General Discussion

Originally posted by Balkin31

I prefer the longevity of a persistant world.  Every MMO I have played that was a sandbox I played for years. Every theme park game I have played I barely lasted a few months with the exception of WOW, and that was only because I played it with my kids.

 

 

Could you share what kept you playing? 

Originally posted by SupderD

.. It's funny.. the majority is "Sandbox" but in actuality..

It's themepark (just look at the subs folks)..

when was the last quality sandbox game?

centuries ago.

Originally posted by MasterCrysis

Originally posted by Zarraa

Originally posted by Capn23

I think too extreme of a sandbox would fail and too extreme of a theme park would fail. 

You have to find a good balance of both.

 

I respectfully disagree, WOW is the biggest selling MMO on the planet and it's extreme Theme Park. Outside of UO & old school SWG, I've seen few examples of an succcesfull extreme sandbox MMO.

While I agree a balance would be nice, I've yet to see a true middle ground struck.

 

I've seen to few examples of a successful extreme theme park. WoW is the only 1 that comes to mind. yet you've already named more successful sandbox games, and haven't named L2 or AO.

you could go as far as saying Everquest was an extreme theme park mmo, I never played it, but am told theres quite a few sandbox elements mixed in as well.

EQ was in no way a "theme park MMO" IMO it was second only to UO in difficulty level.  EQ had a few sandbox elements however having been direct decendents of MUDs most old school MMO's did.

 How many of these threads do we need on a daily basis??

MMO gamers want Sandbox. All we get is Theme Parks. Obviously there are more sub for theme park games, because that's all there is to play anymore.

Companies are too busy trying to make the next WoW clone to realise that there is a huge fucking market just waiting to be tapped.

The funny thing is, some indy developers are going to make a killer sandbox game, and get stinking rich, and the suits are going to be scratching their heads wondering "WTF??"

Originally posted by SupderD

.. It's funny.. the majority is "Sandbox" but in actuality..

It's themepark (just look at the subs folks)..

Yep, but I believe that's not because of the themepark design, but because of the polish and filled content.  WOW is tops in polish and filled content.

Competitors to themepark games often have crappy buggy implementations and fail because of those reasons.  However, the naysayers will say these games failed because they were sandbox, when that is really not the reason.

Originally posted by pencilrick

Originally posted by SupderD

.. It's funny.. the majority is "Sandbox" but in actuality..

It's themepark (just look at the subs folks)..

 

Yep, but I believe that's not because of the themepark design, but because of the polish and filled content.  WOW is tops in polish and filled content.

Competitors to themepark games often have crappy buggy implementations and fail because of those reasons.  However, the naysayers will say these games failed because they were sandbox, when that is really not the reason.

Thing is.. Theme park games.. HAVE more subs than Sandbox games.. just do a life time comparison.. So, while the majority might say Sandbox.. the majority will PLAY a themepark game.. and get bored with sandbox if they don't know what to do.. Hell.. the treadmill in WoW just keeps going.. and going..

Originally posted by SupderD

Originally posted by pencilrick

Originally posted by SupderD

.. It's funny.. the majority is "Sandbox" but in actuality..

It's themepark (just look at the subs folks)..

 

Yep, but I believe that's not because of the themepark design, but because of the polish and filled content.  WOW is tops in polish and filled content.

Competitors to themepark games often have crappy buggy implementations and fail because of those reasons.  However, the naysayers will say these games failed because they were sandbox, when that is really not the reason.

 

Thing is.. Theme park games.. HAVE more subs than Sandbox games.. just do a life time comparison.. So, while the majority might say Sandbox.. the majority will PLAY a themepark game.. and get bored with sandbox if they don't know what to do.. Hell.. the treadmill in WoW just keeps going.. and going..

-=sigh=-

because there are more theme park games to HAVE subs.

And I venture that people get bored with theme park games because there is NOT ENOUGH to do.

Lemme see...quest....pvp (in an instance no less...bleh), or raid. Gee....no wonder people get bored and go back to WoW, and these games continue to fucking bomb. There isn't shit to do.

And please..let me let you in on a little secret...just because a game leans toward being a sandbox, does NOT mean that it cannot have good quests, and the like. It simply means that you have the option of doing so much more.

More content = good, unless you really are a human hamster who needs his wheel.

I want a rich sandbox environment. Just look on all the toys in there..

Originally posted by Wharmaster

Originally posted by SupderD

Originally posted by pencilrick

Originally posted by SupderD

.. It's funny.. the majority is "Sandbox" but in actuality..

It's themepark (just look at