I chose Sandbox, but I what I would really like to see is a game combine both aspects into one game.
I chose Sandbox, but I what I would really like to see is a game combine both aspects into one game.
Here's an old chart with the things to do in EVE Online:
http://swiftandbitter.com/eve/wtd/eve-wtd.jpg
EVE has both structured/themepark play and sandbox aspects. you can do mining, missions, anomalies and incursions, which all lean toward the themepark side.
Or you can engage in the multitude of activities that would be considered sandbox.
As an example: There are people that do nothing but mining in the game. Many of these people just AFK or bot their miners and the ISK(money) just rolls in for them. Well, a lot of us are damn sick of it. So this guy has created an 'organization' called 'The New Order'. It's basically a proclamation that, if you are a miner, you will not go AFK or risk losing your ship(s). So we go around the asteroid belts, bumping into miners to check if they float away or if they come back to the 'roid and turn their mining lasers back on. If they float away, they are deemed AFK and then we call in the suicide gank fleets and destroy their mining barge/exhumer.
Sometimes they are given a chance, in which they are required to pay a fee to continue mining. If they refuse the fee, they have a chance of facing consequences by us in the future.
This is something called 'emergent gameplay' and you won't find it in any other game. Some might call it 'RP'. but it's much more than that. it actually has effects on the game, the economy, and the people, whereas simple RP does nothing but make a few LARPers happy.
Also, what other game shows actual realtime changes to sovereignty on the in-game map? EVE's map updates every day, showing the names of player made alliances and corporations and their actions/conquests/losses.
I chose themepark.
Sandbox games are merely a hype. Honestly; people want to play them because people want to play them because it's cool to be free, and make your own choices, and all that. To be able to do whatever you want.
Well; EvE did it right by putting the security ranks in it (streamlining the progression experience while still having a choice), but EvE is hardly 'sandbox' in the way most people think it is. Instead, it is a game that works because of user-evolved content, which is created by adding something, and then poking the players to compete. All in all, it is about who controls what. There's no plot, no storylines, no romance.
In any other kind of set-up, people would be bored with this 'sandbox' instantly.
Themepark has the story. It has the immersion. With the themepark game, you follow the story, explore the feelings and things that happen. You want to discover the underlying messages, reasons and causes. The themepark game is about exploration, and, eventually, getting to the plot.
So I am for the themepark game, with sandbox mechanics. Sandbox mechanics are mechanics where you have a choice in what your character is, what it can do, and how it advances. Unlike WoW, which now has absolutely zero sandbox mechanics.
In addednum: Some sandbox factors are necessary to make a themepark game work. If you're just going to be completely railroaded anyway, you're probably better off reading a book.
I would have liked a Hybrid option, either Sandbox with Themepark features or Themepark with Sandbox features. A pure sandbox game gets boring after a while.
I just have this weird feeling that the next AAA Sandbox MMORPG that comes out will end up failing hard. Not because it will be bad, but because it will fail to live up to expectations. (AoW & DF:UW respectively)
Last edited by Tabbycat; 2012-12-29 at 05:13 PM.
I only really know of two sandbox MMOs; Ultima Online which is way too old for my liking (Yeah, I went there) and EVE Online which has just about 0 accessibility.
There's also the matter of griefing seeming to be far more widespread (and more effective) in sandbox MMOs.
As such, right now I prefer themepark MMOs. I'd be happy to give a more recent sandbox MMO a try though, but I know of none.
I chose sandbox. Being able to play how I want appeals to me, instead of being forced into a certain type.
Wow, I think it's quite the opposite. For me, themepark MMOs dont have immersion because of the "everyone being a hero" signing up on "rides" and magically teleporting to places of interest with a big red arrow pointing where to go. This is something I really really hate about themepark MMOs. It makes it feel exactly like grabbing a plastic sword, jumping in a rubber suit full of safety foam and signing up on themepark rides (big surprise there). Plus everyone being treated like the center of the world and a big hero even if they are terribad and can barely turn around to face a goblin or a dragon or whatever:P
In sandbox MMO's you usually are what you are. If you're new, poor and bad, at best you can qualify for a village idiot, not some savior of the galaxy nr. 10004666.
Why not both?
Themeparks are missing one vital element, as are sandboxes. We need both!!!
SWG type game with nice end game PVE like WoW has would be pretty awesome.
You did not get the memo. The whole point of sandbox games is that people can play it in a way THEY want to. They can be gatherers, crafters, traders, explorers, entertainers, fighters (pve), fighters (pvp) or a mix of all that. Telling them after a certain point, "middle game" ends here, end game begins now and you all become raiders defeats the purpose of a sandbox 100%.
I agree. SWG started going down this road with their Kash and Mustafar expansions but those two steps forward were lost behind the 500 steps backward that came with the CU and NGE. Even before those expansions there was tons of quest content but there was no in-game mechanic to guide new players toward it. You had to know it was there or blindly stumble upon it before you found it.
And after you have killed your 100th krayt dragon, cleared the DWB and have full Mando armor, and have server best everything all there is left to do is PvP and flame on the forums. The whole "play the game like you want" argument only holds up for so long before you simply run out of goals to accomplish. Adding some amount of theme park will only extend the amount of time one has before they run out of content.You did not get the memo. The whole point of sandbox games is that people can play it in a way THEY want to. They can be gatherers, crafters, traders, explorers, entertainers, fighters (pve), fighters (pvp) or a mix of all that. Telling them after a certain point, "middle game" ends here, end game begins now and you all become raiders defeats the purpose of a sandbox 100%.
Last edited by Cerelli; 2012-12-30 at 02:42 AM.
When did I say middle game ends there and end game begins now?
For starters, guilds would need the crafters/architects.
I could get a lot more into it, but sadly it will never be made.
I did try EVE before, I found it rather slow and dull and not sandboxy in the slightest. Maybe I just didn't play long enough, but the feeling I got was, I was flying around in an empty universe, you can't create space stations, land on planets, it was basically ship combat and robbing. But as I said, I probably didn't get far enough.
Feel free to list all the things you can do.
Last edited by Tekkommo; 2012-12-30 at 04:25 AM.
Themepark. I find sandbox games get boring after a while.
I agree with this.
One of my most memorable moments in an MMO was when I was much younger playing Ultima Online. I went into a dungeon to explore (probably where I shouldn't have) and had to turn tail and run from a scorpion who had poisoned me.
I was in the woods outside of the dungeon trying to stop the spread of the poison and bandage myself (and was doing a poor job of it I might add) when I saw two other players skulking around. They were speaking small sentence fragments (before the days when everyone had a mic and vent) but I was able to pick up that they wanted what I had and thought me an easy mark.
I took off, poisoned and very wounded, stumbling into the woods when they started to chase me. They attacked me several times, but their short sword and kris did little damage. I managed to swing once and hit the leader of the two with a viking sword which dealt enough damage to give them pause and let me make it to a guardpost. They gave chase and the guards cut them down without hesitation, wherein I got to keep their spoils.
Adrenaline filled, certainly could have gone the other way, but very immersive.
As a writer I can appreciate the theme park MMO; I get wanting players to be involved in the story. On the other hand, freedom to go and explore and do what I want has always driven me in games - finding waist-high walls can be an immersion-killer - so I think that making a hybrid, a thematic sandbox as it were, is ideal.
The problem comes along when trying to identify the "everything" that people can do. Technical limitations aside, "everything" is extraordinarily vague. How microscopically do you want players to be able to affect the environment? Do you have them capable of leveling forests or chipping down mountains?
Will players reject a one-faction leadership style? Is multi-faction (WoW/EQII) played out? Do you have player-based factions (EVE)? How does one handle a morality system? Do you even want a morality system? What happens when your players decide to be jackasses? Do you want them capable of trashing towns and completely blocking other players from going about their own way? Do you tout "free-will" as a pro or a con? It was this line of questioning that prompted my "PVP in MMOs?" question.
But I think a hybrid could work. Give the players a story, but make the story rely on them working as a whole - not as heroes necessarily - but as a community of people working towards a goal. At least, that's the basis for what I'm working on. Time will tell if it's even worth pursuing.
Last edited by Mekanikos; 2012-12-30 at 06:31 PM.