Wednesday 18 April 2012

I updated the list... Again!

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 IntendedUnreleased Link
Entropia Universe Virtual Universe Micro transaction MindArk 2003, 1, 30 Link
Embers of Caerus Fantasy RPG UnreleasedForsaken 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.

Monday 16 April 2012

I updated the list!


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. :)





Thursday 12 April 2012

Sandbox and Themepark



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!











Wednesday 11 April 2012

The first of many!


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!