Can anyone help...... Looking for a sandbox game to play that has a decent population. Any recommendations?

Is there any up and coming sandbox games that will be out for 2012? TERA? ArchAge?

Closest healthy one is EVE, coming is hopefully ArcheAge...

Define "decent population". EVE has the largest out of the sandboxes I've tried. Other good games that had smaller populations would be Darkfall and Ryzom.

What kind of sandbox?

Sci-fi or fantasy? Traditional EQ combat or something else? Does combat really matter for you?

Very important questions.

I'm a big fan of EQ and FFXI, both sandboxish, and each has a decent population. 

Originally posted by Homergdog

I'm a big fan of EQ and FFXI, both sandboxish, and each has a decent population. 

Obvious troll.

Minecraft is a good.

Wakfu, it isn't the best sand box out there, and I'd argue it isn't much of one at all almost a hybrid. But it has a lot going for it, like a political system and ecosystem, as well as a different combat style. It's worth a look at the very least.

EVE, Glitch, and RuneScape are the only sandboxes that would satisfy one looking for a population IMO.

Not that the others are bad games, but they're pretty barren compared to the 3 above and the normal themepark game.

as of now i havent seen a sandbox mmo worthy of my time. I had hopes for Dawntide, but i think they closed it down to "re-make" the game or so i heard. And to the OP, u mentioned TERA, i may be wrong but i think tera is themepark.

best P2P:

Eve Online -> solid population, lots to do, 15$/month. my only beef with this game is that it takes weeks to train higher level skills and sometimes you'll be just wasting time doing nothing waiting for them to finish training.

Wurm Online -> most complex fantasy world, modifiable terrain, everything is player built, 7$/month (has free server too though, but with limitations). things take days/week to build, but the feeling of reward is amazing

best F2P:

Haven and Hearth -> Ultima Online graphics, but everything can be built. More of a hermit survivor game than an MMO though, but still lots of fun

Pirates of the Burning Sea -> it's a solid seafaring sandbox, good sea combat, so so land combat, lots of stuff to manufacture and trade

Uncharted Waters Online -> same as above, but slightly more trade focused and more slow in a sense

good on paper, but not so fun in reality:

Darkfall -> could have been amazing, but macroers and gankers, along with almost empty world make this more of a single player game with occasional ganking

Mortal Online -> also good on paper and beatiful, but tons of bugs and the game doesn't really have a clear direction

Xsyon -> this was supposed to be the sandbox of all sandboxes, but turned out to be a barely finished beta with almost nothing to do ingame

games to look forward to:

Archeage -> better be good or else!!! this may take 1 more year to develop though as it has only entered a closed beta in Korea very recently

nothing else...there really is nothing else out there that I would call sandbox

Not a fan of your viglink user tracking.

i agree with wurm.  its free till skills are 20.   that can be months of playing. some play free way longer too.

i still play 90% of my free time.  just over a yr.

building a home stead or village, boats. raise animals breed them,  cooking. smithing, carpantry ect. wiki it and see.

Sandboxer.org is a joke.

EVE put out a major expansion and that site pretty much ignored it, while every announcement from Mortal Online gets plugged. It gets negligable hits

It is most likely run by a fan of MO purely to promote the game, but thankfully it gets negligable hits.

Originally posted by lalartu

Pirates of the Burning Sea -> it's a solid seafaring sandbox, good sea combat, so so land combat, lots of stuff to manufacture and trade

Uncharted Waters Online -> same as above, but slightly more trade focused and more slow in a sense

PotBS is a theme park, not a sandbox.  You go to one port, get a bunch of quests, do the quests, go to the next, higher level port, and so forth.  It is rather different from the usual theme park games, but it's not sandbox at all.

PotBS and UWO really aren't very similar.  PotBS is mostly about combat, while UWO has combat as only a relatively minor portion of the game.  UWO is more about trading and exploration.  And trying to figure out what you're doing, because Koei makes things complicated for the sake of making them complicated.

I think so many dont know whart a sandbox is compared to a theme park game. Thats probably why all these crap so called MMO's are released thinking it will be good.

If i can go anywhere, explore anything, have huge amounts of player content, be swept away just in one area for hours exploring, killing, harvesting, and just having fun, then i consider that a sandbox and a fun game.

If im stuck on a ship, led down a narrow passage of high cliff walls, cant explore, on a timed mission, told where to go, given everything in front of me because there is no exploration, and feel confined and cramped, then its a theme park and i hate those games. SWTOR was the biggest let down this decade to me due to most of this.

I dont mind mixes of the two though, long as i have a huge world and lots of fun exploring and so much more. But to be led around like a dog on a leash over and over, and having only dailies and pvp battles to keep me entertained at end game.............ill pass.

That is why i loved SWG so much, even after the NGE and with some of its flaws. It was one of the most indepth and explorable games ever in my opinion. Now all these mmo's are just to limited to be considered mmorpgs in my eyes. I shouldnt need developement content to keep myself entertained or happy. Thats a bad combo having to wait for new content when you can just make your own.

I have been playing Eternal Lands on and off for the past few weeks and its not bad. Its completely free, but they sell cosmetic things that you can't buy in game to support the game. I think they sell a few other things, but if if effects gameplay, you can also get with in game currency as well. You also have to pay to have a 24/7 merchant bot. I play free and I haven't had any trouble selling/buying on the market channel.

I like it because you can be a pure crafter if you want to.  Or, go back and forth between combat, harvesting, crafting, etc. 

The only bad thing is that its point and click movement. I got over that after aw hile though. 

  Have you ever played Final Fantasy Tactics?  Wakfu is basically FF Tactics Online.  You only control one character though, but the combat is similar.  There is an ecosystem, where you can create life (plants or animals), or destroy them.  This includes introducing new species to new areas.  There is also an in-depth climate system, as well as a detailed political system.  The game stops holding your hand around level 8, then you're off on your own to figure stuff out.  And, it's produced by Square Enix (developed by Ankama).

Istaria is a nice PVE sandbox game. Best crafting system this side of UO. The Chaos server has a decent sized population. Lots of very helpful people there.

Yea...really banking on Archage PLEASE GOD BE AMAZING!!!