I have finally admitted the truth...I don't Like Sandbox MMOs

Broomy

*Whew!  There I have finally admitted it to myself.  After several years of beleiving I would prefer sandbox playstyles and after playing a few (argueably, EVE Online and Ryzom) I realize that I simply dont like the lack of direction.  I want and desire some direction.  I like goals being presented and I feel like I have accomplished something when I attain them.  Even though those goals were provided to me as opposed to me making them up for myself. 

 

I have a great career, I work hard, and when I get home I want to play and have some fun with my favorite hobby (Gaming, MMOs in particular).  Im simply not up for sitting there wondering what Im going to do next.  I tried to like EVE, Im trying to like Ryzom, they are fine games, great ideas, but I get bored quickly without some predefined goals and tasks.  I suppose many others feel this way and perhaps that makes me nothing but a cog in the wheel     Maybe one day someone will come out with a game that incorporates sandbox elements and scripted elements in such a way that appeals to the masses but until then, Ill stick to themepark type games.  

 

Thanks for listening.

Gabby-air

Are Eve and Ryzom the only 2 sandbox games you've played?

GTwander

Your credentials beyond your first MMO experience have nothing to do with it. If you hopped into MMO gaming during the highlight years around UO, you'd be like us.

Nobody can get on your case for being presented structured games from the beginning and desiring more of it, but they will.

DrSpanky

you realize your going to be flamed to no end, called a care bear, a wow baby, and you have no clue as to what a REAL mmo is, right?

But I agree with you. And now, I'm running to hide.

Mikeha

I wont say I dont like Sandbox games but there are simply no good Sandbox games out there. One day a REAL company will make a TRUE sandbox game but these games that call them selves sandboxes right now are all boring and just cheap imatations.

Joliust

Well I love Sandbox games and I just cannot get into Eve no matter how I try. I don't know about Ryzom. So don't write off Sandbox games based on your experiences. If there is a good sandbox game in the future, I say give it a try.

Maybe sandbox games aren't for everyone but personally I enjoy both. Just not both equally.

madeux

Originally posted by GTwander

Your credentials beyond your first MMO experience have nothing to do with it. If you hopped into MMO gaming during the highlight years around UO, you'd be like us.

Nobody can get on your case for being presented structured games from the beginning and desiring more of it, but they will.

I hopped into gaming during these so called "highlight" years, and I am not like you.

These "sandbox" guys come from an era that only ever existed in their heads.

kb4blu

Everyone has different likes and dislikes in MMOs.  I like sandbox MMOs, you don't, no problem.

GTwander

Originally posted by madeux

Originally posted by GTwander

Your credentials beyond your first MMO experience have nothing to do with it. If you hopped into MMO gaming during the highlight years around UO, you'd be like us.

Nobody can get on your case for being presented structured games from the beginning and desiring more of it, but they will.

I hopped into gaming during these so called "highlight" years, and I am not like you.

These "sandbox" guys come from an era that only ever existed in their heads.

Ahem, did you actually play any of these games, or immdiately quit and return later when say... EQ or WoW came out?

Because I played UO on dial-up like a stupid kid, and later returned to MMO gaming through SWG and base all my future expectations on that alone.

Plutonicwoes

I think I must agree that the main issue is a lack of any worth while sandbox games.

EVE is great, but the space style is a bit too niche for most.

Darkfall is often cited as a sandbox though it has no sand.

MO is barely running.

Ryzom is as empty as a christan teen club.

I could go on but you get the idea.  The sad truth is a lot of these indie companies either don't have the time, money, or skill, to really make us a feature complete, modern, well running game. (I said a lot not all! There are great indie games)

At the moment I am thinking about going back to the themeparks too, though I figure I will probably just leave the scene for a while and wait over going back to them.

After 10 years of MMO's maybe I've just become to unimpressed with what most are trying.

Final thought, is it just me or is the community in a sandbox game either awesome of just solid douche bags?  There never seems to be an even mix.

crockopoopoo

Originally posted by Plutonicwoes

I think I must agree that the main issue is a lack of any worth while sandbox games.

EVE is great, but the space style is a bit too niche for most.

Darkfall is often cited as a sandbox though it has no sand.

MO is barely running.

Ryzom is as empty as a christan teen club.

I could go on but you get the idea.  The sad truth is a lot of these indie companies either don't have the time, money, or skill, to really make us a feature complete, modern, well running game. (I said a lot not all! There are great indie games)

At the moment I am thinking about going back to the themeparks too, though I figure I will probably just leave the scene for a while and wait over going back to them.

After 10 years of MMO's maybe I've just become to unimpressed with what most are trying.

Final thought, is it just me or is the community in a sandbox game either awesome of just solid douche bags?  There never seems to be an even mix.

It's not just you.  Sandbox games like UO, SWG, and maybe even Ryzom were/are famed for their community because they focused on the sandbox instead of the ffa pvp.  All these new 'sandboxes' like Darkfall and Mortal are really ffa gankfests meant to give a home to the wandering douches who forgot they should be playing Call of Duty instead of mmos.

uquipu

Meh, quests are theme park.
.
All games except for Second Life have quests.
.
Most MMOs are a mixture of sandbox and theme park. And if you compare the theme park stuff the devs set up for you, towns, dungeons, forests or space to explore, nodes to mine, to the sandbox stuff, the construction of your own stuff, the theme park side is always the greater.
.
to make it more confusing, the guy who applied the term sandbox to MMOs says all MMOs are sandboxes by definition.

A1x2e3l

 

“I tried to like EVE, Im trying to like Ryzom.”

Sounds to me like selftorturing.

I always thought that a creative in RL person should be able to find interesting ways how entertain him/herself without blaming external obstacles (boring book or game). Nobody (and nothing) except yourself is able to help you.

“I get bored quickly without some predefined goals and tasks.”

When a game I like to play for whatever reasons has no obvious goals I am finding them for me myself, I need nobody to direct me, entertain me, this is my “job”, a game is only a formal frame.

I seriously cannot get the point of making this very personal discovery public. Please, find no offensive in my words.

Lowfer69

I agree with the OP. I can't stand them either. Flame away. It's called a preference. Deal with it.

Joliust

---

Originally posted by A1x2e3l
 “I tried to like EVE, Im trying to like Ryzom.”
Sounds to me like selftorturing.
I always thought that a creative in RL person should be able to find interesting ways how entertain him/herself without blaming external obstacles (boring book or game). Nobody (and nothing) except yourself is able to help you.
“I get bored quickly without some predefined goals and tasks.”
When a game I like to play for whatever reasons has no obvious goals I am finding them for me myself, I need nobody to direct me, entertain me, this is my “job”, a game is only a formal frame.
I seriously cannot get the point of making this very personal discovery public. Please, find no offensive in my words.

---

I like this post.

Solestran

Originally posted by A1x2e3l

 

“I tried to like EVE, Im trying to like Ryzom.”

Sounds to me like selftorturing.

I always thought that a creative in RL person should be able to find interesting ways how entertain him/herself without blaming external obstacles (boring book or game). Nobody (and nothing) except yourself is able to help you.

“I get bored quickly without some predefined goals and tasks.”

When a game I like to play for whatever reasons has no obvious goals I am finding them for me myself, I need nobody to direct me, entertain me, this is my “job”, a game is only a formal frame.

I seriously cannot get the point of making this very personal discovery public. Please, find no offensive in my words.

 If it's your "Job" to entertain yourself, then why pay someone else for the privelege.  Save yourself a lot of money and go play in the corner.  If I am going to pay for a box and monthly subscription, I expect THEM to entertain me.

jusomdude

I also started playing MMOs around the time of UO, I think UO was my second MMO. I thought it was going to be a lot greater than it actually was. I played UO for maybe 6 months. I made a few friends, I remember one guy gave me a house. I also remember one guy giving me a rune to teleport with that teleported me to a boat with a few other people where he tried ganking us. UO was alright, by no means do I consider it the pinnacle of my MMO gaming.

SWG was my second sandbox. Played for about 2 years.

 

I'd say I had a better time in SWG than UO. I don't think I ever stole anything in UO but I liked that it was an option.

 

I'll have to say that I like "themeparks" more than sandboxes too. I've also played EVE, DF, MO. There's just something I find very lacking in them.

 

I think I'd like sandboxes if they gave more sand and toys to play with in them, but all the ones I've played have been like just a small pile of sand.

Panther2103

I like the concept of sandbox games, but I like the direction themeparks give you.  I like the concept of being able to do what you want when you want and how you want. Want a house? Build it where you want. That kind of concept. But when the sandbox games take out any sense of direction, and just throw you in and say have fun. It isn't fun, it feels like there is too much that you could do, and nothing is close to being able to be accomplished. In themeparks, they tend to throw you in, and guide you a long that path, once you get to the higher levels or further a long that path, it just feels a lot more accomplished and gives you a better feeling of achievment, than when you complete some quest that you made up by yourself to kill 3 monsters in a sandbox game.

Broomy

Originally posted by A1x2e3l

 

“I tried to like EVE, Im trying to like Ryzom.”

Sounds to me like selftorturing.

I always thought that a creative in RL person should be able to find interesting ways how entertain him/herself without blaming external obstacles (boring book or game). Nobody (and nothing) except yourself is able to help you.

“I get bored quickly without some predefined goals and tasks.”

When a game I like to play for whatever reasons has no obvious goals I am finding them for me myself, I need nobody to direct me, entertain me, this is my “job”, a game is only a formal frame.

I seriously cannot get the point of making this very personal discovery public. Please, find no offensive in my words.

 I take no offense at all to your post but it's basically making assumptions about me.  I never said I was "creative" insofar as games in RL.  I have alot of creativity in business and my career, but I'll happily admit that I dont have much in the video gaming genre.  When I pay to play a game I do have a right to expect some entertainment.  Am I missing something here?  Its great that you can take a game with no content and "find them for yourself", more power to you, I will make no such boast of having such a talent.  It appears by your own words that you can take any pos game and make it a blast.  You aught to bottle that talent and sell it.  You'd be gaming on a beach at a luxury resort right now, or perhaps counting your millions in the company of several willing and nubile servents if you did. 

 

And hey, its a message board...where people post all kinds of things...for discussions sake?  May be a novel concept for some, but we are here to discuss ideas, revelations, etc, are we not?  Take no offense to my words btw.  

Capn23

When it comes to MMOs...I'm a pansexual.

Thunderous

EVE does what it intends to do quite well, but ship avatars only go so far...

Ultima Online was the only true "sandbox" game I've played...

Pre-CU SWG was the last game I've played that could have been called a sandbox, it allowed for a LOT of freedom but was missing far too many features and had way too many bugs...  Now it's just a level/class piece of junk...  The skill system in Pre-CU SWG was great though...

Ryzom is just boring...

Darkfall isn't a sandbox, it's an arena.

MO has potential but needs a lot of time and resources to succeed.  We'll see.

x3r0h

Originally posted by Mannish

I wont say I dont like Sandbox games but there are simply no good Sandbox games out there. One day a REAL company will make a TRUE sandbox game but these games that call them selves sandboxes right now are all boring and just cheap imatations.

I agree.

A1x2e3l

 

“Save yourself a lot of money and go play in the corner.”

I am paying exactly for this corner (game).

 

“When I pay to play a game I do have a right to expect some entertainment.”

Sure. I assumed that sandbox genre foresees certain in-game creativity, that is the entertaining part of sandbox games IMHO. I understand that being tired after a hard working day it is often difficult to concentrate and it is necessary simply to relax, than sandbox games or tough PvP is not the right choice. But way to reject the whole genre? Maybe, later… And there are numerousvery good linear games available.

“It appears by your own words that you can take any pos game and make it a blast.”

Of cause not, I am very selective in choosing a right for me game to play.

It is difficult for me to imagine that a person being so creative in his professional career (“I have a great career, I work hard”; “I have alot of creativity in business and my career”) cannot be creative in his own entertainment during his free time, be creative with HIMSELF. Usually such people are self-sufficient. Understand me correctly: I am not “attacking”. I am “defending” our (yours and mine) “corporative interests” as players (I am also a working person): check the forum – a lot of posts how “stupid” we, working adult players, are.

That’s not “ideas” you want to discuss but emotions and personal preferences. I am shutting up: my point is clear.

Good luck to find an interesting for you game/game genre.

pepsi1028

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by madeux

Originally posted by GTwander

Your credentials beyond your first MMO experience have nothing to do with it. If you hopped into MMO gaming during the highlight years around UO, you'd be like us.

Nobody can get on your case for being presented structured games from the beginning and desiring more of it, but they will.

I hopped into gaming during these so called "highlight" years, and I am not like you.

These "sandbox" guys come from an era that only ever existed in their heads.

Ahem, did you actually play any of these games, or immdiately quit and return later when say... EQ or WoW came out?

Because I played UO on dial-up like a stupid kid, and later returned to MMO gaming through SWG and base all my future expectations on that alone.

 I played UO.  Just not in its prime.  I too left that for SWG but then left that for WoW after NGE.  I played EVE for awhile and many other games off and on.  I have to say that sandboxes really bring out the kid in me (: The imagination of what I can do is endless.  Yes, you do need to learn a little!  But, in the end I think you will enjoy the game you are playing. 

 

This isn't always the case though as I learned anarachy online backwards and forwards and still did not like it.  Ryzom I played for maybe a month and went back to EVE.  I currently am playing EVE again after playing Darkfall and WoW.

Besides that, it is not just in our heads.  I guess I am sort of a vet, but soon enough you will be saying you miss the WoW days.  Then the newer generation will say it was just in your head, the games that are out now are the best ever!

Just my two cents though (:

laokoko

Originally posted by Capn23

When it comes to MMOs...I'm a pansexual.

Try to reread this thread and replace some words.  sandbox->girls, themepark->guys, play->date, EVE->blonde, ryzom->burnette, UO->asian, SW->latino.

And use your imagination a bit, it's quite funny.  I won't get into details myself because that might offend some people a bit. 

Axehilt

Originally posted by uquipu

Meh, quests are theme park.

.

All games except for Second Life have quests.

.

Most MMOs are a mixture of sandbox and theme park. And if you compare the theme park stuff the devs set up for you, towns, dungeons, forests or space to explore, nodes to mine, to the sandbox stuff, the construction of your own stuff, the theme park side is always the greater.

.

to make it more confusing, the guy who applied the term sandbox to MMOs says all MMOs are sandboxes by definition.

Exactly.

No entertainment is ever absolutely freeform or absolutely linear -- and the entertainment activities that are at the extremes aren't even games (movies/books are the closest you get to linear entertainment and things like creating art are the closest you get to freeform entertainment.)

Games exist in the middle, combining interaction with structure, and sandbox simply means "more freeform" -- which both indicates that it's not completely freeform and that the term is only used comparatively in relation to other games.