Originally Posted by
Baldur
This man speaks the truth.
To make this post apocalyptic world truly immersive, I think there needs to be a certain degree of savagery. Xsyon has a good idea with the sandbox, but the problem with sandboxes is, you need to have something to do other than just building things for the sake of building things. Otherwise you'll end up with a world full of stuff, but nothing meaningful to do with it. If what I'm hearing is that the point of the game is to hold hands and build straw hats, well then I was very misled by the sales pitch.
Conquest and the meta-game are essential to any good sandbox game as far as I'm concerned. They give life to the world and meaning to your actions, so the things you craft are more than just trophies on the wall. Having solid PvP 'open world' mechanics like looting, limited safe zones, and conquest/destruction mechanics from the beginning of the game launch will make sure that the world builds organically, and maintains its authentic feel.
If all of this is planned for after 'Prelude', then just call Prelude how it is... beta. People will complain and leave the game if they sense 6 months of their hard work threatened, so the crafting side really needs to be balanced so that things can be created and destroyed at a healthy and non-frustrating pace. Communities will arise because hey, it's easier to defend your stuff with 20 people as opposed to 5. And if your 20 person community gets ransacked by a 50 person community, realize that you had a ton of fun anyways and move on to the next goal, or stop playing MMORPGs.