy that I have such a big inventory," and think nothing more of it. Now, you may be asking, "Where's the 'Navi-like character' in my game?" Well, I'm not sure what you're playing, but if you look hard enough, I'm sure you'll find some denizen who will fit the description. Remember to look carefully. In some games, your item carrying fairy will be invisible, or blink in and out of existence, as befits these fickle magical creatures.

Well, there you have it. A somewhat short, but I hope more or less complete treatise on the logistics of the mystical inventory. I hope this was enlightening and enjoyable for you all. If anyone wants me to continue the "How'd they do that?" series of threads, please inform me.