MMOGs and Sandbox-Style Play

An anonymous reader writes "Why do so few games truly embrace the sandbox metaphor? The folks at GamersWithJobs have their own opinions, and think that MMOGs may be replacing The Sims as the center of the 'emergent gameplay' movement. From the article: 'I don't know if it's a function of age, or experience or perhaps just changing tastes, but my favorite games are increasingly the ones where I can find my own methods of play. I loved that Dead Rising simply gave me a maul, a chainsaw and an army of zombies. Perhaps my love of MMOs is as much related to the opportunity to explore and adventure on my own as any actual construction of gameplay.'"

Comments

Re:Star Wars: Galaxies

[Tackhead]

> I think SOE handled the whole game badly

In other news, poster also describes the Grand Canyon is a "ditch", and the the act of drawing the Virgo Supercluster through a trillion light-year section of buckytube as "suck".

I, for one, welcome our understated overlords.

Re:So, typo or not?

[skroz]

Is this a typo, a clever play on words, or an unintended pun?

Absolutely.

Re:Star Wars: Galaxies

[Null537]

When Star Wars: Galaxies first came out it was more of a sandbox game

Well, you were on Tatooine.

Re:Sandboxes aren't fun

[ChaosDiscord]

Thats why most games don't embrace it- because most gamers (not all, but most) don't want it.

Which is, of course, why The Sims, the ultimate sandbox game, has been a catastrophic financial failure. I have no idea why they keep releasing more expansions into that money pit.

I pity the companies that invested in games with strong sandbox components like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivian, and Simcity. Those poor fools are just throwing good money after bad.