The sandbox I enjoy most is a free browser game - Renaissance Kingdoms

[Foreword: I'm going to try to make you sign up for this game and refer to my Renaissance Kingdoms character - that will earn me 10 pounds ingame for buddy invitation, so I'm not advertising altruistically. I will however give you those 10 pounds if we ever meet in game, which is highly unlikely. But I'm also posting here because I really think this game is a hidden gem.]

So, I forgot who originally introduced me to this game. It was someone from this forum in June 2011. I am talking about Renaissance Kingdoms, a browser game with surprisingly much social content, little compulsion and many possibilities.

Here's my little review from 'inside' the game since I started:

Not *so* much has happened since I started as a vagrant last year. I own two wheat fields now and a bakery, I sell bread on the market, occasionally I travel to other cities for trading purposes too - always in company of course. I made the mistake once and travelled alone, and immediately had my ass handed to me, my stuff stolen, and my body bruised. But I've recovered, I'm back in business, and those pesky robbers are on my revenge list. I don't wanna get my hands dirty on those guys. I might hire someone.

I'm glad I'm back in business. Just in time. There was a revolution in the country north of my hometown, people have been evicted, opposition members are on the run. Those who got away with their lives are in desperate need of bread, and there's so many of them that our bread prices are exploding - good business. Everyone likes bread. I just hope not too many of them will settle here - they'd get voting rights and I'm not too thrilled about getting a new mayor - I do good business with the town hall at the moment.

But if I ever got bored of the high society, I could grab a sword, a shield, lay on the road and beat up travelers. Or run for election. Join the guard. Become the head of church. Or a simple priest. Oh and I don't have a boat yet!

It's a bit hard to explain what Renaissance Kingdoms is about. All you ever need to do is eat and work every day. There are only three stats, strength, intelligence and charisma, and the market is of manageable size. We're talking about a turn-based game with 1 turn per 24 hours. Renaissance Kingdoms is veeery slow. On some days, I only need to spend 20 seconds in this game and I'm done with my stuff. It doesn't bug you with a timer like Ogame or whatever. It's relaxing.

But they basically got that social engine thing right. If you decide to immerse yourself deeper into this world, you'll end up with more goals than just work and eat. You'll find enemies on the roads, friends in the taverns, you'll make plans and execute them together. You can run a town, or a whole country, you can revolt against those who are running it - and you'll probably want to think about some steps twice, as there is permadeath and a dynamic construct of laws and political structures. All made by players.

So there, if you'd like to give it a try, the website is www.renaissancekingdoms.com and if you do decide to sign up, please enter in the registration form that "Kharim" is sponsoring you so I can get 10 pounds ingame extra, har har. If you have any questions, need any help, I'm right here! Sometimes.

And for everyone who's lost and doesn't wanna communicate anyway, there's also a quite enlightening wiki about this game, and the community in this game is usually very helpful. I've never met anyone who didn't want to answer my questions in the tavern.