Almost everything seems to be a "linear themepark". What is stopping the "sandbox" crowd from simply not picking up the quests, and going out and exploring the worlds that the developers have created?
Not sure why this is in the Tera forums as Tera has nothing to a Sandbox game..
Plus as a sandbox+pvp fan i know exactly what i want.. sadly we will never have a AAA title that does it because they think there is no money in it so they just carry on copying WOW.. but like someone said above Sandbox does not have to me full loot pvp..
Tho Tera with its combat system is a step in the right direction thats for sure
Almost everything seems to be a "linear themepark". What is stopping the "sandbox" crowd from simply not picking up the quests, and going out and exploring the worlds that the developers have created?
Not sure why this is in the Tera forums as Tera has nothing to a Sandbox game..
Plus as a sandbox+pvp fan i know exactly what i want.. sadly we will never have a AAA title that does it because they think there is no money in it so they just carry on copying WOW.. but like someone said above Sandbox does not have to me full loot pvp..
Tho Tera with its combat system is a step in the right direction thats for sure
TERA has the political aspect...that's a sandbox feature. While it doesnt make TERA a sandbox game it's still a feature in the right direction and is "sandboxy".
Plus as a sandbox+pvp fan i know exactly what i want.. sadly we will never have a AAA title that does it because they think there is no money in it so they just carry on copying WOW.. but like someone said above Sandbox does not have to me full loot pvp..
Have a few good sandbox games coming out soon. If they do well, this may change. Have to many console rpg gamers that want the mmo's to be like those games, and realy hurt the industry. But i see that changing soon as most gamers are tired of the exact same thing being released lately. Almost all the top games released in the past 5 years have been the exact same, and going down hill.
Archeage may bring a turn as well as a few others coming up. To many misconceptions and uneducated gamers that have never tried a real sandbox realy does hurt this style og mmo. Dont know why anyone would want a linear dumbed down game, when they could have a huge world to dabble with. Then again lack of creativity in todays society i guess transfers into our games as well
Almost everything seems to be a "linear themepark". What is stopping the "sandbox" crowd from simply not picking up the quests, and going out and exploring the worlds that the developers have created?
Aimlessly wandering and not doing quests, especially when it means actively working against the design of the game, has nothing to do with the sandbox gameplay or the interest in it by players that want it.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Different people who want sandboxes want different things. Just like different people who want theme parks want different things. There are some good sandbox games out there, and a lot of players are happily playing them, even. Most of the sandbox whining seems to come from people who want a free for all full loot PVP sandbox that is pretty polished. They're having a hard time finding what they want, but then, someone who wanted a polished free for all full loot PVP theme park game doesn't have too many options, either.
Almost everything seems to be a "linear themepark". What is stopping the "sandbox" crowd from simply not picking up the quests, and going out and exploring the worlds that the developers have created?
I suppose that I might as well address the original post. Wanting a sandbox game isn't just about not wanting to jump from quest hub to quest hub. After all, if you always go AFK when you're online, you'll skip all of the quests just fine. But you'll also be tremendously bored. Rather, people want something else to do instead of quests, or perhaps in addition to quests. If quests are all that a game has to offer and you don't do the quests, then you'll be bored.
As for exploration, there are several problems. One is that most games just don't have that much to explore. If you play WoW and wander around and see everything once, then what? If not for the mobs trying to kill you and various things gated off by level, it wouldn't take very long to see everything in the game. Most MMORPGs have a much smaller game world than that, even.
Next is the problem of "if not for mobs trying to kill you". If there are a bunch of level 50 mobs in a zone, then you'd better not enter unless you're close to level 50 yourself. Some games won't let you enter at all until you're high enough level. If all you want to do is go exploring, and you have to spend 95% of your time doing stupid things to grind for levels in order to be able to explore the higher level areas, then that just doesn't work very well.
Third, most games don't have much for you to find even if you do go exploring. There might be a few easter eggs here and there. There might be some cool-looking buildings or landscapes. But even if you go out searching for such things, the game will constantly beat you over the head with, "You should be grinding for levels. You're wasting your time. You're falling further behind people who are out grinding for levels. You're a failure at this game." Uncharted Waters Online is the only MMORPG I'm aware of that actually encourages players to go exploring.
-Themeparks crafting/gathering sucks in comparison to sandboxes. Typically in sandboxes you see a river. You gather water from the river. You can cook the water or just drink it. Or bring it back to cook with. Or use it in potions from plants youve crushed for alchemy. In themeparks nodes are retarded- They are big and shiny. In sandboxes the grass you stand on can be picked or any rock you see can be mined. <<<----- at least the sandboxes with good crafting are like this.
-I dont want quests in my sandbox. I want to create my own "Meta-game".
-Typically sandboxes are skill-point based, and themeparks are level-based. If you swim... your swimming skill goes up. If you eat food, your taste-identification or sophistication goes up. I hate levels.
Comments
Not sure why this is in the Tera forums as Tera has nothing to a Sandbox game..
Plus as a sandbox+pvp fan i know exactly what i want.. sadly we will never have a AAA title that does it because they think there is no money in it so they just carry on copying WOW.. but like someone said above Sandbox does not have to me full loot pvp..
Tho Tera with its combat system is a step in the right direction thats for sure
TERA has the political aspect...that's a sandbox feature. While it doesnt make TERA a sandbox game it's still a feature in the right direction and is "sandboxy".
Have a few good sandbox games coming out soon. If they do well, this may change. Have to many console rpg gamers that want the mmo's to be like those games, and realy hurt the industry. But i see that changing soon as most gamers are tired of the exact same thing being released lately. Almost all the top games released in the past 5 years have been the exact same, and going down hill.
Archeage may bring a turn as well as a few others coming up. To many misconceptions and uneducated gamers that have never tried a real sandbox realy does hurt this style og mmo. Dont know why anyone would want a linear dumbed down game, when they could have a huge world to dabble with. Then again lack of creativity in todays society i guess transfers into our games as well
Aimlessly wandering and not doing quests, especially when it means actively working against the design of the game, has nothing to do with the sandbox gameplay or the interest in it by players that want it.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Different people who want sandboxes want different things. Just like different people who want theme parks want different things. There are some good sandbox games out there, and a lot of players are happily playing them, even. Most of the sandbox whining seems to come from people who want a free for all full loot PVP sandbox that is pretty polished. They're having a hard time finding what they want, but then, someone who wanted a polished free for all full loot PVP theme park game doesn't have too many options, either.
I suppose that I might as well address the original post. Wanting a sandbox game isn't just about not wanting to jump from quest hub to quest hub. After all, if you always go AFK when you're online, you'll skip all of the quests just fine. But you'll also be tremendously bored. Rather, people want something else to do instead of quests, or perhaps in addition to quests. If quests are all that a game has to offer and you don't do the quests, then you'll be bored.
As for exploration, there are several problems. One is that most games just don't have that much to explore. If you play WoW and wander around and see everything once, then what? If not for the mobs trying to kill you and various things gated off by level, it wouldn't take very long to see everything in the game. Most MMORPGs have a much smaller game world than that, even.
Next is the problem of "if not for mobs trying to kill you". If there are a bunch of level 50 mobs in a zone, then you'd better not enter unless you're close to level 50 yourself. Some games won't let you enter at all until you're high enough level. If all you want to do is go exploring, and you have to spend 95% of your time doing stupid things to grind for levels in order to be able to explore the higher level areas, then that just doesn't work very well.
Third, most games don't have much for you to find even if you do go exploring. There might be a few easter eggs here and there. There might be some cool-looking buildings or landscapes. But even if you go out searching for such things, the game will constantly beat you over the head with, "You should be grinding for levels. You're wasting your time. You're falling further behind people who are out grinding for levels. You're a failure at this game." Uncharted Waters Online is the only MMORPG I'm aware of that actually encourages players to go exploring.
-Themeparks crafting/gathering sucks in comparison to sandboxes. Typically in sandboxes you see a river. You gather water from the river. You can cook the water or just drink it. Or bring it back to cook with. Or use it in potions from plants youve crushed for alchemy. In themeparks nodes are retarded- They are big and shiny. In sandboxes the grass you stand on can be picked or any rock you see can be mined. <<<----- at least the sandboxes with good crafting are like this.
-I dont want quests in my sandbox. I want to create my own "Meta-game".
-Typically sandboxes are skill-point based, and themeparks are level-based. If you swim... your swimming skill goes up. If you eat food, your taste-identification or sophistication goes up. I hate levels.
So yes we know what we want... at least I do.