Please explain why, I need to hear the reasons, because I call shenanigans. Hey with all the energy that is spent flaming themepark forums, why are sandboxers or those who like sandbox features not playing Ryzom or Vanguard? Both are very good games that have alot to offer, and there are free trials for both of them.

So, what is your reason for not playing these games? Or is it because of the PVE focus of these games that keeps you away from that (what does sandbox have to do with pvp I will never know)

*Waits and listens...........

Eve is a good sandbox game too but I think its too niche for alot of people, lets have some other sandbox games that are out now that people should be playing but don't, please list them in question form.

Soooo, you saay you like sandboxes, soo why are no not playing Perpetuuum or Eve for that matter?, etc....

Do a search for this very same topic....Asked and answered...

I played the Vanguard free trial. To be honest, the game engine feels cluncky and unpolished. I think that's the major reason, at least for me, to not play sandbox games. Most of them are very unpolished, buggy, and the combat is not as smooth or fluid as triple A themeparks. Another high deterant for me was to know that I would be mostly playing alone in Vanguard. 

Personally I burned my fingers on Vanguard at launch. It certainly had some very good points. But content was just rushing past and was horribly broken in many cases.. and doing anything would make you outlevel the content before experiencing it.

Aaaand it didnt feel very sandboxy at all.

Never tried Ryzom though.. I dont really know why.. Might give it a shot though.

Why aren't all themepark fans still playing EQ, or EQ 2, WoW, LoTRO, Vanguard (this is not a sandbox btw), Aion, Rift, <insert themepark here>? Just because a game is a sandbox doesn't mean that it's for every sandbox fan. Silly question if you ask me.

Or Fallen Earth .. games dont get alot more sandbox than it. And its actually a really good game. Not as much now thats its F2P though you can still subscribe to get the full experience and I actually recommend it.

Originally posted by Maquiame

Please explain why, I need to hear the reasons, because I call shenanigans. Hey with all the energy that is spent flaming themepark forums, why are sandboxers or those who like sandbox features not playing Ryzom or Vanguard? Both are very good games that have alot to offer, and there are free trials for both of them.

So, what is your reason for not playing these games? Or is it because of the PVE focus of these games that keeps you away from that (what does sandbox have to do with pvp I will never know)

*Waits and listens...........

Eve is a good sandbox game too but I think its too niche for alot of people, lets have some other sandbox games that are out now that people should be playing but don't, please list them in question form.

Soooo, you saay you like sandboxes, soo why are no not playing Perpetuuum or Eve for that matter?, etc....

Because not everyone wants to be confined to a ship or some other mechanical contraption.

Core gameplay isn't enough, you have to like the setting.

This is just my opinion and I've had it for a while.

I can agree, i'd love the creation of the mystical dream sandbox that every sandbox player yearns for but I'm also not anti-themepark so when a sandbox player is anti-themepark but refuses to play any of the sanboxes out there for a long period of time... That in a way makes them anti-sandbox and because they're already anti-themepark they have become anti MMO and just can't see it.

Originally posted by Maquiame

Soooo, you saay you like sandboxes, soo why are no not playing Perpetuuum or Eve for that matter?, etc....

I do like sandboxes, and I am playing EVE.

What was your point again?

I played Vanguard, but.

1. It's "supported" by SoE, all games that SoE buys die.

2. It has no support.

3. There are almost no people playing because of (2), no one is around to do arena gear at lower levels etc.

4. It's too expensive, it just is. You get no support but are paying as much as WOW, too much.

So I quit.

If I want to play something like Vanguard, I can simply play Rift, it also has an abundance of quests and an open world, but it's actually supported.

Originally posted by Unreal024

Why aren't all themepark fans still playing EQ, or EQ 2, WoW, LoTRO, Vanguard (this is not a sandbox btw), Aion, Rift, ? Just because a game is a sandbox doesn't mean that it's for every sandbox fan. Silly question if you ask me.

Actuall majority of players are enjoying themepark. But how often do you see themepark players starting topics or making posts just to trash sandbox games? now compare that to angry sand box players who spend most of their time trashing themepark MMOS.

I play both by the way and i have no reason to be anrgy at either genre. The day people understand that both are seperate genre and people enjoy different things in life..you won't see topics like this.

I play both games. on a per month bsases.

I guess when I think of a "virtual world" I don't imagine an adventure that ends due to some sort of cap on my character's power (level).

I imagine freedom, choice, and meaningful interactions between people.

Tried Vanguard - didn't like and I failed to see anything sandboxish about it. I think I tried Ryzom a looong time ago, but didn't see anyone playing. Maybe I didn't play it long enough.

You know.. it seems to be common line with sandbox games that developers mess up a good thing. UO is a sandbox and still going. The game was revamped a bit when they added a new continent for the people who didnt like pvp. This pissed off a good portion of the player base because it completely removed the risk vs reward aspect which made the game so damn interesting and fun. Made it carebear more or less. SWG - well.. most people already know what happened there. They changed the skill system to a class system among other things. Made the game crap which is why 90% of the player base decided to have a mass exodus. EvE is a good game.. hell it's a great game. I had a fun time, but it is very niche, and very hardcore. There are other games out there with sandbox elements. But for the most part they have something really jacked up in the gameplay which makes them not worth playing.

• Why are people calling Vangard a sandbox?
• Is Ryzom still alive?  As alive as Vangard, even?

It is not sufficient to produce a theme park without quests and call it a sandbox. Oh, and adding 200 skills to grind won't make up for it either. You need 'systems' that keep players occupied. Politics, land conquest, building etc. I hope one day someone will produce a proper (and properly funded and managed) sandbox. DF, Mortal, Earthrise. Hardly great ambassadors for the sandbox.

@whoever mentioned Fallen Earth, that was a wierd one, I really liked it but still stopped playing, I am not completely sure why.

Is skillsystem, i.e classless system an ingredient of sanbox genre? That is one that I almost allways miss in most games.

Because they are not good sandbox games. Just because I like sandbox MMORPGs, or sci-fi movies, does not mean I will like every title released in that cathegory.

Asherons Call 1 was an excellent sandbox MMORPG and there simply have not been anything like it released since.

SWG was ok but suffered from massive amounts of bugs and boring combat and PvP.

Vanguard I dont consider a sandbox, the game was huge but was still more themepark in the sense that there were heavy level and class restrictions on where you could go.

Ryzom I tried and it was just weird and boring. Didn't get into their skill system and wierd creatures and the fact that it had gone bankrupt didn't help either.

Shadowbane was a nice PvP sandbox but eventually failed due to lack of dev. support.

Darkfall/Mortal Online are just plain poor games, sandbox or not. And the fact is that there hasn't been a properly funded and developed sandbox MMORPG in years so it is not us sandbox fans to blame for not playing sandbox games, there are simply no good ones around which are not 10 years old.

Sandbox isn't about levels or skill systems really.  It's about what it sounds like!  The freedom for the person playing in the sand, to do what they want with it.  Sure some games have a shovel and others a bucket. 

A game like TOR though is more like walking along a beach and seeing a sandcastle someone else built, before continuing on to the next, larger sandcastle until you get to the biggest one and then repeatedly walk around it until the paid expansions offer more sandcastles.

Originally posted by piehole

Is skillsystem, i.e classless system an ingredient of sanbox genre? That is one that I almost allways miss in most games.

It is in the sense that it gives greater freedom for you to go and fight mobs where you like, or where you have put your skill points in, and not based on an artifical class or level number. However it is not the only ingredient for a sandbox MMORPG.