Basically, I'm asking if we can make them more like lockers in function.
Open BankSafe with 123456
Get item from safe
Close safe
Versus:
Unlock safe with 123456
Open safe
get item from safe
close safe
lock safe
Just a relatively small QOL suggestion. There's a heck of a lot of command IO and keystrokes for managing the inventories of secure containers.
If you can remember to close something you can remember to lock it, it just ends up being more commands for very little flavor.
In most cases where things are left unlocked, my experience is that it was because the player didn't even know there was an explicit lock verb required because the game teaches players from the beginning that closing and locking are the same thing.
My usual metric is 'is there a benefit to the character for this state?' and I really can't think of a situation where having a container than can lock is closed but not locked really adds anything compared to being closed and locked.
I would always argue that fewer verbs is always better though, and that it makes the game more learning-friendly. It's why I love grapple so much, since the player only has to learn one verb for their character to do a ton of different things.
If all locking things had to be locked through a verb, I think it would make a lot more sense – but they don't, which ends up increasing the learning curve for a player's verbal command vocabulary.
