General Discussion

Games like Age Of Conan are a step back in my opinion. Who the hell wants to got back to instances, and zones after playing seemless games like Star Wars Galaxies, and to a lesser extent even WOW. Also too many games are classed as MMOs these days.

So in summary, a 5 year old sandbox game like SWG is much more next-gen than a linear roleplaying game like AOC. So devs cut the "next gen" statement crap, unless your game is at least zoneless, and partly a sandbox.

Oh noes...

Imbecille!!!

You and everyone else know that NEXT GEN = GFX!!!

If it aint top notch GFX, it's not next gen!!

Gameplay upgrades or world upgrades or rethinking how MMO's work will nevar be NEXT GEN!

Now get on the level/quest mill and run like every other hampster!

"Sandbox" is more like "Retro Gaming" actually...

Or whatever it is you crazies THINK sandbox means in your little heads that we used to have but don't anymore...

I think that a Sandbox is a meter and a half by meter and a half square filled with sand, and lined with wood that may or may not be painted a dark shade of red.  Inside of this Sandbox, beside the sand, there would be a few small Tonka trucks and/or Hot Wheels, and also a rubber ducky that was lobbed through a near-by bathroom window.  The sandbox would be fully interactive, with the sand deformable, the trucks movable unless they get clogged with sand, and the ducky... well, the ducky would just kinda sit there.

Personally, I feel we won't have a truly 'NEXT GEN' mmorpg until BioWare decides to show off whatever they're cooking up.  I think there are already a lot of misconceptions about their game and people think they're making a WoW clone which is pretty ridiculous given the company's track record for innovation.

But I guess I could be wrong... time will tell.

EARTHRISE, Fallen Earth, TCoS and MORTAL ONLINE look pretty interesting and possibly will evlovle the genre further.

Uh calling Sandbox games "Next Gen" is kind of backwards you know..I mean they've been around since Ultima Online..there's nothing new about them...there's just been very few to succeed or last long term (the latter only applies to swg..it'd of lasted and fairly succeed if not for incompetent interference).

Originally posted by DeaconX

EARTHRISE, Fallen Earth, TCoS and MORTAL ONLINE look pretty interesting and possibly will evlovle the genre further.

"Sandbox" games suck... true story.

"Sandbox" is often just shorthand for "lack of content".

But hey all you diehard sandbox fans, why aren't you playing Second Life?

Secondlifes own user metrics... for the past 6 months (and much much longer) 30% of clients leaving the world have been due to something crashing.  Even someone who is capable of tweaking their system to the fullest to work around every issue/bug/whatever will still end up having a couple crash to desktops a month though it's typically a shorter period than that.

As for a sandbox MMO I refuse to wait for a AAA sandbox.  We aren't going to get one in any reasonable amount of time.  If you want to play a AA/ex-AA MMO that's a sandbox enjoy EvE other than that you're better off just enjoying the new and interesting stuff that's comming in the next year or so. 

Originally posted by paulscott

Secondlifes own user metrics... for the past 6 months (and much much longer) 30% of clients leaving the world have been due to something crashing.  Even someone who is capable of tweaking their system to the fullest to work around every issue/bug/whatever will still end up having a couple crash to desktops a month though it's typically a shorter period than that.

As for a sandbox MMO I refuse to wait for a AAA sandbox.  We aren't going to get one in any reasonable amount of time.  If you want to play a AA/ex-AA MMO that's a sandbox enjoy EvE other than that you're better off just enjoying the new and interesting stuff that's comming in the next year or so. 

Yea, EVE is the one good example we have right now.  Unfortunately though, the setting keeps a lot of us from playing it.  But, once you get an EVE-like MMO in a more traditional "ground based" setting...