i\'ve seen a pretty nifty loot system a few days ago ...my brother plays Priston Tale (another free, but not open MMORPG) ...and their looting system\'s quite good IMHO:
the loot just stays on the ground, but there\'s a little catch

- the player (if none of his party-mates are around) that gives the finishing attack to the monster, gets a \"time bonus\" - let\'s say 10 secs. ...meaning that the moment the monster dies he\'s the only one to see the loot, and can pick his share, after those 10secs expire, all the other players can see the loot and can pick up the rest
- if his party members are around there\'s a dice-roll (as many sides as there\'s party-members present) to decide which of the present party-members will get the \"time bonus\" for the loot this time
...that\'s how it goes in Priston Tale ...but I\'d add another \"time bonus\" in PS:
- if the player\'s a member of the party, no matter, if they\'re present or not, the whole party gets 5sec \"time bonus\" before all other players ...smaller then the killer\'s (or the one who first spoted the loot), but still existing.