The Sandbox MMO Observer

I updated the list... Again!

2012-04-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

And hey, now it actually looks like a proper list, there's still some work to be done though, i'm having some trouble with javascript and blogspot so the list won't be sortable until i figure out what's wrong, shouldn't take an eternity though. Regardless, i'm pleased with how it looks so far and it should be done before too long.

Feel free to drop a comment or a mail if you think i miss a title, it would be much appreciated.

Without further ado, here's the list in all it's unsortable glory:

Game	Genre	Payment	Publisher	Release	Website
A Tale in the Desert	Historical RPG	Free to Play	eGenesis	2003, 2, 15	Link
Anarchy Online	Science Fiction	Free to Play	Funcom	2001, 6, 27	Link
APB Reloaded	Shooter	Free to Play	K2 Network	2010, 11, 11	Link
ArcheAge	Fantasy RPG	Unreleased	XL Games	Unreleased	Link
Auteria	Indie RPG	Free to Play	Huehn-software	Open Beta	Link
Bounty Bay Online	Historical RPG	Free to Play	Frogster	2007, 8, 14	Link
Darkfall Online	Fantasy RPG	Subscription	Audiovisual Enterprises SA	2009, 2, 26	Link
Dawntide	Indie RPG	Unreleased	Working As Intended	Unreleased	Link
Entropia Universe	Virtual Universe	Micro transaction	MindArk	2003, 1, 30	Link
Embers of Caerus	Fantasy RPG	Unreleased	Forsaken Studios	Unreleased	Link
Eve Online	Science Fiction	Subscription	CCP Games	2003, 5, 6	Link
Face of Mankind	Science Fiction	Free to Play or Subscription	Nexeon Technologies	2009, 12, 29	Link
Fallen Earth	Post-Apocalyptic Shooter	Free to Play	K2 Network	2009, 9, 22	Link
FireFly Universe Online	Science-Fiction	Unreleased	Dark Cryo Entertainment	Unreleased	Link
Haven & Hearth	Indie, RPG	Optional Donation	Seatribe	Open Alpha	Link
Infinity: The Quest for Earth	Indie, Science-Fiction	Unreleased	I-Novae Studios	Unreleased	Link
Islands of War	Fantasy RPG	Unreleased	Neojac Entertainment	Open Beta	Link
Life is Feudal	Indie, Fantasy	Subscription	Vladimir aka "Bobik"	Closed Alpha	Link
Lime Odyssey	Anime RPG	Free to Play	Aeria Games	Closed Alpha	Link
Linkrealms	Indie, RPG	Free to Play	Mythyn Interactive, LLC	Closed Beta	Link
Mabinogi	Fantasy RPG	Free to Play	Nexon	2004, 6, 22	Link
Mortal Online	Fantasy RPG	Subscription	Star Vault	2010, 6, 9	Link
Neverdaunt	Indie, Virtual Playground	Free to Play	RobotLovesKitty	Open Beta	Link
Origins of Malu	Fantasy RPG	Unreleased	Burning Dog Media	Unreleased	Link
Pathfinder Online	Fantasy RPG	Unreleased	Goblinworks	Unreleased	Link
Perpetuum Online	Sience Fiction	Subscription	Avatar Creations Ltd.	2010, 11, 25	Link
The Repopulation	Science-Fiction	Unreleased	Above and Beyond Technologies	Closed Alpha	Link
Roblox	Virtual Playground	Free to Play	Roblox Corporation	2005, 6, 24	Link
Ryzom	Science Fantasy	Free to Play	Winch Gate	2004, 9, 16	Link
Salem	Indie, Fantastical Historical	Free to Play	Seatribe	Closed Beta	Link
Savage Horizon	Fantasy RPG	Unreleased	Snail Game	Unreleased	Link
Second Life	Virtual World	Free to Play	Linden Research, Inc.	2003, 6, 23	Link
Shores of Hazeron	Science-Fiction	Free to Play	Software Engineering Inc.	Open Beta	Link
StarQuest Online	Science-Fiction	Subscription	Castle Thorn Software LLC	2007, 9, 21	Link
Ultima Online	Fantasy RPG, 2D	Subscription	Origin Systems	1997, 8, 24	Link
Uncharted Waters Online	Historical RPG	Free to Play	KOEI	2005	Link
Vanguard	Fantasy RPG	Subscription	Sony Online Entertainment	2007, 1, 30	Link
World of Darkness	Horror	Unreleased	CCP Games	Unreleased	Link
Wurm Online	Indie, RPG	Free to Play	Markus Persson	2006, 6, 6	Link
Xsyon	Post-Apocalyptic RPG	Subscription	Notorious Games	2011, 3, 1	Link
Craft of Gods	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed
Earthrise	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed
StarWars Galaxies	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed
World of Wizards	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed

Hopefully this will be of use to people looking for a sandbox MMO - despite the fact that it's a bit messy, it'll be tweaked around until it's pretty and fully functional.

I updated the list!

2012-04-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

So i added and removed a few titles and started putting on some information, it's still a work in progress (and will be so for some time), but at least it's starting to take shape, so I'm quite happy with that - hopefully the list will be relatively 'complete' (practically speaking) by the end of the month, only time will tell!

That's about everything i got for you at the moment - sorry to disappoint if you were hoping for an interesting read, but in that case this probably isn't the blog you're looking for.

Hopefully the list will be a little more useful as of today. :)

Sandbox and Themepark

2012-04-12T03:01:00.001-07:00

I'd really like to get working on my list of sandbox-games out there, but i feel that this post is needed as a bit more of an introduction to the genre before we get to the actual meat of this blog, it's pretty basic and that's why i figured i'd be pretty dumb to skip it; What defines a Sandbox MMO?

Well, as far as I'm concerned, it all comes down to freedom. Freedom to do what you want within any given MMO. In case you're wondering what i mean by 'freedom' I'm going to make a little example with two pretty well-known MMOs.

1st example: World of Warcraft

Right off the bat when you enter the world there's very few options available to you. You'll quickly find that many or all of what you can do in-game is restricted by your character level. This means you need to start the much-dreaded level-grind; killing mobs, doing quests and doing PvP, when you finally reach that sweet maximum level there's a bit more to do, everything is still scripted though and you can't influence or change the world because that's not how the game was made; it was meant for you to enjoy the ride and nothing more, and that is what defines the themepark MMO. Oh, and don't start thinking I'm a senseless hater now just because i said themepark MMOs are restricted, I've played them for a long time and i still do - there is nothing wrong with themepark MMOs. I just want to point out the difference between the themepark and the sandbox.

2nd example: Eve Online

If you come directly from WoW you might wonder where your experience bar is and how long it takes to hit the level cap. You'll quickly come to realise there is no max level, the game leaves you completely alone to explore a vast universe (and by vast I'm quite serious, you will never see 10% of the map, accept that challenge and the joke's on you). You can choose to gather crafting materials, be a trader, settle planets and extract planetary resources, start mass production of spaceships, invent new items or technology, be a mercenary, be a scammer, a con-man, fight for the military and so much more, the choice is yours, you get to choose why you want to play the game - there is no bright marker showing you the way and no definitive end-game goal - for better or worse, this is pretty much the opposite of WoW. Eve has freedom in overwhelming (if not discouraging) amounts at a first glance. This is your definition of a Sandbox MMO (not in the spaceship sense, but in the freedom of choice).

The picture i want to paint here is pretty simple (no shit); You shouldn't ask if a game is or isn't a sandbox game. Instead, you should ask "How much of a sandbox is this game?".

That's my take on that broad concept of a sandbox MMO, I've seen a lot of misconceptions concerning about this genre; like from people thinking a game is a sandbox just because it doesn't have a level grind and vice versa or that it's means the game is F2P (Free to Play). So, in case you didn't already, you will now (hopefully) have a better idea of what it means for a game to be a 'sandbox' title and why you should care.

That's me coming to a close, I'll start working on the list of Sandbox MMOs tomorrow, see you there!

The first of many!

2012-04-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

Hey there, let me just start out by saying that i have absolutely no idea where to start! There's so much i want to cover with this blog, so i figure we're just going to start there; what my goals are with this blog. Well, first of all the main idea behind this currently oh-so-blank blog is to be a relatively comprehensive list of all sandbox and sandboxie MMO's out there (with the first one being the focus). I've found that there's some truly great sandbox games out there, they're just pretty hard to find because a lot of these sandbox games are made my small indie companies that cant afford throwing millions into advertising.

That's the main objective for now; Listing all the sandbox MMO goodness out there, everything from veteran games like Eve Online to upcoming titles such as ArcheAge and Salem. Eventually i'd like to go a bit in-depth with as many titles as possible, pointing out strengths and weaknesses of each title and try to give you a sense of what each title wants to accomplish and how it fares compared to other sandbox MMOs out there (so yeah, essentially a review, but with a focus on what the title is and isnt, rather than a rant about how much i like / dislike the game in question), but that's way down the road.

I should probably also say something about myself; I've been playing computer games for a pretty long time now, over time i've quickly come to favor multiplayer games which, naturally, made me heavily addicted to MMO's (my first being World of Warcraft, like so many other people). I quickly grew frustrated with WoW however; I wanted to have an impact on the world and i wanted to shape my own history, instead of just going through a preset story in the form of yellow exclamation marks dotting the road. That led me to sandbox MMOs i could draw everything out in detail if i felt like it was the sensible thing to do, but this blog is not about me (which is also the reason why i've decided to be anonymous, i like to think that's a way to show that i'm just here to support the blog and not the other way around), and as such we're going to leave it at that; my alias is Sandbox Freak, i've played pretty much every sandbox MMO that's been live over the last 7 years, and i'm confident that i can make it easier for you, my fellow nerd, to find that awesome sandbox multiplayer experience you're looking for.

So, that's the first blogpost almost at an end, in the following days i'll add my list of sandbox games and fiddle with some handy way to make it really easy to find the most basic of info about a bunch of the sandbox MMOs out there.

So long people!

The Sandbox MMO Observer

I updated the list... Again!

Game

Genre

Payment

Publisher

Release

Website

I updated the list!

Sandbox and Themepark

The first of many!