Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
What makes a "Quest" more sandbox vs more themepark?
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,387
Skyrim is considered a big hit sandbox around this parts. It has some quest, but what is it that makes these
Sandbox quest what they are?
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Comments
Sandbox mmorpgs generally aren't quest centric.
As far as the quest itself there is no difference.
skyrim=single player rpg its quest driven but not limited so I would say its a hybrid but single player negates the mmo part
In themeparks quests tend to be the driving force, and often only path, for character progression.
In sandboxes quests are just another thing to do while living in a virtual world.
In themeparks quests are THE GAME, in sandboxes being in the virtual world is the game and quests are just something to do.
The design of quest Is difference between offline RPG like skyrim and MMORPG.
Heavy instance themepark , everyone do they own quests , no one step on other khajiit's tail .
Sandbox quest : quest pop out , first one finish it get the reward , the late get nothing.
For example if skyrim are sandbox mmorpg :
Ysolda need some "Mammoth Tusk" ,
first player bring tusks to her get some gold reward
quest disappear , no one can do it > game world change by action of one player > sandbox
Of course Ysolda will need some tusk again so quest will respawn after she use up all tusk again.
It just the concept lol.
Something I have never quite understood, WoW is pretty much the big bad scary themepark game, right? Well, I don't get it, I have never fealt that I must quest in WoW (with the exception of the Goblin, Worgen and Pandaren starter zones) there is nowhere that forces you to do quests. There are plenty of choices at every level to grind xp and there are alternate activities to questing. So what really makes WoW more or less sandbox, when you can simply ignore the quests?
The problem is the whole Sandbox thing is so confusing and underdefined that no one can seem to say concretely what a sandbox game is.
Help support an artist and gamer who has lost his tools to create and play: http://www.gofundme.com/u63nzcgk
Let me give this a shot.
i played a MMO back in the day that had quest like this. is it a sandbox? who knows, what really is a sandbox? everybody has a different opinion on what it is. But i will share how questing was in this game, most will probably bash it but what ever.
You log on and go search the land, there are portals throughout the land and inside these portals are non linear non instanced dungeons. you go inside not knowing wtf is in there and try to work your way to the bottom, there could be jumps over acid pits, there could be locked doors and you need to find a lever to open it or a key off a mob to open it. or maybe you need lock pick to open it, who knows?
I can tell you who knows, other players that have been in there. thats how you got your quest info, from other players who have been in there before. Then there were more epic quest for weapons and such, how do you know about this quest? you talk to a NPC outside any town called a town crier and he gave you hints. then you figure it out and search the land for shit he was talking about.
Or you can ask other players who have figured it out " gasp " i know right? asking others??? crasy shit... anyways There wasnt any log in see the npc with the magic shinny thing over his head so you can set out on your epic journey to deliver mail to other npcs or collect rat tails. You were in a world with others searching the land for places, meeting new people and helping each other out.
Todays MMO quest, log in grab all quest in the little town skip past all the text bs. head out to the X on the map, kill, collect, what ever. head back to NPC off to next little town for the same thing. other players are just in your way, its all done faster solo, and you only really " need " people for when your doing whats called a " group quest " wich is most of the time run over to the X kill a harder mob OR go into a linear dungeon that a monkey cant get lost in and kill a harder mob in that. yay fun !
Concretely saying what it is, sure, kinda difficult. But not impossible.
As far as wow is concerned, sure you could go grind mobs, but the mobs are typically there to fill the themepark. There are murlocs right here and a quest to kill the murlocs right there. There are bandits right here, and a quest to kill them. The game isn't a living world. The quests and world define each other in a linear and bland way.
Now, a quest to go kill the defias when the defias weren't 10 feet to the right, but instead in a secret lair, that you didn't know the location of. Or as a random spawn somewhere in an OPEN wilds... that'd be ok. But when the zone is essentially a bent up line that you follow from quest>objective/quest>objective. Thats what's lame.
Unfortunately quests aren't really he issue with most themeparks, it's the linearity. Even if you don't follow the quest chain, you're still going to be following the same path. Sure as a 45 warrior you didn't pick up the quest that the nearby 45 paladin did, but you're still killing the same mob because the game is a themepark, on rails, and doesn't really have much else going on for it. There was ZERO incentive for exploration, (lol.... if you call it exploration in wow) and little to no incentive to do anything else.
You, of course, are talking of asherons call.
I find so much irony in that the game everyone on these forums tends to be screaming for is actually... asherons call. Open world, sandbox, quests, random loot, awesome crafting, unique story, non-linear progression, valuable exploration, random spawns, non-instanced dungeons, lootable pk, open world pvp, etc.
The game exists, but its so dated that people won't play it and wow was so successful that no devs will risk anything otherwise to recreate it. An updated graphics and combat engine on asherons call would make the most successful MMO post-wow to date, and probably for a long time.
A sandbox quest in an mmo is when another player needs you to go kill a bunch of wolves to get pelts so he can craft an item and sell it to another player. That crafter is a player and they pay you for them. The quest is only available as often as the crafter needs them.
A themepark quest is an npc sends you to do the same thing and nothing else ever comes of it but a path to the next quest lights up.
You are right about linearity are main problem of instanced themeparks ,
It like "if you want ride roller coaster , you have to ride merry go round first and you have to go ghost house after ride roller coaster" ,
it suck.
Can't i just jump in ghost house then go back to the merry and strip roller coaster ?
The linear are problem here.
Not sandbox or themepark , the linear ruin the game.
SKYRIM is a sandbox?
It is open world, but you follow the main quest, so nah .. it is not a sandbox.
it sandbox Mr narius ,
each action of player change the world , like you chose to kill paarthurnax and the greybeards will stop support you , or when you chose to become vampire or support dawnguards .
Each action craft the world through player's chose and that's what make a sandbox game , Mr.Narius .
Okay so then I own allot and I mean really allot of singleplayer games that I now should consider sandbox. Since most of my singleplayer games the players actions effects the gameworld.
My bad thinking that some of my games where Open World Games en the rest just linear enjoyable games.
Epic themepark Vs sandbox quest simulator
Collect 10 epic apples.Lvl 99 ,reward Sword +5 (giantslaying)
Themepark: click apples on the ground (50% fail chance),spawn time 1 minute per apple.
Sandbox : kick tree and collect everything in few seconds,use telekinesis ,powers of four winds and make a storm etc.
Paper and pen RPG, kill quest giver and take your sword and continue you adventures.
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014.
**On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
in a sandbox (or least my sandbox) you make your own quests.
in a themepark you go talk to an npc to get a premade quest.
each action of player change the world , like you chose to kill paarthurnax and the greybeards will stop support you , or when you chose to become vampire or support dawnguards .
Each action craft the world through player's chose and that's what make a sandbox game , Mr.Narius .
skyrim is not a sandbox. it's an open-world rpg.
yeah your right AC. I still play it and love to do the quest but being a older game people wont like it because of the dated graphics. but the game itself is still so much better than what i see coming out in 2014. hard to believe nobody has copyed alot from AC. i mean the random loot and crafting system alone is light years ahead of what we see today.
not to mention the character progression its like no other game i have tried.
Themepark MMO= NPC driven, grinding, scripted story. It´s all a show set up for you
Sandbox MMO = player driven, player conflict, owning and influencing the world, and the economy
WoW= Themepark MMO
EvE, Darkfall = Sandbox MMO
That can be said of nearly all single player rpg's. IMO Dark Souls questing is less linear than Skyrim, go grab yourself a copy of Dark Souls 2 and you will see what I mean.
single player RPGs are player driven? Of course they are. There is only one player in the world, he better have the chance to influence the world as he wants.
But many MMOs don´t give the chance, because of lazy design. That´s where the Themeparks come in.
Let´s face it the concept of single player RPG only translates into massive multiplayer, if they make a sandbox MMOs out of it.
Themepark is just a show and you are sitting in the audience, all you can do is clap for the actors, but you can´t walk up and take the role of the King
Which is why sandbox MMOs are niche, and will remain as such for years to come. When folks come home from work, they are looking to be entertained, not to create their own fun, let alone FFA PVP which so many sandboxes demand on having.
This is awesome! With your permission i'd like to use this as my signature, please.