i think you sandbox lovers are sitting home playing some game inside your head that you think is just the easiest thing to make but think nobody has the balls to make it.
amirite?
No one said it was 'just the easiest thing to make'. So no, yournotright.
Actually alot of people say that. You hear it on almost every themepark mmo site. "why can;t they addthis, its easy", "why can't they add that, its easy".
People complaining on the WOW forums that there isn't any player housing just don't understand the fundamental differences between games with linear developer driven content "themeparks", and open world player driven content "Sandboxes".
Thats just ignorance.
I don't think it's easy making a good Sanbox game.....as a matter of fact, one of the reasons we have so many games putting full control over the content in the developers hands is BECAUSE it's easier to balance player's classes, throttle player progress, and minimize exploits and game play that isn't intended with a restricted linear progression model.
With that said, I think a lot of Sandbox fans ARE sandbox fans because they probably played a really good one once and just can't understand why after 7+ years no one has at least attempted another one, especially given that there are many good "blueprints" out there (in the old, once successful games) and all the failures of attempts at "yet another linear themepark MMO".
We've ran the "kill 10 boars" quests to death over the last 6-7 years, and have been driven to hack n' slash for yet another gear upgrade via an instanced 5 man dungeon more times that we can count. Despite games like Aion, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, and EQ2 falling flat, not one single big name Publisher in the West has attempted anything similar to the Virtual World kind of MMO that originally pulled players away from consoles and other casual game generes.
Problems coming up with a fair criminal system? See Ultima Online. Problems coming up with a good RvR system? See Dark Age of Camelot. Problems coming up with a deep and symbiotic relationships within the non-combat professions? See EVE's economy model. Prolems coming up with a good fast pased / twitch based PvP system (without making it a FPMMO)? See Ultima Online's combat system...specifically Magery combat.
The gripe is that there is no need to re-invent the wheel. We don't need world leading creative minds to come up with "out of the box" ideas to refreshen the genere. We (as most sandbox fans) just want the games to go back to that old virtual world feel, where the sun doesn't rise and set based on how many monsters you killed, or quests you ran. We want choice to reach end game status or riches by becoming a reliable and successful crafter, a sly merchant, a world class theif, OR a dungeon crawling adventurer. The formula is out there.
Unfortunately the big publishers don't feel there is a large enough audience for this type of game to warrent the substantial investment that has become a requirment for a smooth successful launch.
...oh, and to satisfy my sandbox oats for now....I've jumped back into Lineage 2 since it going F2P. It's still a VERY linear progression model, but the social & PvP aspect is as sandbox as it gets. There doesn't seem to be any content or access related restrictions on the game, given its F2P pricing model (so far) and it's free.
Other than that.....the only thing I'm really interested in in releasing (hopefully) in the next year or so is Arche Age. There are a couple of indie projects that I'm keeping up with....but nothing substantial yet.
Comments
People complaining on the WOW forums that there isn't any player housing just don't understand the fundamental differences between games with linear developer driven content "themeparks", and open world player driven content "Sandboxes".
Thats just ignorance.
I don't think it's easy making a good Sanbox game.....as a matter of fact, one of the reasons we have so many games putting full control over the content in the developers hands is BECAUSE it's easier to balance player's classes, throttle player progress, and minimize exploits and game play that isn't intended with a restricted linear progression model.
With that said, I think a lot of Sandbox fans ARE sandbox fans because they probably played a really good one once and just can't understand why after 7+ years no one has at least attempted another one, especially given that there are many good "blueprints" out there (in the old, once successful games) and all the failures of attempts at "yet another linear themepark MMO".
We've ran the "kill 10 boars" quests to death over the last 6-7 years, and have been driven to hack n' slash for yet another gear upgrade via an instanced 5 man dungeon more times that we can count. Despite games like Aion, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, and EQ2 falling flat, not one single big name Publisher in the West has attempted anything similar to the Virtual World kind of MMO that originally pulled players away from consoles and other casual game generes.
Problems coming up with a fair criminal system? See Ultima Online. Problems coming up with a good RvR system? See Dark Age of Camelot. Problems coming up with a deep and symbiotic relationships within the non-combat professions? See EVE's economy model. Prolems coming up with a good fast pased / twitch based PvP system (without making it a FPMMO)? See Ultima Online's combat system...specifically Magery combat.
The gripe is that there is no need to re-invent the wheel. We don't need world leading creative minds to come up with "out of the box" ideas to refreshen the genere. We (as most sandbox fans) just want the games to go back to that old virtual world feel, where the sun doesn't rise and set based on how many monsters you killed, or quests you ran. We want choice to reach end game status or riches by becoming a reliable and successful crafter, a sly merchant, a world class theif, OR a dungeon crawling adventurer. The formula is out there.
Unfortunately the big publishers don't feel there is a large enough audience for this type of game to warrent the substantial investment that has become a requirment for a smooth successful launch.
...oh, and to satisfy my sandbox oats for now....I've jumped back into Lineage 2 since it going F2P. It's still a VERY linear progression model, but the social & PvP aspect is as sandbox as it gets. There doesn't seem to be any content or access related restrictions on the game, given its F2P pricing model (so far) and it's free.
Other than that.....the only thing I'm really interested in in releasing (hopefully) in the next year or so is Arche Age. There are a couple of indie projects that I'm keeping up with....but nothing substantial yet.