No... guess thats why most open world games just seem tedious and boring to me, especially when the areas are random generated (and the loot too). Dunno, if it wasnt important enough for someone to actually design it then it isnt important enough for me to play it ;)

... but in (non-open-world) RPGs i at least try to clear the map before travelling to the next location and i try to make sure that i dont miss any quests.

Yes, but to a limited degree. It mostly depends on how well the game facillitates such acts.

For example, in Avernum's remakes (The ones with the subtitle) you are given a junk bag, which has no capacity, and several places near or on the path to fast travel locations; so you can pick a common hub, and deposit items there.

This also matches the ingame lore; as they are scattered once again in the following games, so it's always neat to gather the old collection again.

When Daedalus1138 mentioned Sacred Gold, it made me mindful of a mechanic I miss in games today: Easter Eggs. I think that was, for me, the greatest incentive for exploring and looting. That's something I remember most fondly about Sacred Gold; and, then there was the "Secret" Cow Level in D2. . . which was incredibly hilarious to play with other people online. . . especially if they were unprepared. Maybe designers later on thought it broke immersion or something, but I thought Easter Eggs were pretty cool. I think Sacred 2 had some "secrets" as well, but I don't think they were quite as clever, as those in S1.

So, to me, it was kind of disappointing, having explored all of Cyrodil in Oblivion, to find only one Easter Egg: the drowned troll, with a pitiful note on his person; I think that was the only interesting thing in eastern Cyrodil, actually.

Not so bad in fallout 2. 3 was bad. I'd store loot and make multiple fast travel trips. Skyrim, I walked whilst overloaded to the first village just so that I could sell all I was carrying. Fallout 4 was a pain in early and mid game. Now in late game I have so much wealth I just focus on rare stuff. Its all priorities. I quickly forget common items in all diablo games.

Guess I need to focus on playing new games rather than bother with details.

I found the person they made Zelda Breath of the Wild for. The game where no reward is meaningful, and finding chests usually feels bad because it's just another sword that you can't use, so why bother exploring?

As for me, I find exploration to be one of the best parts of enjoying games (so long as they're crafted well. Huge procedurally-generated worlds tend to suck at that, never having cool niches to find or anything).

Loot treadmills bother me unless it's a core part of the game. (Ie, I love Grim Dawn... But I loathed the loot system in Nioh.)

I usually do that on the second run through of a game.
Also i do a google search for tips on hidden things that can be found.

I think another aspect of this is us old gamers: Back in the day you kinda had to minmax and explore everything and do everything and loot everything to maximize your character because games like RPGs were hard back then. The habit still continues to this day where I also have to loot everything. It can get annoying and I do try to break the cycle but it doesn't always work.

It feels good to get a new shiny.

I'm in it to tell a story, so obsessive exploration/looting isn't on the itinerary. There's a few games which take the mick though, such as Fable and Expeditions: Viking with their legion of empty destructable barrels, or Ultima 8's exploding chests containing little of worth. Looters tend to burn out quickly on those titles.

I suppose From Software came up with an answer to compulsive looting, those damn Mimics were one of the most deadly enemies in Dark Souls 3. They made you terrified of every chest, I'd creep towards every chest and whack it with my axe and immediately dodge away. I remember the first time finding a Mimic: "Ohhhhh chest! I love chests. Shiny stuff what's in it...AHHHH!!! WTF has got me? Spit me out you bastard...nvm I'm dead". It's like a form of shock therapy.

More games should do stuff like that, those evil little Loot Midgets in Borderlands also come to mind.

Wish I could get back into fallout 3 and vegas. No time now I'm struggling to finish 4. I delayed buying 4 for 1 year whilst I tried to finish all the dlc for 3 and NV. I would happily keep playing those 2 but with the level cap it just doesn't feel worth the bother. Really hate level caps.

Compulsive looting and hoarding? Nah, I know what my character need, what could be worth some penny and just roll with it.
Collecting every little rock or brach is silly and waste of time.

Exploration? Sure, if this is the game made by devs who reward people for snooping around, otherwise it's waste of time and better to focus on something else, like main quest.

Ironically I just beat Mad Max and am still pissed at that game for not only supporting this kind of behaviour but pulling every dirty trick in the book to actively encourage it and stretch the playtime without offering anything in return. The game's designers should be ashamed of themselves.

It depends on the game, sometimes it's the best part of the game, other times it drags the game down.

I find the exploring and collecting really fun in games like Grim Dawn, Lego City Undercover, Super Mario Odyssey. In the latter 2, exploring after the main campaign has been finished is easily the better parts of those games.

But searching every nook and cranny in games like Bioshock (scrounging chump change to purchase expensive upgrades, UGH), Darkwood (I was slowing myself down too much trying to get everything), S.T.A.L.K.E.R (Game slows to a crawl if you try and pick up everything), any Elder Scrolls game (most times you're already using the best gear), Metro (finding journal entries was kinda imersion breaking) is really tedious.

Edit: I had to restart Resident Evil Revelations from the beginning because i didn't explore enough for weapon mods. I couldn't beat the end boss because of it.

The habit of searching everywhere is, to some degree, the fault of game developers hiding useful (and sometimes critical) items in places that can't be revisited. (Examples of this include early Sierra adventure games (where missing an item can make the game unwinnable) and PSX-era Final Fantasy games (where missing an item might prevent you from getting a character's ultimate weapon).) If developers hadn't done that, I think you would see fewer players going out of their way to explore everywhere and get everything before continuing on.

A related issue, and one that bothers me, is the tendency to find all sorts of rare consumables and never use them. It's a habit I want to break, but unfortunately, games often don't make the habit worth breaking. (I find this easiest to handle on a repeat playthrough, as I know what the trouble spots are and when it's worth using an item there, without fear that I'll need it later on.)

The thing is, consumable items you find fall into three categories:
1. Items that are common, typically available in unlimited supply.
2. Items that are rare and powerful and useful in the harder parts of the game.
3. Items that are rare, but not powerful enough to justify their rarity.

The problem comes in that some games have too many items that fit into the third category. You see this in some Final Fantasy games (2, 3, 4, 7 (attack items), and 6 (why use X-Ethers, of which there are only *3* in the entire game, when you can farm Elixirs, which are strictly better)), and it just makes those items feel pointless. The problem isn't just restricted to JRPGs; Dragon Wars has items of this type, including most types of arrows (you can only buy basic arrows, and except for a certain magical quiver with unlimited ammo, the arrows you find aren't strong enough to justify their rarity). Games with weapon durability and no easy way to repair weapons can suffer from this issue as well (SaGa 2's original version, for example; maybe some Fire Emblem games? Also artifacts in Daggerfall with magic repair disabled (which is the default).).

Couldn't you have just gone back to earlier areas and explore the areas you skipped? (If the answer is no, then the game is flawed in the way I just mentioned, and that game is just another that contributes to this habit of players.)

Edit: With that classification of consumable items, who here actually uses items in category 2, and who just hoards them?

Right, those old titles. . . if you didn't horde everything, the game was broke; e.g. Betrayal in Antara. . . the last part, I needed a rope, and I forgot to bring one with me from the previous part/chapter. . . and I didn't have any luck with a hex-editor :(