Unison & standards, theme/sand

etlar

Considering the split in mmo´s over the recent years, in regards to themepark /hybrid/sandbox &

the b2p/f2p/p2p model, we can all agree, on not agreeing  to what is what, hence i think "we" as a leading site,

should determine  what constitutes sandbox and themepark, especially since the flavour seems to be sandbox,.

so i would like all to propose 3 things that for YOU make a sandbox, and 1 thing that  does not. (yes only 1)

reason being its easy to hate, harder to create.

 

 

 

etlar

yup stupid, dont write things like things when you are not sober! apparently

etlar

I just woke Up, and looked at wrote i wrote, could this hread pls be deleted??  

asdar

My definition of sandbox and theme park as regards MMO's is that it's not the overall game that's defined it's the features within the game. The decision to call a game sand or theme is based on how you add up the features.

Sandbox to me is the ability of the player to create/control/decide what happens within a game. Theme park features are features that take away that control. I think each feature of a game can be evaluated for sand to theme.

A scale if you would from pure sand which is being the programmer of the game to pure theme which would be a movie that you watch and might enjoy but have no control over.

Sand to me does not equal good or bad, I'm for more sand because it seems to me that most MMO's have slipped over and are more weighted towards theme than is enjoyable for me.

So as an example we can start at the beginning with character creation. It's more sand to give total freedom. If you want to be a golf ball and bounce around that's sand. Every confinement in what you look like is theme. In this case I'm ok with having races, which is theme, but I want to have a lot of choice from fat to thin and looks which is sand.

Starting city, choice is sand, decided for you is theme. All dev made quests are by definition theme, but the choice to complete them is sand, if that choice is given to you. Many games force you to do quests and some make it so that if you don't you're totally without game play, which is the same to me.

After starting which direction should you travel in? If you're told, or guided that's theme park, if it's open and free then that's Sand.

Can you build things or destroy things, both are sand, but imagine if you could destroy every building and tree in a starting area, that wouldn't be good.

I'll end this now, but to me when I decide if a game is, in my opinion, theme or sand this is how I decide. I look at the features and add up the sand and theme I decide which is dominant, sand or Theme.

It's different for different games, such as I think Eve and SWG were both about even on Sand to theme, but they don't have a lot of common features.

nariusseldon

Why don't we start with what is a MMO?

*duck for cover*