Looting, also referred to as sacking, ransacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging, is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as war,natural disaster, or rioting. The term is also used in a broader sense to describe egregious instances of theft and embezzlement, such as the "plundering" of private or public assets by governments. Looting is loosely distinguished from scavenging in terms of objects taken: scavenging implies taking of essential items such as food, water, shelter, or other material needed for survival while looting implies items not necessary for survival such as luxury goods, art work, precious metals or other assorted items of value to the looters. The proceeds of all these activities can be described as loot, plunder, spoils, or pillage.

Looting by type

War looting

Looting by a victorious army during war has been common practice throughout recorded history. For foot soldiers, it was viewed as a way to supplement their often meagre income and was part of the celebration of victory. On higher levels, the proud exhibition of loot was an integral part of the typical Roman triumph, and Genghis Khan was not unusual in proclaiming that the greatest happiness was "to vanquish your enemies... to rob them of their wealth..."

Looting (alternately, 'lewting', from a common misspelling), in massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) and MUDs, is the process by which a player character obtains items (or loot) such as in-game currency, spells, equipment, or weapons, often from the corpse of a creature or possibly the corpse of another player in a PVP situation (cf. looting). These looted items will be placed into the player's own inventory. Loot is considered a reward for killing a creature or other player.

Ninja looting

The term "ninja looting", or just "ninja-ing", applies to a number of common looting practices. A player exhibiting any of these behaviors might be labeled a "ninja looter", or simply a "ninja":