The Butterfly Effect.

Some people will say that in a sandbox you should have no rules. Personally, I think that that is an odd way to go, except perhaps in single-player games. The way I define a sandbox is that a sandbox is a game that gives players choices. A sandbox is a game where the player should have to weigh the pros and cons of a situation and then make a decision based on the information that is avaible.

I think this video best describes what a sandbox game should be like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq2oxt7Nrxo

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrcalhou

Some people will say that in a sandbox you should have no rules. Personally, I think that that is an odd way to go, except perhaps in single-player games. The way I define a sandbox is that a sandbox is a game that gives players choices. A sandbox is a game where the player should have to weigh the pros and cons of a situation and then make a decision based on the information that is avaible.

I think this video best describes what a sandbox game should be like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq2oxt7Nrxo

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yea the old sandbox term is a bit abused these days in favor of Sandbox is all -I- want to do, when -I- want to do it, How -I- want to do it.

Dont bother trying to explain that to some folks, just ends up in a discussion about pvp and alot of flames form all sides :P

I couldn't agree with the two of you more. It'll be nice once the game is up and running so that we can get out there and make things happen! Should quiet the forums down a little bit as well ;)

I hope so, but I'm not so optimistic.

EvE is very cleverly designed game. Thats why it works. It has something for everyone:

1) fly in high sec, do your stuff
2) live like "underdog" in low sec, live like a pirate, or a pirate hunter if thats your thing
3) go into 0.0 and claim part of the universe for yourself

It just...works :)

EDIT: personally i find concept of "safe zone" where new player can get comfortable with the game one of big contributor to the success. New player has to be given a chance to "learn" the game on their own terms, conept of "just throw everyone to the wolves immediately and forget about it" havent yielded good results. If player quit the game before he/she has the chance to experience "butterfly effect", its all in vain.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doc

EvE is very cleverly designed game. Thats why it works. It has something for everyone:

1) fly in high sec, do your stuff
2) live like "underdog" in low sec, live like a pirate, or a pirate hunter if thats your thing
3) go into 0.0 and claim part of the universe for yourself

It just...works :)

EDIT: personally i find concept of "safe zone" where new player can get comfortable with the game one of big contributor to the success. New player has to be given a chance to "learn" the game on their own terms, conept of "just throw everyone to the wolves immediately and forget about it" havent yielded good results. If player quit the game before he/she has the chance to experience "butterfly effect", its all in vain.

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I am of the same belief. Firmly. New players are the life blood of any and every game, and if the new players are the blood, then the veteran players are the heart, pumping the blood around the world. Odd analogy, and possibly creepy, but it fits rather well.

No one wants to shell out cash for a game, log in, only to find themselves immedietely killed by a roving band of experienced players. EvE is one of the extremely successful Sandbox games of its time and is growing in popularity all the time. To quote Otto von Bismark, " A fool learns from his mistakes, but a truly wise man learns from the mistakes of others. " EvE accomplshed what numerous other games have failed to do, and did it in a way that did not discourage new players OR veteran players -- which, these days, is extremely hard to do. I know people, and I myself, have played EvE for years and have still yet to do everything, see everything, and at the same time we have new people coming into our alliance all the time.

Why? I attribute it's success to the initial safe sectors and the high-risk PvP sectors, the ability to play the economy, and of course the sandbox aspect of being able to do just about anything within the game setting -- such as being a pirate in low sec, as you said, or playing the economy, being part of an alliance and waging war for control of 0.0 space, or simply playing casually and mining high-sec. All of these playstyles are ESSENTIAL to the game, and without one aspect, it wouldn't make EvE what it is now.

I really hope to see something similar in Xsyon -- a player driven economy, some measure of ' safe ' tribes for new players, and then the high-risk areas that tribes can wage war over. I've done light coding with a few different programming languages, though, and it is by NO means an easy task. It's pretty crazy how a single variable to change, say, the color code of wood can be wrong and cause the wood to fly around you and explode on contact when clicked.