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List of Sandbox MMORPGs [Updated: December 18, 2012]

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  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855

    Perpetuum is a sandbox...It's an EVE clone.
    Anarchy Online is a hybrid. It has a lot of features from both TPs and SBs

    As far as defining a TP vs SB.
    It's simple, At endgame, a Sandbox's focus is on building a world. A player's relative power comes from that which he does that persists in the virtual world.

    In a Theme-park, the world is fully established, you can only play in it and have very little influence over it. So player's relative power comes from building his own character.

  • SuraknarSuraknar Member UncommonPosts: 852

    Originally posted by GeezerGamer

    Perpetuum is a sandbox...It's an EVE clone.

    Anarchy Online is a hybrid. It has a lot of features from both TPs and SBs

    As far as defining a TP vs SB.

    It's simple, At endgame, a Sandbox's focus is on building a world. A player's relative power comes from that which he does that persists in the virtual world.

    In a Theme-park, the world is fully established, you can only play in it and have very little influence over it. So player's relative power comes from building his own character.

    So in other words, TP is a Guided Experience, where the player has no decision to make in relation to the world, and SB is an Open Ended experience where the player makes decisions in relation to the world.

    Both could have Housing in reality both could share a number of other features.

     

     

    - Duke Suraknar -
    Order of the Silver Star, OSS

    ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
  • DoralDoral Member Posts: 1

    About as sandbox as it gets.

    This game was started by Rolf Jansson and Markus Persson (Notch of Minecraft Fame) Alot of new features are going in at the moment. 

    http://www.wurmonline.com


    • Explore huge, diverse landmasses extending over 512sq km in total

    • Make your home on either the PvP or PvE server

    • Craft and use thousands of unique items

    • Wage war on other kingdoms, and lead yours to victory

    • Hunt creatures such as the unique red dragon, forest giant, kyklops, troll king and others!

    • Discover and fight over religious artifacts on the PvP server

    • Modify the terrain; dig, raise, flatten and sculpt the land around you!

    • Capture and breed animals from the environment

    • Train 114 Skills, 10 Player Characteristics, and 3 Religion Characteristics

    • Follow one of four unique deities and religions.

    • Become a priest or champion of your religion and learn powerful spells and enchantments.

    • Choose one of five meditation paths and take advantage of special meditation abilities

    • Earn as many of our 200+ skill and achievement titles as you have time for!

    • Mount various creatures, from horses and carts to unicorns, bears and even dragons!

    • Construct, crew or even captain seven different ship types, from small rowing boats to impressive caravels with other players

    • Build a variety of structures, from guard towers to stone houses to fences and statues.

    • Found your own settlement wherever you desire; own land, build a farm, a castle, or perhaps an entire village!

    • Pave roads and plant signs to improve local infrastructure and by connecting settlements

    • Live off the land by creating fields to farm a variety of crops including potatoes, garlic, cotton, wheat, pumpkins and more!

    • Cook food using a huge range of ingredients

    • ...and much more!



     

  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855


    Originally posted by Suraknar

    Originally posted by GeezerGamer
    Perpetuum is a sandbox...It's an EVE clone.
    Anarchy Online is a hybrid. It has a lot of features from both TPs and SBs
    As far as defining a TP vs SB.
    It's simple, At endgame, a Sandbox's focus is on building a world. A player's relative power comes from that which he does that persists in the virtual world.
    In a Theme-park, the world is fully established, you can only play in it and have very little influence over it. So player's relative power comes from building his own character.
    So in other words, TP is a Guided Experience, where the player has no decision to make in relation to the world, and SB is an Open Ended experience where the player makes decisions in relation to the world.
    Both could have Housing in reality both could share a number of other features.
     
     


    I tend to look at it as more of the focus of the game rather than absolutes, but pretty much in a Theme-park the experience is kinda like this: "OK, here's the world, you are welcome to play in it, but you can't change anything." The sandbox, does allow you to make changes in the world and so the world itself has less to offer in terms of what to do. You kinda make that happen for yourself and with others.

    Focus: Sandbox=World, Theme-Park=Character.

  • DragonantisDragonantis Member UncommonPosts: 974
    Nobody mentioned Minecraft :)
  • TharlogTharlog Member Posts: 36
    Don't forget about Wurm Online... god if they only updated the horrid animations it would be my ideal game!
  • Salio69Salio69 Member CommonPosts: 428

    Wakfu is a sandbox.

    someone mentioned ragnarok online, its not. its very linear, especially after the renewal update.

     

     

  • TharlogTharlog Member Posts: 36
    Oh and Xsyon, very sandboxy. No story, player-created quests, indepth building, crafting etc. etc.
  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855

    Also, Mabinogi

  • SuraknarSuraknar Member UncommonPosts: 852

    Originally posted by GeezerGamer

     




    Originally posted by Suraknar





    Originally posted by GeezerGamer

    Perpetuum is a sandbox...It's an EVE clone.

    Anarchy Online is a hybrid. It has a lot of features from both TPs and SBs

    As far as defining a TP vs SB.

    It's simple, At endgame, a Sandbox's focus is on building a world. A player's relative power comes from that which he does that persists in the virtual world.

    In a Theme-park, the world is fully established, you can only play in it and have very little influence over it. So player's relative power comes from building his own character.






    So in other words, TP is a Guided Experience, where the player has no decision to make in relation to the world, and SB is an Open Ended experience where the player makes decisions in relation to the world.

    Both could have Housing in reality both could share a number of other features.

     

     






    I tend to look at it as more of the focus of the game rather than absolutes, but pretty much in a Theme-park the experience is kinda like this: "OK, here's the world, you are welcome to play in it, but you can't change anything." The sandbox, does allow you to make changes in the world and so the world itself has less to offer in terms of what to do. You kinda make that happen for yourself and with others.

     

    Focus: Sandbox=World, Theme-Park=Character.

    I will agree with that as well, yes absolutelly!

    This is the "hand on" feeling that one gets from playing one or another type.

    I may on the other hand seem to talk in an "absolutes" fashion simply because the aim here was to find a proper definition that everyone can agree upon, and since after much much discussion for years in thes forums we still (as expressed in the OP), seem to not be able to have a clear definition of what a Sandbox MMO is, and I find that surprising personally because I think, converselly to the statements made abouyt a definition, it is simple and clear...

    - Duke Suraknar -
    Order of the Silver Star, OSS

    ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
  • LarsaLarsa Member Posts: 990

    Updated the OP.


    • added Perpetuum, Uncharted Waters Online and Wurm to the list (stupid me: how could I have forgotten Wurm and UWO, I even played both games).

    • changed the text about sandbox features to include open-ended gameplay. Also added text to make some points clearer (I hope).

    I will have to look at some suggested games, notably Fallen Earth, Mabinogi and Wakfu, I didn't play any of them. Opinions welcome. I tend not to include games that could be considered hybrids, like for example Vanguard or Asheron's Call (don't really know how AC is these days). Let someone else make a list of hybrids. :)

    Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

    [Edit: Also changed the word "games" to "MMORPGs" a few times so that it's clearer that this is a list of sandbox MMORPGs. :)]

    I maintain this List of Sandbox MMORPGs. Please post or send PM for corrections and suggestions.

  • EmrendilEmrendil Member Posts: 199

    Originally posted by Dragonantis

    Nobody mentioned Minecraft :)

    I was just about to say that :)

  • LarsaLarsa Member Posts: 990

    Originally posted by Emrendil

    Originally posted by Dragonantis

    Nobody mentioned Minecraft :)

    I was just about to say that :)

    I'm rather uneducated about Minecraft. Is Minecraft an MMORPG? This is an honest question, I really don't know.

    Someone earlier in this thread suggested Risen 3. I don't think that's an MMORPG as well.

    Edit: Granted, the thread title mentions "sandbox games" and not MMORPGs, maybe I should change that. :)

    I maintain this List of Sandbox MMORPGs. Please post or send PM for corrections and suggestions.

  • MithrandolirMithrandolir Member UncommonPosts: 1,701

    Originally posted by Tharlog

    Don't forget about Wurm Online... god if they only updated the horrid animations it would be my ideal game!

    Same here. I don't need fancy graphics... I prefer raw graphics like AC1 and Istaria, and Wurm.. but Wurm not only needs better animations, it just plain needs SOME animations in most cases. It could also use a few different player skins. Other than that, it's a great sandbox experience.

  • ShariShari Member UncommonPosts: 746
    Link Realms

    image

  • AxehiltAxehilt Member RarePosts: 10,504

    That definition of sandbox isn't really what the original users of the word intended.

    The entire point is delineating between games where the player chooses between "rides" (themeparks) and games where the player shapes the world (sandbox.)  Unless a feature lets the player manipulate the world in some way, it's not really a sandbox trait.

    ...so most of the list is just "features often found in sandboxes", not "features that make something sandbox."

    "What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver

  • SuraknarSuraknar Member UncommonPosts: 852

    Originally posted by Axehilt

    That definition of sandbox isn't really what the original users of the word intended.

    The entire point is delineating between games where the player chooses between "rides" (themeparks) and games where the player shapes the world (sandbox.)  Unless a feature lets the player manipulate the world in some way, it's not really a sandbox trait.

    ...so most of the list is just "features often found in sandboxes", not "features that make something sandbox."

    I agree with you Axehilt.

    But most people will compare features, if it has FFA PvP and Loot...it must be sanbox...

    In reality this is a Lower level (in a graph) PoV, and the difference in my view lies in a higher level.

    Because a Themepark could have FFA PvP with loot, it may not be as fun since most of the Lowbies will get slaughtered and looted..but it is not an intrinsic Sandbox feature, same goes for Housing.

    So while I do really like Larsa's thread and efforts here, the approach to qualify a Game as a Sandbox or not based only on the number of Sandbox Features it contains, may not be it.

    I understand however that since most people see it like that it maybe the more sensible approach, yet at the same time someone could make a Themepark game and pass it as a Sandbox his way while in reality it may not be.

     

    A few words on Shaping the world, in the strict sense, Minecraft as a game would be the Ideal Sanbox, you can dig a hole on the ground rechape complete mountens etc etc.

    But, reshaping the world can be done though other ways, not requiring physical alteration of the environment.

    Lets take for Example UO, there is no doubt that UO is a Sandbox game, yet one cannot reshape the environment physically like Minecraft. But the environment can be altered by Housing and the Communities around it and inside it.

    Where there was just a Forest, someone may have now built a Medium House, and Opened a tavern or an Inn, all of the sudden that Wild part of the world becomes a Social Hotspot with many people coming and going and interacting together. This is no longer a wild spot of Forest where only wildlife wanders in. That piece of the world was changed by the actions of the players.

    Ultimatelly however, this very same action could happen in a Themepark game too, it is just that it has not been within the vision of any Themepark devellopers in most of the games.

    So even "the capacity to reshape the world" does not necessarilly make a game (an MMO), Sandbox, in my opinion, or Minecraft a Sandbox. What makes Minecraft a Sandbox is that you could do the reshaping everywhere from the first instance that you log in to its world freely without constraints or the game telling you where to go or a path to follow.

    Open Ended gameplay, like for instance, "Mount and Blade", but in an MMO is in my opinion the stronges element that makes the difference.

    In such a game the player could operate and interact in any point of the world from day one, it is open ended, meaning there is no predefined Progression Path to follow for the character.

    The player makes their own Path for their Character in the world as the player sees fit and based on their own decisions, and each game session can be completelly different and never the same. The game Environment is designed in such a way as to permit for this to happen...

    In UO I could start in Minoc, or Britain, but decide to walk to Trinsic and establish my self there on day one, with newbie skills and all and still have an experience, nothing in the game prevents one to have that Freedom.

    And that is what freedom is about, which, btw, constitutes another important element of a Sandbox. Open Ended gameplay implies Freedom. Conversely, in a Themepark you are not Free to be anywhere, you have to follow and explore the world and opperate in it according to the established progression path.

    - Duke Suraknar -
    Order of the Silver Star, OSS

    ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
  • LarsaLarsa Member Posts: 990

    Originally posted by Shari

    Link Realms

    As I understand it Link Realms is not released but rather in a (continuous?) state of beta. Granted, one could say the same about quite some games ...

    Anyway, I wanted to list games that people can play now (after all that's the purpose of the thread), and thus I exclude games where one has to apply for beta. Sorry. Happy to list it when it gets released.

    I maintain this List of Sandbox MMORPGs. Please post or send PM for corrections and suggestions.

  • NildenNilden Member EpicPosts: 3,916

    http://minecraft-server-list.com/

    Every server type you could imagine under the sun. Play single player or create your own server. You can find servers with 400+ people. How this game is not listed on MMORPG.com when games like Diablo 3, League of Legends etc are is just mind boggling.

    Minecraft is huge on youtube and the creations are endless.

    "You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon

    "classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon

    Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer

    Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/ 

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726

    Originally posted by nilden

    http://minecraft-server-list.com/

    Every server type you could imagine under the sun. Play single player or create your own server. You can find servers with 400+ people. How this game is not listed on MMORPG.com when games like Diablo 3, League of Legends etc are is just mind boggling.

    Minecraft is huge on youtube and the creations are endless.

    Minecraft is not a sandbox, it has zero character development.  Cute game, but definitely NOT a sandbox.

  • AxehiltAxehilt Member RarePosts: 10,504

    Originally posted by Ozmodan

    Originally posted by nilden

    http://minecraft-server-list.com/

    Every server type you could imagine under the sun. Play single player or create your own server. You can find servers with 400+ people. How this game is not listed on MMORPG.com when games like Diablo 3, League of Legends etc are is just mind boggling.

    Minecraft is huge on youtube and the creations are endless.

    Minecraft is not a sandbox, it has zero character development.  Cute game, but definitely NOT a sandbox.

    Uh, it's almost the literal textbook definition of a sandbox...

    It quite literally is a sandbox.

    The only thing you could question is whether it's an MMORPG.  But it's very obviously a sandbox.

    "What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver

  • LarsaLarsa Member Posts: 990

    Originally posted by Axehilt

    ...

    Uh, it's almost the literal textbook definition of a sandbox...

    It quite literally is a sandbox.

    The only thing you could question is whether it's an MMORPG.  But it's very obviously a sandbox.

    Yes, that is my opinion too. It certainly is a sandbox, but not an MMORPG in my opinion.

    I maintain this List of Sandbox MMORPGs. Please post or send PM for corrections and suggestions.

  • NildenNilden Member EpicPosts: 3,916

    Originally posted by Larsa

    Originally posted by Axehilt

    ...

    Uh, it's almost the literal textbook definition of a sandbox...

    It quite literally is a sandbox.

    The only thing you could question is whether it's an MMORPG.  But it's very obviously a sandbox.

    Yes, that is my opinion too. It certainly is a sandbox, but not an MMORPG in my opinion.

    It's more of an MMORPG than Global Agenda, League of Legends, Diablo 3, DOTA or Dota 2, all of which are listed on this site. It has literally thousands of servers that support over 100+ people.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-vM2GDgMrE

    Yea watch that, not an mmorpg...

    "You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon

    "classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon

    Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer

    Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/ 

  • MMOExposedMMOExposed Member RarePosts: 7,384

    Originally posted by nilden

    http://minecraft-server-list.com/

    Every server type you could imagine under the sun. Play single player or create your own server. You can find servers with 400+ people. How this game is not listed on MMORPG.com when games like Diablo 3, League of Legends etc are is just mind boggling.

    Minecraft is huge on youtube and the creations are endless.

    wow I havnt played Minecraft the original game only IOS/Android versions.

     

    but I am interested. How does Multiplayer work?

    Philosophy of MMO Game Design

  • NildenNilden Member EpicPosts: 3,916

    Originally posted by MMOExposed

    Originally posted by nilden

    http://minecraft-server-list.com/

    Every server type you could imagine under the sun. Play single player or create your own server. You can find servers with 400+ people. How this game is not listed on MMORPG.com when games like Diablo 3, League of Legends etc are is just mind boggling.

    Minecraft is huge on youtube and the creations are endless.

    wow I havnt played Minecraft the original game only IOS/Android versions.

     

    but I am interested. How does Multiplayer work?

    Depends on the server, some are pvp, some are building, some economy, check out the link they have pretty good descriptions.

    "You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon

    "classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon

    Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer

    Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/ 

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