To create a diverse range of usable items a simple but powerful item interaction system has been implemented in Emerge that allows items to be easily scripted to act intuitively. When an item is held, using the primary action/fire button can start a variety of actions, depending on the item and what you are looking at. For example, if you have a credit card, holding the left mouse button on a card-swiping devise causes your character to insert the card to pay for an item.
Besides adding immersion, the important aspect of this item-using complexity is that it creates opportunities for quest/narrative events. Each item is capable of carrying meta-data and additional script objects; so your credit card is connected to your character’s account while a stolen credit card can allow access to that of another player or NPC. Likewise, a thumb drive item could hold a virus for a quest, where connecting the stick triggers the OnInteract event and allows the script object to handle the specific questline progression.