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What does the term "sandbox" mean?
Myxophobia
Member Posts: 201
I've seen it being used excessively, yet it seems to carry different meanings in different threads.
What exactly does it mean? Please enlighten me because I can't understand some of your posts due to my inability to understand this term.
Comments
A similar thread here: www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/224150/help-w-terminoligy.html
I'm just going to quote myself:
Sandbox just references a sandbox where you determine your gameplay in a non-linear fashion. You can still follow a central storyline but you are not in the hands of the creator of the game by means of quests.
Wandering over areas you already passed to experience new things is common in sandbox games. NPC's also are just entities and aren't there because a quest or story wanted them there, they are there because the area dictates to be inhabited by these mobs. Sandbox games build the story on top of the world while linear games usually make the world on the basis of quests or lore.
The opposite of Sandbox are what people call "Themepark" mmo. Very linear and very restricted but usually more accessible to new players.
UO, EVE, Darkfall are sandbox games. EQ and Vanguard are somewhere between Sandbox and Themepark in my opinion. WoW, LOTRO are themepark MMO.
There are two forms of Sandbox:
There is the traditional Sandbox, which is designed to give you as much freedom and variety as possible, while still providing a base for goals and storylines to be developed.
And there is the Darkfall sandbox, which is designed to hide the fact the developers are not talented enough to make much more than a few mobs and a barren world, so they leave it to the players to make "content".
While I agree with most of your statement I feel that gamers over the years have chosen to accept the term sandbox = non-linear & Themepark = linear for ease of conversation and to make it easier to write about them on forums.
There for Waterlilies comments are also true based on what the OP has asked.
Bandit.
Asbo
That's a sandbox!
In the lower left of that screenshot, there is clearly an object placed outside the game borders. HaX and SploITS abound!!
Those devs suck.
In the lower left of that screenshot, there is clearly an object placed outside the game borders. HaX and SploITS abound!!
Those devs suck.
No no no, that's GM island.
It means "worldly"....or most on this site seem to think it means whatever backs up their own point of view, or likes or dislikes better..whichever side your on. I assume (maybe incorrectly) that when people say they want a sandbox, they're saying they want a worldly type mmo. Where the world isnt decoration, seperate from the game and the players. Just my opinion.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
That pretty much sums it up. Sandbox gives players a "world", where themepark herds folks down a linear storyline.
Whenever I hear the word "setting", I think sandbox and "world." Whenever I hear the word "storyline", I shudder and think linear themepark.
IMO, we need more "worlds" and less "storylines."
That pretty much sums it up. Sandbox gives players a "world", where themepark herds folks down a linear storyline.
Whenever I hear the word "setting", I think sandbox and "world." Whenever I hear the word "storyline", I shudder and think linear themepark.
IMO, we need more "worlds" and less "storylines."
Nope. We don't need empty worlds. What we need is entertaining content.
In fact, wat "linear" storyline means is also up to debate. Take WOW, which everyone put into the "linear" category. You actually have total freedom of what quests to do first and what not to do. Sure, quest lines are linear but there are so many that you have a large control over what to do.
Is that linear themepark? If so, I will take it over any empty world any day of the week.
That pretty much sums it up. Sandbox gives players a "world", where themepark herds folks down a linear storyline.
Whenever I hear the word "setting", I think sandbox and "world." Whenever I hear the word "storyline", I shudder and think linear themepark.
IMO, we need more "worlds" and less "storylines."
Ahh, but you can have both..very easily. But making mmo's is about the least amount of features for the least amount of money spending the least amount of time that you can get away with and have a chance at a successful launch. Plus you need the least amount of devs working on the game after launch. The current MMO business model. I'm just BS'ing, I have no idea really.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
That pretty much sums it up. Sandbox gives players a "world", where themepark herds folks down a linear storyline.
Whenever I hear the word "setting", I think sandbox and "world." Whenever I hear the word "storyline", I shudder and think linear themepark.
IMO, we need more "worlds" and less "storylines."
Nope. We don't need empty worlds. What we need is entertaining content.
In fact, wat "linear" storyline means is also up to debate. Take WOW, which everyone put into the "linear" category. You actually have total freedom of what quests to do first and what not to do. Sure, quest lines are linear but there are so many that you have a large control over what to do.
Is that linear themepark? If so, I will take it over any empty world any day of the week.
I agree, WOW is the closest thing to having both a world and a game out there. The world and the players are connected in many ways. More than most games. If their new game does both equally on the same caliber as WOW, it would be more succesful than WOW imo.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
sandbox for me is decided bevore the first line of code is written
its the basic descision if you programm a "second life" and later put some game/story elements into it or if you programm a "baldurs gate" and later put some sandbox elements like crafting on top of your story tellin game.
if your bored, visit my blog at:
http://craylon.wordpress.com/ dealing with the look of mmos with the nvidia 3d vision glasses
That pretty much sums it up. Sandbox gives players a "world", where themepark herds folks down a linear storyline.
Whenever I hear the word "setting", I think sandbox and "world." Whenever I hear the word "storyline", I shudder and think linear themepark.
IMO, we need more "worlds" and less "storylines."
Nope. We don't need empty worlds. What we need is entertaining content.
In fact, wat "linear" storyline means is also up to debate. Take WOW, which everyone put into the "linear" category. You actually have total freedom of what quests to do first and what not to do. Sure, quest lines are linear but there are so many that you have a large control over what to do.
Is that linear themepark? If so, I will take it over any empty world any day of the week.
Well, you can have full content and "setting" in a sandbox game. I like to think of a perfect sandbox game filled with empires and cultures that have history and factions. And your character is dropped into the world in the present (whatever the "present" is in a game world).
But the word "storyline" to me conjures up scenes of forced cutscenes and herding players down paths they may not wish to go, and implies the future is already mapped out just like the scenes of a play. I want none of that.
Background, history, lore, factions, and elements of "setting" are all fine, but any storyline mapped out past the present moment is not needed, indeed detracts from immersion and enjoyment.
The best example I can give is imagine the world of Middle Earth and just being plopped into a hobbit town or someplace and going out to explore and adventure. To me, this is "setting."
Now, imagine the linear story path of the Lord of the Rings, and being plopped into a forced tutorial and being herded down a linear path which unlocks zones as you complete chapter quests. This sounds like "storyline" to me.
Really, which do you want to play? A free-willed adventurer in a challenging and mysterious world? Or a character in someone's linear contrived story?
I guess the idea to come away with from this thread is that there is no one set definition of a sandbox mmo, eh?
The 2nd post in this thread cites Darkfall as sandbox, yet head on over to the Darkfall forums and you will find posters telling you why it is not a sandbox game, and some will tell you why it is.
It kind of makes a person wonder just how exactly mmo developers are supposed to go about designing a quality sandbox mmo when mmo players can't even decide on a standard. That may be the reason that there are relatively few sandbox mmo's.
There is a specific definition, but the term is used wrong all the time. Its not actually a type or genre of a game but a feature.
Sandbox:: A feature in a game that allows players to ignore the story or plot line, then explore and interact with the world.
Everyone mistakes it for being a type or genre of a game, and this leads to 1000s of different definitions because every game has different game mechanics.
Darkfall is a sandbox as is every other MMO out there. I would say Darkfall probably allows for more " freedom " than others.
A sandbox is what my cat goes to the bathroom in.
on the internet: pretty much what everyone has already said
to me: "dont eat that"