If you haven't figured it out.  Freedom of speech is a farce.  Everything you do is governed by a social more and norm.

Also the first amendment only gives us freedom of censorship by the government, not private companies.

A private company reserves the right to deny their service to whomever they wish.  This is not against any law.  They do what they want, because you PAY for the service.  All this garbage about suing someone over a bloody game is just stupid.  Many people should get off their soap-boxes and realize it's about a game.  Sure it's a game many people put a great deal of time into, but it's a game.  If you don't like the supposed rumors about a companies practices, don't play the bloody product.

CCP is defending their IP.  The code belongs to them and they don't want people mucking around with it, even though it doesn't affect gameplay.

In short:  get off your bloody soapboxes and play (or don't play), there are no legal grounds to sue someone from banning you from using their website.  There are no freedoms from private companies.  This is the same garbage we've been hearing about SWG for way too long.  Give up and go away.  I'm sick of hearing people whine about garbage because they have nothing else to whine and cry about.

It does have a great deal to do with the the negative social stigma of addiction.  When it comes down to it, a great deal of activities many people do are addictive in one form or another.  I watch a great deal of television (I get annoyed when I miss a show, that's why I have a tivo), and I know I'm addicted.  As another poster said, I am also addicted to reading.  I read an great deal, i don't always have the time to get into a good book during the day, but i make an effort to read every night before bed.

People don't like admitting addiction because it is generally a bad thing.  If games do get in the way of life, eating, drinking, taking care of your kids, or just plain socializing, then it becomes an issue.  I know people who play WoW 4 hours a night during the week and 8 hours on each weekday.  I couldn't do that, but he can and it doesn't affect his life.  Good for him.

Is he addicted, yes.  Is it really a major problem, no.  When it is, I might think about having an intervention.

After all, we all tend to be addicted to at least one thing.  Poker players love poker.  Readers to love to read.  Musicians are addicted to playing.  It's just a matter of finding something which we love, are addicted to, but isn't destructive to our lives.  Many of us think because it doesn't harm us, we aren't addicted.

I rather enjoy how you don't understand how a mod for software works.  When it comes down to it, a mod doesn't interact with a OS at all.  it interacts with a program that is run by an OS.  These are completely different things.  If you haven't heard, Microsoft has a developers library (xna) that allows casual programmers (and profession) to build ground-up applications based off the xna framework (which is loosely based off .net and runs off the c# language).  When you do build a program ground up, it interacts with the OS, and in that case you do need to have a language which the OS can interpret.  Otherwise it's just a matter of making a mod which a program can read, copying it to the device's hard drive, and running it.  This is how games like Oblivion (which I do enjoy that you seemingly forgot existed) can come out with mods.  While it is more difficult to program mods for a console, it still is possible (just very difficult) because programmers never release a construction kit for the console.  Mainly because they want you to buy the bloody expansion packs.  Remember gaming is a business, people are out to make money.

I do like how you pigeon-hole the entire console community as brainless idiots who want simple games.  Again you forget about games like Oblivion (which is as MMO as you can get without being Daggerfall or Arena, which was much bigger).  Oblivion was a huge seller.  There are many console gamers who want a more open-ended experience.  I also love how you cite FF as a great example of a console MMO, most people agree that they don't care for it on the PC.

By the way, where did you get your information that 70% of MMO gamers were "hardcore"?  I would like to read that study.

I don't really think so, besides that could cause many complication.  While that works, I believe for games like Guild War, WoW doesn't really need this.  This can cause problems for ranged attackers.  Plus, it takes some of the "skill" it takes to play wow (I'm not a big fan of Wow, but have been outmanuvered by some well played opponents).

As an actual English teacher, I really think you should all give him a break.  It's very difficult to learn the written aspect of a new language (a language is still new for about five years after one learns it).  Think about how long it took you to learn written grammar after you started speaking English (we learn to speak at a young age, and not really to write until most of us are four or five... or older).  Besides, with the grammar atrocities I've seen on these forums, I don't really think anyone has any right to criticize.  If you understand what he is trying to say, just answer the bloody question.

I did enjoy the union comment, which is true....  We like to group.

LFG - get off this bloody island.

<rant>

Like many people, Sandbox gives the player an opportunity to choose exactly what they want to do.   Which I was stuck on dialup back when pre-CU and NGE came out for SWG, I have played a few other games I would consider as being a Sandbox (I don't really think sandbox has anything to do with a RP game either, I think you can choose your path without being forced to act 'in character').

Eve, to me, is a pretty solid sandbox game.  It allows a player to choose their role in society and the economy (or outside of it if they want to become pirates).  A player is dropped into a poorly constructed tutorial (which has gotten better over the years), and then after left with a contact and hopefully enough money to buy a new ship (I think I ended my tutorial with an upgraded ship).  There are no classes, just skill.  If I want to pilot a honkin' big ship, I need to train to skill to pilot that.  "Classes" are really only determined by whatever ship you choose to fly.  Something else which makes it a great sandbox game, which is something a lot of people hate, is the completely open PVP model.  There are always risks to PKilling in high-sec systems, but if you go to 0.0, then you better expect a fight.  The game, while sometimes forces the worst out of people (because of the lack of an accountability system for breaking the "rules" of accepted behavior) and causes a lot of people to gank and grief.  This is really a part of the real world though.  There are always going to be people to break the "law".  One of the brilliant things about Eve is that it gives its players a chance to be pirates, or anti-pirates.  There are groups and corps who dedicated themselves to killing the griefers.  The sandbox nature, though, gives players the ability to pick a side, or not.  If you like controlling territory, there's a corp for you.  If you like crafting, there's a place for you.  If you like killing, there's a place for you.

It's unfortunate that many people can't look beyond having only a ship as an avatar, or the slow paced travel and game.  Eve really creates its own universe and allows its players to choose their place in said universe.  Your role in the galaxy is up to you, not some silly plot-line written by a dev, or a stringent class strength.  There are some flaws in the game, but the open model truly defines to me what a sandbox game is.  Sandbox means you can do whatever you want given the right materials, time, and drive.

Another game which has the same idea, but seems to fall under the realm of being slightly more traditional would have to be PotBS.  It has some of the same elements of EVE, but the game has a set goal (which makes the end result completely different).  It's great, though, to have a set of players who can choose how they want to achieve the goal of winning control of the map.  There major drawback is the lone-wolves.  PotBS is really a game that requires some national order and organization to finish and "win".  This can be off-putting to many people, but I really think many of the nations that have banded together are winning their servers (numbers aside).  In all honesty, the purpose of PotBS isn't the PVE gameplay, it's the PVP.  A great number of people miss that!  Which this aspect limits it's sandbox nature, it's still underlying.  After you level to 50, you really can take on any aspect in the war that you want.  The goal will always be to win control of the map (it's almost a Massively Multiplayer Online War Role-Playing Game), but if you don't want to fight, you can trade.  It sacrifices some of the sandbox nature of eve for a strict end-game goal. 

The most important thing about Sandbox games, in all honesty, is that they will never be the majority.  It'll always be a niche market.  I think too many people want to take the easy route and take the path that has been designed for them by a dev.  While that's not a bad way to play, I think it takes a lot of the nature of an MMORPG.  Too often what people do has little to no effect on the greater scheme and picture of the game.  This causes the wonderful treadmill of gear grinding.  While that's not my style, it works for some people, and good for them.  Personally, I'll play something that allows me to create my own story and choose my own place in the battle for survival.  I like to choose what I do in the world, not fall into a particular role and be stuck there.  I also want to know that I can make a difference, somehow.

</rant>

Yeah, so that turned into a much longer post than I was expecting.