What is something you always do in video games that has very little, or even no, impact on the game?
I always jump for the Koopalings’ Wands in Super Mario Bros. 3.
I always shout out “WAAAAAH!” and raise my right fist when I beat Ingo in the horse races in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (because he does that to me when he wins).
Back when I used to play DDO, I played with keyboard and mouse. For whatever reason, I would slightly sway side to side during combat. I think I was simulating putting my weight behind attacks, but I wasn’t really doing it consciously. I don’t often have cause to go back and watch those old videos – especially since they were in 1024x768 – but when I do the swaying bugs me.
Here’s video queued up to an example where my unarmed monk is fighting a maralith. (The maralith keeps turning around because of a special attack I’m using.) See that swaying back and forth? Gives me a headache.
In any game where defeated enemies drop health boosts, I always make sure to grab all of them, even if I’m at full health. Because if I don’t, then the game might conclude I don’t want them, and not give them to me when I do need them.
In games where there are food items that have a tiny effect on your character (e.g. a tiny bit of healing or a tiny buff), I always end up with an inventory full of hundreds of unconsumed sandwiches, chicken legs, soda cans, etc. I know I should either use them or stop picking them up, but I just can’t…
In Skyrim every time I slay a dragon I stare in its eyes as I absorb its soul. It’s an act of dominance. As David slew Goliath, the Dragonborn asserts their supremacy.
And whenever I kill an NPC that has attacked me without provocation, like one of the Vigilants of Stendar, or some mercenary, or a bandit that has attacked my home, I strip them of every possession and every piece of clothing so that their body lay naked in disgrace in the dirt or on the floor or wherever, even if I just turn around and drop everything I’ve just taken. They have committed an assault against me and my friends and my property and they must pay.
Hang on to characters’ original gear/clothing long after it makes sense. Sure, you have a fine Italian suit now with a ballistic fiber vest underneath but what if one day I need to put you back in that original stained t-shirt? Plus, you know, it’s not MY t-shirt to just sell for 75¢ at the merchant; he had that long before I got on the scene.
I was going to say that that one was silly… but then I remembered that, every single time I’ve played through the original Final Fantasy, when I’ve gone up against Chaos, somewhere in one party member’s inventory was still that Hat I found in a treasure chest in the first dungeon.
It’s actually a good idea to do this in Final Fantasy IX. There’s a remote castle that you enter at some point as part of the story, in which the weaker the weapon you use, the stronger your attacks are.
Two issues for me.
One, if I have anything that’s a consumable, I’ll hesitate to use it, because I might need it more at some hypothetical future point. Which means at later stages in the game I’ll have a metric ton of obsolete potions, scrolls, limited use items and the like which will somehow never be thrown away either.
Second, in RTS / base building games, I want to build largely symmetrical settlements, so that things are evenly spaced, even if it creates a minor degree of inefficiency. But otherwise my eyes hurt looking at them.
This is me; just replace “hesitate” with “never”.
I won’t say I’m in a never camp, but my willingness to use them is in direct relation to how common / many uses it has. If it’s something that’s common (say the base healing potion), lots of hesitation, but I’ll use them probably 20% of the time. So hundreds (or more) sitting around later.
One / few (like 3) time use items that can’t be replaced? That’s a never. 
Yeah, I’m really bad about expending resources, too. That’s part of why I usually end up playing a rogue, in D&D, because all of my cool stuff is stuff that never runs out.