Skyrim and Minecraft have proven that people do like open-world/sandbox MMO...

Trolldefender99

What Minecraft and Skyrim have done is prove people like and will play a sandbox MMO, the game doesn't have to be linear like what themeparks are. I find the story elements of themeparks to be completly irrelevant to how that game is designed. If you notice you speak to lots of NPCs out in the open and it locks you into a cutscene and no one can see what is happening in your cutscene unless they're grouped. It has no impact on the world and doesn't get in anyones way other than your character standing still with a speach bubble above your head. No one likes this.

I see no reason why you couldn't have a game in the format of Minecraft or Skyrim, but in MMO form. The only difference in design would be instead of a typical MMO being one linear line, you could go to any planet, solar system or area of a world you want at any time and do the content you want. This would mean that no area ever goes unplayed as people will always choose to do different content at different stages of their character progression. This would mean I could group with my friend if I've been playing for two years and he has only just started. It isn't even like you need to have quest stories because you, the player could easily create their own story, like what is done in a non linear game like what GTA or Skyrim has. 

The great thing I find about Minecraft and Skyrum, is everything is optional and you can do any quests you want or build anything you want, which could easily be done in a sandbox game. There is no reason for the game to be so linear what so ever because the story has no impact on the world. You'll constantly go into a phase and do content that would massively change the world and yet you run out and everything is the same. A lot of the time you've cleared out all the Mobs and that faction is sposed to be gone after the cutscene and you have to run back through them, killing them all again lol.

To me it just proves that the myth that themeparks are what people want is a lie.

laokoko

ya i like skyrim.  I have fun for 60 hours. 

but for mmorpg i expect it to give me thousands of hours of fun

and you know skyrim map is smaller than the typical themepark mmorpg map.  I don't know how you fit 50,000 concurrent player in it.

Nitth

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Originally posted by laokoko
ya i like skyrim.  I have fun for 60 hours. 
but for mmorpg i expect it to give me thousands of hours of fun
and you know skyrim map is smaller than the typical themepark mmorpg map.  I don't know how you fit 50,000 concurrent player in it.

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It's not small. Disable fast travel and you will see how big it really is.

Trolldefender99

Originally posted by laokoko

ya i like skyrim.  I have fun for 60 hours. 

but for mmorpg i expect it to give me thousands of hours of fun

and you know skyrim map is smaller than the typical themepark mmorpg map.  I don't know how you fit 50,000 concurrent player in it.

User error

 

reason: missed point of thread

laokoko

Originally posted by Mellkor

 

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Originally posted by laokoko

ya i like skyrim.  I have fun for 60 hours. 

but for mmorpg i expect it to give me thousands of hours of fun

and you know skyrim map is smaller than the typical themepark mmorpg map.  I don't know how you fit 50,000 concurrent player in it.

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It's not small. Disable fast travel and you will see how big it really is.

ya I'm sure it's big enough to fit all the non instanced player housing everyone wants.

grimfall

Originally posted by Isasis

Originally posted by laokoko

ya i like skyrim.  I have fun for 60 hours. 

but for mmorpg i expect it to give me thousands of hours of fun

and you know skyrim map is smaller than the typical themepark mmorpg map.  I don't know how you fit 50,000 concurrent player in it.

User error

 

reason: missed point of thread

User error

Reason: Ignorance.

The first successful MMO was a sand box MMO.

laokoko

Originally posted by Isasis

Originally posted by laokoko

ya i like skyrim.  I have fun for 60 hours. 

but for mmorpg i expect it to give me thousands of hours of fun

and you know skyrim map is smaller than the typical themepark mmorpg map.  I don't know how you fit 50,000 concurrent player in it.

User error

 

reason: missed point of thread

Actually I have 2 point.  Alot of what makes skyrim fun is because it is single player.  It's hard to translate to multi player game.

And the only difference between skyrim and say wow quest line is wow quest line is linear, skyrim is not. 

Hey I want to play a good fantasy sandbox too.  Someone go make it.  I dont' like the whole space thing, so I don't play Eve.  Unless I see a product it's just a dream.  I'm just sick of people comparing games which are completely different genre. 

Lawlmonster

It's certainly true that the MMO space needs more polish in the sandbox department, and it's also true that Skyrim and Minecraft are great examples of how to integrate player freedom in game design. I'm unsure that the success of these two games actually relates to MMO's in any fashion, aside from perhaps the larger mutilplayer servers for Minecraft, but I do believe they're great models for the variance you can find in the sandbox genre of gameplay.

 

It's difficult for me to speculate as to whether or not the current crop of sandbox MMO's really just need new design, or if products of a quality equivalent to either games in this discussion would be capable of drawing a large crowd within this audience. I'm not saying I wouldn't be down, sign me up for the revolution, but it's a hard thing to judge when you look at the last five or six years of online sandbox development (which, unfortunately, is hardly recognizable).

Worstluck

People like mostly single player (I know MC has multiplayer, but don't own it sorry) sandbox games.  People don't necessarily like other people peeing in their sandbox.  I think you are right though, a big-budget, open-ended MMO could probably do well, the problem is the dudes with the money think otherwise.  Hopefully after WoW dies out and the current crop of linear games go away, we can see some developers and investors take a chance on something more open-ended.

Nilden

Oh joy a chance to plug Minecraft! See my sig, visit http://www.minecraft.net/ check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft They have servers with over 400 people! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaMTedT6P0I

Check youtube!

Add Minecraft to MMORPG.com! Go to game list and at the bottom put in minecraft and hit send!

I love Minecraft.

Over 4.8 million people have purchased Minecraft!

Proson

Originally posted by laokoko

Originally posted by Mellkor

 

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Originally posted by laokoko

ya i like skyrim.  I have fun for 60 hours. 

but for mmorpg i expect it to give me thousands of hours of fun

and you know skyrim map is smaller than the typical themepark mmorpg map.  I don't know how you fit 50,000 concurrent player in it.

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It's not small. Disable fast travel and you will see how big it really is.

ya I'm sure it's big enough to fit all the non instanced player housing everyone wants.

-.-

 

Way to miss the point of the thread, point is that people really enjoy big open world maps with sandbox elements. Ofcourse a MMO world would have to be abit bigger then Skyrim.

Loke666

They have proven it for single player games.

I am sure a good MMO can prove the same thing but that game would have to be different from those games. It is not the same thing to make or play a single player game as a MMO after all, even if many of the basic things are the same.

Souldrainer

Originally posted by laokoko

ya i like skyrim.  I have fun for 60 hours. 

but for mmorpg i expect it to give me thousands of hours of fun

and you know skyrim map is smaller than the typical themepark mmorpg map.  I don't know how you fit 50,000 concurrent player in it.

 You expect to be entertained for thousands of hours for a $60 purchase?  Those are extremely unrealistic expectations.  But yeah, obviously you rushed through skyrim.  I am at around 160 hours and still have plenty to do in the game.... and that is for just one character.

I have seen people compare games to movies... $60 buys you two movies, for 2 hours of non-interactive entertainment each.  Four hours vs hundreds of hours... still an awesome deal when it comes down to bang vs bucks. 

Worstluck

I got around 400 hours out of Skryim.  I barely got past meeting the Greybeards hah, so never even finished the main story.  Will put more hours when the creation kit comes.....60 hours pffft! 

 

Ok sorry for the derailment, carry on!

Slampig

When did Skyrim go MMO and why didn't anyone tell me?

69Cuda

Considering that neither is an MMO basicaly makes this thread irrelevant.

 

 

 

TheLizardbones

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Originally posted by 69Cuda
Considering that neither is an MMO basicaly makes this thread irrelevant.
 
 
 

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Kind of what I was thinking. It proves that people will play an Indie game and that they will play a game that is a time consuming sandbox made of sandboxes. We already knew people liked sandboxes though.

Doesn't have much relevance as far as MMORPG until someone builds a full on MMORPG Minecraft server.

Annwyn

Originally posted by lizardbones

 

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Originally posted by 69Cuda

Considering that neither is an MMO basicaly makes this thread irrelevant.

 

 

 

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Kind of what I was thinking. It proves that people will play an Indie game and that they will play a game that is a time consuming sandbox made of sandboxes. We already knew people liked sandboxes though.



Doesn't have much relevance as far as MMORPG until someone builds a full on MMORPG Minecraft server.

 

I think the point of the thread was to show that it is wrong to claim that the Themepark market is the only one that "exist" and that the Sandbox market is purely a niche one, in which case the OP points out that both Minecraft and Skyrim have been extremely succesful and that there is potential for a real sandbox MMORPG out there, as there is clearly a large demand.

Zarynterk

Originally posted by MadnessRealm

Originally posted by lizardbones

 

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Originally posted by 69Cuda

Considering that neither is an MMO basicaly makes this thread irrelevant.

 

 

 

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Kind of what I was thinking. It proves that people will play an Indie game and that they will play a game that is a time consuming sandbox made of sandboxes. We already knew people liked sandboxes though.



Doesn't have much relevance as far as MMORPG until someone builds a full on MMORPG Minecraft server.

 

I think the point of the thread was to show that it is wrong to claim that the Themepark market is the only one that "exist" and that the Sandbox market is purely a niche one, in which case the OP points out that both Minecraft and Skyrim have been extremely succesful and that there is potential for a real sandbox MMORPG out there, as there is clearly a large demand.

 

This...

Frankly the people who are trolling this thread just didn't understand the point the OP was making... that, or just being Theme park trolls.

FreeBooteR

I would be satisfied if somehow Skyrim and Minecraft could be merged into one game. That would be so freaking awesome. Unfortunately no computer yet would have the power to run it.

Emeraq

I am going to say that I wouldn't play Skyrim if it were vacant of quests and there's not just a handful there are TONS of quests in Skyrim!

It seems to me that when sandbox and MMO are done together there's always a lack of quests (UO). So, for me the comparison of Skyrim to a sandbox MMO is a poor one, it basically is open world with plenty to do (skyrim) versus open world with uh wait, what.... what are we going to do now brain? (Sandbox MMO)   We are going to grind stats and craft and make our own quests/story...

I'll take Skyrim any day of the week over a sandbox MMO without quests.

Sovrath

Possibly.

It doesn't necessarily prove that people want to play sandbox mmo's so much as people like having their own personal sandbox to play in.

pb1285n

The problem with the sandbox genre is that there is no clear definition. For some Skyrim would not be a sandbox. Yes its not as linear as some games but you are still jumping from quest hub to quest hub completing quests and there is a single over arching storyline that is pretty linear.

I think what makes Skyrim different is that they somehow make even the simplest quest seem grand in scale. So the grind is much more bearable.

warmaster670

skyrims no different than themepark mmos, you run around and do quests for people, theres really nothing in skyrim that isnt ipresent in most themepark mmos.

 

Dont know where this comparison of skyrim and sandboxes keep coming from.

 

 

Wolfenpride

Originally posted by warmaster670

skyrims no different than themepark mmos, you run around and do quests for people, theres really nothing in skyrim that isnt ipresent in most themepark mmos.

 

Dont know where this comparison of skyrim and sandboxes keep coming from.

 

 

Very loose comparison

(click to enlarge)

warmaster670

Originally posted by Wolfenpride

Originally posted by warmaster670

skyrims no different than themepark mmos, you run around and do quests for people, theres really nothing in skyrim that isnt ipresent in most themepark mmos.

 

Dont know where this comparison of skyrim and sandboxes keep coming from.

 

 

Very loose comparison

(click to enlarge)

loose sure, but it still works, skyrim is waaaay closer to themepark mmos than sandbox ones, the only thing sandboxy about skyrim is the class system.