MMO on Rails

[yukikaze_yanagi]

I think it's pretty damn rich, though, how in that same China Joy interview, Yoshi P completely shrugs off ArcheAge as "just another Korean MMO", when in reality, it looks to be the only upcoming game which really invests time into developing content where players can create gameplay around what THEY want to do, not just what the game tells them to.

That's the definition of sandbox, and we know this game is in direction of theme park.
Btw, sandboxes aren't wonderful all they time: they are very difficult to balance and if something goes wrong, the game will folllow. that's a reason why sandbox are so few

[Duelle]

That's the definition of sandbox, and we know this game is in direction of theme park.
Btw, sandboxes aren't wonderful all they time: they are very difficult to balance and if something goes wrong, the game will folllow. that's a reason why sandbox are so few

This. Sandbox MMOs are insanely difficult to balance because of the "freedom" that entails them. There's things that have to be left open for design purposes that can get abused. Likewise, it's a timesink-dependent model because of the simple fact that the game itself would have no clear direction. Sandbox is basically "here is the world. Live in it". Theme park is more along the lines of "here is the world, and this is your story/task/adventure".

PS: Well, damn, I forgot to look at who the OP was...