Originally posted by morph113:

It's not meant to be realistic but rather done for balance reasons. I mean one alternative would be to be able to stack like 1000 berries in one slot. Or to only have 1 wood per slot. Both are equally bad alternatives. Game balancing isn't always about finding the most realistic setting but something that fits the gameplay best.

Agreed. There are ways a more 'realistic' system might be done but all would likely require lots of extras like different types of bags, backpacks, travois, etc with all having different volume and weight limits as well as impacting character performance in various ways - slower movement, stamina drain, skill penalties due to poor balance, etc.

Doubt anyone would really want to play like that after a quick test run.

[Edit - example] You can't fight very well while hauling your big bag of stuff so when confronted with a group of greydwarves you drop your bag. After the fight you discover that a greyling made off with the bag and some of the contents, scattering the rest and breaking a few things....