Limitations on what you can get/do/learn. Not necessarily hard ones. Cyberwear has an inherent limitation, in the risk of Cyber Psychosis, but that can be mitigated by gear quality and expensive counselling sessions, or even a high Empathy. Skill learning should be limited too: in the real world, you lose your edge in skills you don't use; this would prevent one character being expert in all fields, which is counter to the gritty realism of the setting. Mitigations to these limits could be cyberwear based or character creation options.
My
one problem is that I predict something like this, if not done perfectly, would feel more like a gimmick than a boost to the sense of realism. Unless I didn't read it correctly, it sounds as if the idea is for skills to deteriorate without steady use. I like the idea, but it needs to be subtle enough for people not to focus too much time around getting their skill stats back up to par, but not so subtle that people hardly notice it and it becomes more of an annoyance.
I agree with the rest of it, though.
A good inventory system. My tabletop RPG career started around the time of the advent of personal computing, and I've been hoping since then for some game to use the calculating power of the computer to relieve the player of the burden of calculating encumberance (a burden usually discarded by tabletoppers pretty sharpish in favour of GM fiat and bags of holding, neither of which are palatable options in a near-future tech-based computer game setting). Weight and its distribution should affect the performance of the character: players spend ages tweaking the stats of their individual gear; how is tweaking the stats of how that gear is loaded any different in the optimisation process? Having realistic/plausible holsters and LBE and pockets and having them matter would be a computer gaming dream come true. Weight and bulk should both matter. Getting your trench coat cut to fit over your combat armour and LBE should matter. What you're wearing should matter in social situations: they won't let you into AfterLife in full combat gear without your badge, or a successful intimidate/combat, but the boosters in the alley you get ejected into might think twice about trying to mug you.
I really do like this idea, and I mentioned something similar to it in a previous thread (albeit with a lot less detail), but I unfortunately don't see it as being very plausible. I'd imagine that the majority of people, perhaps even of these forums, would rather the inventory not be so limiting. I'm a pack-rat. While I like the idea in practice, I have a hard time believing I would actually enjoy it.
...though as I finished typing this, I thought of a way that might make it work.
Lower the value of looted items. In the Elder Scrolls/Fallout series for instance, selling looted items is one of the most common and accessible methods of making money. This leads to people searching every nook and cranny of every room to make sure they collected anything of value. In turn (unless I'm alone on this), it leads to people spending hours trying to organize their items and get everything below the weight limit. By removing the motivation to loot everything in sight, people will be more inclined to just loot the things they need.
Do not include a "weight" stat (or anything of the sort). Just don't make it a stat at all. Give us a visual indicator of an overload on weight. Make our characters look cumbersome. Make them slower, make them a target, make them vulnerable. Make it gradual as well. I don't want anything similar to Bethesda's games in which I could shrug off the weight of heavy iron armor, 14 battle axes, and a lifetime supply of mammoth meat, but one apple is enough to bring me to a snail's pace. By not making it a stat, it also cuts down on time spent micro-managing things, which is often more annoying than what it's worth.
Allow people to control their "visual handbag". Give players the option to attempt to conceal a carried weapon or change the positioning of where something hangs on the body. Maybe someone with a holster is less concealed, but as a result, they can also draw their weapon faster. This falls in line with customization, but it has some practical aspects as well.
Also, I just finished typing this up only to realize that I repeated a lot of what you said... oops.
