Quote Originally Posted by gifthorse View Post
developers should change their design philosophy from that of "give players something to do" to instead "give players the tools to make something to do."
Totally agree. In fact, that's always been my problem with most "sandbox" games. Like in Star Wars Galaxies or Darkfall or any of the other ones -- I'd jump in, think the idea is cool, but then realize there's nothing but sand (though SWG was still a great experience).

I like games that give players the freedom to do what they want, but players do need to be given more tools to create their own stories.

As difficult as it would be to add those sorts of things into a game (especially one that's already been released), doing so would mean the game and its players could create their own content without any further intervention from the devs, and would ultimately add to the longevity of the game.

And, really, it all comes back to "games" vs "worlds." Most MMOs don't reach their full potential because they're just online games. Ultima Online, EVE Online (which is a great example of a game in which the majority of its content is player-created), and yeah, even SWG at least felt like worlds. WoW, EQ, and I suppose FFXIV at this point just feel like online games.

Player housing, fleshing out linkshells/guilds to have a ton of management options, politics, territory control, crafting (perhaps opening up the whole wards thing to allow players to create their own shops, etc.) -- all those sorts of things add to the "world," and give players avenues to create their own content.