"Why do players hoard?" It is a difficult question to answer.

*Decoration. People will line their houses with such things as helmets or cloth to make their space interesting and special.

*Laziness. Why bother throwing things out if there is plenty of space and it doesn’t cost anything to warehouse?

*Speculation. If players think that the price will go up on an item, they will hold it in hopes of selling it for more later.

*Pack-rat syndrome. "I might need this someday."

*Mementos. Objects can serve as reminders of old adventures. "Remember when I got that from the dragon during…"

*Status symbols. Huge piles of wealth show how experienced the player is and can be used for bragging rights.

*Achievement. Many games are filled with arbitrary goals, some players will create them even when they don’t exist. "I have a million gold, I win!"

Quote from UO Designer Raph Koster:

"Players are incurable hoarders, which means a large amount of resources in the game will just sit around in someone’s bank (or a shopkeep’s bloated inventory) rather than keep moving through the world, at least if there are insufficient drains or uses for the item."