Post-apocalyptic world where the aim is to survive, and if you don't have enough supplies you're fucked? Gathering/collecting seems like a pretty high priority to me.
Why hate collecting? That's one of the main points of the game -_-. OT: I feel for you. Me and everyone on a server got killed today, "nuked". Wasn't happy.
I can't stop laughing, oh my god, this game is awesome. Brand new here so I can't say I've had to make any tough decisions yet. Certainly looking forward to it though.