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Well looking at the list of the most hyped MMOs in development the top 6 are Sandboxes.
Popular IPs like TES and Neverwinter can't even match the popularity of Earthrise(what?) and Darkfall, which are old games repackaged.
And the Top spot is taken by a Korean MMO which is not even released in its original country and which might take another 2 years to get to the NA/EU/OZ, how crazy is that?
Is it that the members of this site are actually Sandboxers at heart or maybe people are truly bored of Themeparks (TESO/Neverwinter to name few)?
Personally I would pay $15 a month to play the Korean Beta of Archeage.........and I am deadly serious
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currently playing: DDO, AOC, WoT, P101
Not one of those games mentioned are even on my list of stuff tha I am even interested in at all. So no I am still playing my eq2. None of those new games are not interesting to me, and earthrise the 2nd go around has even less appeal than the first time.
Paying for a korean mmo no thanks.
But themeparks that are different I enjoy, had some fun with tsw and gw2, currently playing ps2
That was my thought, confirmed by SoE move to make a Sandbox MMO.
If even SoE start to mention the word "Sandbox", maybe something is really changing.
I really hope that Zenimax do not go ahead with World of Tamriel and makes at least an hybrid, I would die inside if TESO will end up being another SWTOR with elves
The mainstream in entertainment is pretty broad, even if we are told otherwise on a daily basis, look at reality shows.
I dont think people choose much based solely on the decription "themepark" or "sandbox", the game simply features things they like to do, or not. The game may even feature things they WANT to do, but dont like to do, which i think is one of the faults of the "new wow" mmo design.
We just had several years where a part of the gamers (and we might argue till tomorrow about the numbers) had no real outlet apart of old and indie mmorpgs, and i hope the managers started noticing and it is not a fad, "wow, now with a sandbox!".
Flame on!
That would have been my answer 1 year ago.
You know what is funny, that I hated Korean MMOs before Archeage, and I used them as an example on how not to make a MMO.
In 10 years "career" the only Korean (or Asian) MMO I spent money on so far is Tera, generally I unistall them within few hours.
So the fact that today the game I am most excited about is Archeage, surprise more myself than anything.
I am truly fed up of doing what developers want me to do in their game, I really need some freedom
I believe that EQ3 will change the MMO industry, if Smedley is not talking BS as his usual (promising a Sandbox and delivering Hello Kitty Online).
The future is bright, the future is Sandbox.
That would have been my answer 1 year ago.
You know what is funny, that I hated Korean MMOs before Archeage, and I used them as an example on how not to make a MMO.
In 10 years "career" the only Korean (or Asian) MMO I spent money on so far is Tera, generally I unistall them within few hours.
So the fact that today the game I am most excited about is Archeage, surprise more myself than anything.
I am truly fed up of doing what developers want me to do in their game, I really need some freedom
I believe that EQ3 will change the MMO industry, if Smedley is not talking BS as his usual (promising a Sandbox and delivering Hello Kitty Online).
The future is bright, the future is Sandbox.
Oh you've played archage? If not it sounds like you've been swayed by the hype bug big time.
Ok guys, the general consensus in the replies I read so far is that people would play anything that is good, it doesn't matter if it is Sandbox or a Themepark
Fair enough, that's my thought too.
At the moment I am playing EVE and EQ2, waiting for Darkfall (and played WoW for 3 years).
My point was though, today, it seems there is an overwhelming popularity of Sandboxes over Themeparks, and that taking into account there are 2 big IPs in development like TESO and Neverwinter, yet they do not seem to attract the same enthusiasm of SWTOR or GW2.
GW2 was stable number 1 for almost 2 years, and SWTOR between number 2-3
Even TSW was top 5 for a year.
Yet today people are actually hyping down titles like TESO
Something must have really changed
Raquelis in various games
Played: Everything
Playing: Nioh 2, Civ6
Wants: The World
Anticipating: Everquest Next Crowfall, Pantheon, Elden Ring
The Pendulum shifts one way too far then it shifts the other way.
Themeparks have gotten stale, Tab targeting, Quest that guide you by the hand, fast leveling so you end up playing two years of endgame. (Don't get me wrong, I love a well made theme park)
Now the Pendulum is shifting and will go way too far the other way. 8 years from now people will be complaining about how Sandboxes are stale and boing and themeparks are the way to go.
That is actually the point of my thread, it looks like people are willing to follow the hype bandwagon as long as the game has the Sandbox badge on the box, even if they never played the game.
Which means that people are actually fedup with Themeparks and they are desperate for anything that has some kind of freedom in it.
Personally though, I do not follow hype trends............I just read a lot and I make up my mind.
I am one of the first 10 people who hyped Archeage in this site, so I wasn't following any hype..........I just read the game features and I fallen in love.
Same for any other MMO I played (or I was interested in)
I read SWTOR features when it was still on the drawing board and I predicted that it would bomb because of the Storyline which IMO is not suited for MMO games.......and it did bomb
I did the same with TSW and I wasn't wrong either
I said GW2 was going to be a reasonable success, and it was.
I do not need to follow the Hype bandwagon, generally I am pretty good at spotting a good game from a mediocre one by reading the feature lists and the developers interview
As an example, Matt Firor is a Goldmine of bullshit. You do not need to play TESO to predict it is NOT going to retain the 2 Million players who will buy the game on release).
I can tell you that, as it is now, TESO will bomb......and no I didn't play the Alpha (I have a very long list of reason why this game won't work)
Not trying to say that I can read into the future but that not everyone follows the hype bandwagon.
While I do agree, I'm also in much need for a good sandbox MMORPG.
I do not want to play a sandbox MMORPG just for it's feature's. It's needs to be a complete package. I know there are quite a few sandbox MMORPG's but it's either the visuals/setting that don't atract me or it's the FL FFA PVP type of MMORPG. While I do feel that in a sandbox MMORPG should have FL FFA PVP but it should be optional, else I still feel the developers dictate how I should play instead of actually playing how I want to play. I have singleplayer games already covering that area of my gaming habbit.
To me a sandbox game should be about being able to do so many things which all should be optional and not forced upon you like how it is with "most" Themepark games.
But with that said I still can enjoy any type of MMORPG. Just hungry for a great AAA tittle sandbox MMORPG.
Bored people. Half of the people (or even more ;-) posting on these sandbox threads have never played a sandbox, couldn't survive in a sandbox game for more than 2 hours and are just throwing a word around. Heck, plenty of people called GW2 a sandbox.
Frankly, they don't know better. I see them in Wurm every day.
Newbie: "Help, what should I do now?"
Old player: "What do you want to do?"
Newbie: "I don't know. LOLOLOL. Where can I kill stuff? "
I maintain this List of Sandbox MMORPGs. Please post or send PM for corrections and suggestions.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
A good sandbox is hard to do because game devs want to control what players do.
Ultimately a true sandbox will have the people who can play 24/7 bossing around those who cannot. And that's okay. The dynamics of people interacting in a virtual world for control with no rules but a robust set of features would be super fun.
Wait, you trust Smedley?
Playing: MWO
Waiting For: Star Citizen
This site has been for a very long time in favor of sandbox games. The question is, are those games going to get the numbers of themeparks? I have my doubts. most of them won't reach aaa themepark quality and will be abandoned just as fast as all other games.
besides we all know that people here can't decide what a snadbox even is. Each of those games will lack 1 or 2 "the most importand feature ever" and they will be back to complaining how no one knows how to make good games.