What are some of everyones favorite sandbox mmorpgs from the past and present.  The only one I ever played was SWG.  I know darkfall is one as well as Fallen Earth, mortal online?  What are some other good ones past and present?

UO (I think it qualifies) and Fallen Earth.

Shadowbane

Originally posted by TheCrow2k

UO (I think it qualifies) and Fallen Earth.

Thinking back I remember always waking past UO and there signature box at walmart all the time.  Never did buy it though.

Ryzom: My shameless review/recommendation http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/325183/Need-a-Sandbox-Game-to-Pass-the-Time-Check-out-Ryzom-WinMacLinux.html

Mabinogi

Darkfall had potential but they just made it too hardcore and frankly, not fun

Eve.

Darkfall would be nice if it real content.

Eve.

But as always, the best sandboxes are solo RPGs, notably the Bethesda Elderly Scrolls series.

Asherons Call is my favorite followed by Fallen Earth.

Never was a fan of FFA full looting PvP hence the reason why Ive never tried Eve, DF or MO.  PvE Fantasy Sandbox is the ultimate goal for an MMO for me.

EvE, Fallen Earth and Shadow Bane. I really miss Shadow Bane but not the click to move crap.

Mortal Online, EvE, and UO are my favorites.

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

Sandbox works if the community work together to make it worth playing.  Sadly the community, the online community, is not always as consistent in orientation as it would better be, for the sake of a "gaming world".

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

They'll probably never be one that big. Really good sandbox MMOs are far too complex for the masses.

I think the most successful upcoming sanbox MMO will be the Undead Labs zombie MMO. I wouldn't be shocked if it broke EVE's number of individual players (not total number of accounts).

Originally posted by SlothnChunk

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

They'll probably never be one that big. Really good sandbox MMOs are far too complex for the masses.

I think the most successful upcoming sanbox MMO will be the Undead Labs zombie MMO. I wouldn't be shocked if it broke EVE's number of individual players (not total number of accounts).

Games are good if they are easy to pick up but possess depths and multiple dimensions.

Games that are complicated due to stupidity in design or operation excluded.

I do not think that depth limits participation.  Not every player need to explore every aspect of a game and go as deep as the gurus.  Not everyone need to explore every inch of the map either.  A game can attract and retain players, if it is easier to pick up, intuitive UI, variety and fun.  Sandbox is possible, the Elderly Scrolls are no more complicated than Bioware stories.

Originally posted by SlothnChunk

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

They'll probably never be one that big. Really good sandbox MMOs are far too complex for the masses.

I think the most successful upcoming sanbox MMO will be the Undead Labs zombie MMO. I wouldn't be shocked if it broke EVE's number of individual players (not total number of accounts).

Thats friggin A sweet.  I only watch horror. 

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

There has only ever been one MMO that was as successful as WoW, and that is WoW. No other MMO has ever achieved half as many subs as WOW, and it's quite likely that no other MMO ever will. 11 million subs is not a reasonable standard to set for being successful.

UO has lasted over a decade and thousands of people still play it. That's "successful", IMO. EVE has 350k+ subscriptions after over 8 years (it actually predates WOW). That's "successful" by any reasonable measure. It's just not a super mega blockbuster success like WoW was.

Unfortunately the very idea of "sandbox" runs directly counter to the prevailing corporate culture these days, that culture being to lock down, restrict and direct the consumer experience of The Brand(tm). (Apple are the most extreme example of this).

Trying to explain the concept of selling a product based on not just allowing customers the freedom to construct their experience but requiring them to do so wouldn't just be an anathema to these people, it would be straight up incomprehensible to most of them. It's the exact opposite of what they do. You might as well go to an evangelist church and ask them to support a teaching project that taught people to question authority and dogma, or ask PETA to help set up a program to teach hunting skills.

Originally posted by Malcanis

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

There has only ever been one MMO that was as successful as WoW, and that is WoW. No other MMO has ever achieved half as many subs as WOW, and it's quite likely that no other MMO ever will. 11 million subs is not a reasonable standard to set for being successful.

UO has lasted over a decade and thousands of people still play it. That's "successful", IMO. EVE has 350k+ subscriptions after over 8 years (it actually predates WOW). That's "successful" by any reasonable measure. It's just not a super mega blockbuster success like WoW was.

Unfortunately the very idea of "sandbox" runs directly counter to the prevailing corporate culture these days, that culture being to lock down, restrict and direct the consumer experience of The Brand(tm). (Apple are the most extreme example of this).

Trying to explain the concept of selling a product based on not just allowing customers the freedom to construct their experience but requiring them to do so wouldn't just be an anathema to these people, it would be straight up incomprehensible to most of them. It's the exact opposite of what they do. You might as well go to an evangelist church and ask them to support a teaching project that taught people to question authority and dogma, or ask PETA to help set up a program to teach hunting skills.

 

WoW had 11 million subs spread across hundreds of servers. How many players were playing in your same server? 5.000? Calling out the million mark is just a marketing move without any real repercussion for the costumer other than the guarantee of longevity.

About EVE, every single player is playing in the same server. At the user level, EVE's world is bigger than WoW individual servers, and their 300k mark has a real impact at the user level. 

I for one am not playing any MMO right now. My last sandbox was EVE but I'm taking a break right now. I enjoyed UO and I'm not looking forward any MMO. Still curious about Darkfall 2.0 (Darkfall, as said above, was too hardcore for me) and Archeage.

Originally posted by Malcanis

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

There has only ever been one MMO that was as successful as WoW, and that is WoW. No other MMO has ever achieved half as many subs as WOW, and it's quite likely that no other MMO ever will. 11 million subs is not a reasonable standard to set for being successful.

Um.. There are some casual/asian mmos with such playerbase. Just check Free Realms for example, last time I heard them reporting 12 million players and that was last year. I am sure they are not alone.

Originally posted by Toferio

Originally posted by Malcanis

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

There has only ever been one MMO that was as successful as WoW, and that is WoW. No other MMO has ever achieved half as many subs as WOW, and it's quite likely that no other MMO ever will. 11 million subs is not a reasonable standard to set for being successful.

Um.. There are some casual/asian mmos with such playerbase. Just check Free Realms for example, last time I heard them reporting 12 million players and that was last year. I am sure they are not alone.

I suspect he was talking about full mmorpg's , not browser games , non rpg mmos (like LoL) , also he meant P2P games propably not f2p.

Closest to WoW is Aion (over 3,5 mln subs)

On topic:

Ultima Online my favourite

SWG sound preety neat though I havent played it

Present: waiting on ArcheAge but that will be more like themepark with some sandbox features, still hope it will be good :)

Originally posted by Greenzor

Originally posted by Malcanis

Originally posted by eycel

Whens everyone think we will see a sucessfull sandbox mmo?  Like something along the lines of WOW sucess, will it ever happen!  I love sandbox mmos!

There has only ever been one MMO that was as successful as WoW, and that is WoW. No other MMO has ever achieved half as many subs as WOW, and it's quite likely that no other MMO ever will. 11 million subs is not a reasonable standard to set for being successful.

UO has lasted over a decade and thousands of people still play it. That's "successful", IMO. EVE has 350k+ subscriptions after over 8 years (it actually predates WOW). That's "successful" by any reasonable measure. It's just not a super mega blockbuster success like WoW was.

Unfortunately the very idea of "sandbox" runs directly counter to the prevailing corporate culture these days, that culture being to lock down, restrict and direct the consumer experience of The Brand(tm). (Apple are the most extreme example of this).

Trying to explain the concept of selling a product based on not just allowing customers the freedom to construct their experience but requiring them to do so wouldn't just be an anathema to these people, it would be straight up incomprehensible to most of them. It's the exact opposite of what they do. You might as well go to an evangelist church and ask them to support a teaching project that taught people to question authority and dogma, or ask PETA to help set up a program to teach hunting skills.

 

WoW had 11 million subs spread across hundreds of servers. How many players were playing in your same server? 5.000? Calling out the million mark is just a marketing move without any real repercussion for the costumer other than the guarantee of longevity.

About EVE, every single player is playing in the same server. At the user level, EVE's world is bigger than WoW individual servers, and their 300k mark has a real impact at the user level. 

I for one am not playing any MMO right now. My last sandbox was EVE but I'm taking a break right now. I enjoyed UO and I'm not looking forward any MMO. Still curious about Darkfall 2.0 (Darkfall, as said above, was too hardcore for me) and Archeage.

Maybe you should read past the first paragraph of my post?

PS I've been playing EVE for just short of 5 years.