Well looking at the list of the most hyped MMOs in development the top 6 are Sandboxes.

Popular IPs like TES and Neverwinter can't even match the popularity of Earthrise(what?) and Darkfall, which are old games repackaged.

And the Top spot is taken by a Korean MMO which is not even released in its original country and which might take another 2 years to get to the NA/EU/OZ, how crazy is that?

Is it that the members of this site are actually Sandboxers at heart or maybe people are truly bored of Themeparks (TESO/Neverwinter to name few)?

Personally I would pay $15 a month to play the Korean Beta of Archeage.........and I am deadly serious

Not one of those games mentioned are even on my list of stuff tha I am even interested in at all. So no I am still playing my eq2. None of those new games are not interesting to me, and earthrise the 2nd go around has even less appeal than the first time.

Paying for a korean mmo no thanks.

Originally posted by NorseGod
Maybe both? I think there is a shift coming....

That was my thought, confirmed by SoE move to make a Sandbox MMO.

If even SoE start to mention the word "Sandbox", maybe something is really changing.

I really hope that Zenimax do not go ahead with World of Tamriel and makes at least an hybrid, I would die inside if TESO will end up being another SWTOR with elves

"Sandbox" is the new "dyanamic event".  That word and it's horrible bastard cousin "sandbox-like feel" are the fotm.

Anyway I'm a gamer, an opportunist, and won't commit to one genre religion or another.  I'll play whatever I think is fun (and even some I don't).

The mainstream in entertainment is pretty broad, even if we are told otherwise on a daily basis, look at reality shows.

I dont think people choose much based solely on the decription "themepark" or "sandbox", the game simply features things they like to do, or not. The game may even feature things they WANT to do, but dont like to do, which i think is one of the faults of the "new wow" mmo design.

We just had several years where a part of the gamers (and we might argue till tomorrow about the numbers) had no real outlet apart of old and indie mmorpgs, and i hope the managers started noticing and it is not a fad, "wow, now with a sandbox!".

Flame on!

:)

Originally posted by erictlewis

Paying for a korean mmo no thanks.

That would have been my answer 1 year ago.

You know what is funny, that I hated Korean MMOs before Archeage, and I used them as an example on how not to make a MMO.

In 10 years "career" the only Korean (or Asian) MMO I spent money on so far is Tera, generally I unistall them within few hours.

So the fact that today the game I am most excited about is Archeage, surprise more myself than anything.

I am truly fed up of doing what developers want me to do in their game, I really need some freedom

I believe that EQ3 will change the MMO industry, if Smedley is not talking BS as his usual (promising a Sandbox and delivering Hello Kitty Online).

The future is bright, the future is Sandbox.

Originally posted by ste2000

Originally posted by erictlewis

Paying for a korean mmo no thanks.

That would have been my answer 1 year ago.

You know what is funny, that I hated Korean MMOs before Archeage, and I used them as an example on how not to make a MMO.

In 10 years "career" the only Korean (or Asian) MMO I spent money on so far is Tera, generally I unistall them within few hours.

So the fact that today the game I am most excited about is Archeage, surprise more myself than anything.

I am truly fed up of doing what developers want me to do in their game, I really need some freedom

I believe that EQ3 will change the MMO industry, if Smedley is not talking BS as his usual (promising a Sandbox and delivering Hello Kitty Online).

The future is bright, the future is Sandbox.

Ok guys, the general consensus in the replies I read so far is that people would play anything that is good, it doesn't matter if it is Sandbox or a Themepark

Fair enough, that's my thought too.

At the moment I am playing EVE and EQ2, waiting for Darkfall (and played WoW for 3 years).

My point was though, today, it seems there is an overwhelming popularity of Sandboxes over Themeparks, and that taking into account there are 2 big IPs in development like TESO and Neverwinter, yet they do not seem to attract the same enthusiasm of SWTOR or GW2.

GW2 was stable number 1 for almost 2 years, and SWTOR between number 2-3

Even TSW was top 5 for a year.

Yet today people are actually hyping down titles like TESO

Something must have really changed

The Pendulum shifts one way too far then it shifts the other way.

Themeparks have gotten stale, Tab targeting, Quest that guide you by the hand, fast leveling so you end up playing two years of endgame. (Don't get me wrong, I love a well made theme park)

Now the Pendulum is shifting and will go way too far the other way. 8 years from now people will be complaining about how Sandboxes are stale and boing and themeparks are the way to go.

most of us...okay, me and probably some here...feel that we've simply seen all that themepark has to offer.

only thing new that they bring is the way they set their rides. once we rode a dozen rollercoasters, if the loop turns left insead of right doesnt get us excited anymore.

themparks...we kinda played them all. even some of those not released yet. (ow-clone reference).

sandboxes...are a little bit about living rather than strictly playing. And people don't get tired of living very easily, do they ?

Originally posted by madazz

Originally posted by ste2000
 

 

Oh you've played archage? If not it sounds like you've been swayed by the hype bug big time.

That is actually the point of my thread, it looks like people are willing to follow the hype bandwagon as long as the game has the Sandbox badge on the box, even if they never played the game.

Which means that people are actually fedup with Themeparks and they are desperate for anything that has some kind of freedom in it.

Personally though, I do not follow hype trends............I just read a lot and I make up my mind.

I am one of the first 10 people who hyped Archeage in this site, so I wasn't following any hype..........I just read the game features and I fallen in love.

Same for any other MMO I played (or I was interested in)

I read SWTOR features when it was still on the drawing board and I predicted that it would bomb because of the Storyline which IMO is not suited for MMO games.......and it did bomb

I did the same with TSW and I wasn't wrong either

I said GW2 was going to be a reasonable success, and it was.

I do not need to follow the Hype bandwagon, generally I am pretty good at spotting a good game from a mediocre one by reading the feature lists and the developers interview

As an example, Matt Firor is a Goldmine of bullshit.  You do not need to play TESO to predict it is NOT going to retain the 2 Million players who will buy the game on release).

I can tell you that, as it is now, TESO will bomb......and no I didn't play the Alpha (I have a very long list of reason why this game won't work)

Not trying to say that I can read into the future but that not everyone follows the hype bandwagon.