AFnord: Also, while we are on the subject, why does weapons & armour seem to be so incredibly heavy in games? A simple arming sword would weigh just over 1kg, a longsword about 1-1.7kg. In some games they weigh several times that.
Wishbone: Well, the inverse is also true. It is not uncommon for an RPG character to be lugging around four sets of plate mail, three staffs, five swords of various kinds, two flails, two maces, twenty-five healing potions and around twenty thousand gold coins. And all without impeding his or her movement noticeably.
And don't get me started on all the rats, wolves, bears, etc. that apparently somehow carry around weapons, armor, jewelry and gold coins for lucky adventurers to find upon killing them.
However, a completely realistic RPG would probably be quite boring to play, at least for most people.
A "simulation style" RPG would at least work rather poorly as a CRPG, at least the way we usually approach CRPGs. There are pen & paper RPGs that are trying to simulate reality, and they can be quite playable, though focus shifts away from combat.
The main issue I have with the weight and naming problems is that I don't really see a reason for it to begin with. Renaming swords just causes confusion, and considering how many seem to get their information about these things from pen & paper RPGs, a shockingly large portion of the self proclaimed "history geeks" that I've met think a longsword is a 1-handed weapon. As far as weight goes, they could simply have renamed it, call it "encumbrance" or something, and then they can give it a value that reflects both its weight, and how awkward it is to carry around (and it could also be used as a balancing factor).