General Discussion

'Sandbox' seems the be the buzzword of the moment, but what exactly does it mean?

I'm sure it means different things to different people, but newcomers to the genre and those who don't have the time to keep up with current conventions might be confused by the concept. To combat this, I thought it might be a good idea if everyone posts the 5 main points that they personally feel constitutes sandbox gameplay.

Get listing!

1) Freedom

2) skill based. And there should be ALOT of skill

3) Versatile. Can be a tradesman and a fighter and do either one on the side.

4) Open world which can be terraformed and changed by players

5) No skill caps and deep tradeskill and combat system

I'm going to have to agree with this guy that all MMORPGs are sand boxes to at least some extent.

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Multiable forms of advancement and having advancement not having to be the primary/only goal.

I'd consider the ability for people/groups to declare a plot of land theirs a requirement as well though it really isn't.

See: tradeskill, combat, PvP, raid, guild conflict, NPC faction conflict, and more.   None of which are a requirement, if you want to live in a town doing nothing but sitting in a smithy and using politics mechanics to control an NPC faction you can.   if you want to raid go right ahead.

Originally posted by zymurgeist

I'm going to have to agree with this guy that all MMORPGs are sand boxes to at least some extent.

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great article, i strongly agree with the author

it seems as soon as you bring in a single quest or task for the user to follow the game is excluded from the sandbox category

if you are a sandbox fanatic i would also strongly demand to take the sandbox mox literally demanding that player actions are shaping the sand.

1 month/ 1 year after the release the sandbox world should have been molded and changed heavily due to player actions not just by changing the name of a few castles but by actually making a certain race of mobs extingt/ burning down a town/ building houses in the desert.....

I guess, skill based and little to no content as this should be made up by the players, definatly a niche type of game, as most people like story archs, quests and long sagas, there is not much of that in a sandbox

1. Freedom of choice and actions. Not limited to a set line like in WoW, LotRo and majority of others.

2. Fully open world. No portals between areas. Dungeons and Instances are limited in numbers.

3. Skill based not class based. Levels either don't exist or don't mean your better the higher the number is. Skills are upgraded through use of particular items (pistols = pistol skills, swords = sword skills etc) NOT BOUGHT..

4. Decay through use is a must as in my eyes "sandbox" includes a true economy run by players, crafters are always needed and wanted, crafting is complex with stat based resourses and experimentaion (with success/fail chances) to make no 2 items exactly the same. Looted items if any are basic or junk that can be broke down and converted to resourses or just sold to a junk dealer or for pitiful amounts for the new players.

5. PvP is open world style BUT.. it is optional, a simple /pvp command or something to allow people to be flagged as wanting to PvP with timers to stop abuse of the system (30seconds to go from non PvP to being able to PvP and 5 minutes to go from PvP to non PvP) *system used in SWG*

As stated in number 5 i've pretty much described Pre-NGE SWG, this is because in my eyes that was the best style of sandbox.

Some people will disagree with me on option 4 but in my eyes those that do disagree don't want true sandbox, they want a combat only orientated game. There are many homeless crafters out there since certain changes a few years ago, it's time companies catered for everyone instead of just the combat players. (combat only players = 50% - 70% of MMORPG gamers in my estimates, companies want more money so catering for the crafters as well will increase sales and subscription income)

Everyone will define Sandbox a little different, here goes mine:

- in a Sandbox MMO you can make a full living, which includes Housing, Player Cities which have functions (like in SWG) and not only cosmetic (like in LOTRO), various mount types, influence of the players to make in impact on the landscape

- you have many ways to shape and express your invidiuality: take the VAST amount of clothing you could by in SWG, high level of character customization, great diversity in armor and weapons

- should be skill based, or at least a really interesting amount of skill customizations, tho I must admit skill based does not rank so high on my list

- the game world must be physically vast and kinda realistic, not every inch crammed with quests and mobs, but free (pointless) space, again like the SWG planets. A world were you can just roam far and wide.

- a Sandbox game must not be too much zoned, but as open as possible, and you must be able to go to every place which you can see, no unreachable backgrounds.

- the world design must not be a questdriven Theme Park, like Disney World. Today most people want and need quests, so even a Sandbox game of the future must have the same amount of good quests, thats no contradiction. Its a question how they are placed and that you are offered not hook-nosed through Realm 1 from point to point entirely linear. It may be linear in the first 10 levels to learn and offer places, but there must be many types of things to do; Vanguard is a good example how to incorporate quests and not entirely make a world like a Theme Park.

- social hubs: its vital to create interesting, useful social hubs; a thing were alas many MMOs fail, strangely. SWG was good in this, people always met in Mos Eisley and Theed, also WOW does this ok even tho its not Sandbox game. The existence of useful things in those hubs (Auction House) and the central placement of the city is important.

- social things to do: one of the things SWG made the best Sandbox game ever was the existence of Entertainers (and to a degree Image Designers). Non-combat classes can help to make it more like a world and less like a Theme Park; if I recall the many player made events, auctions, parties, gigs, marriages - in all those things Entertainer groups made those events alive in a way no other MMO has been able to.

Those are things I can think of.