Re: Achaea nominated in Massively's Third Frindie Awards
It's a loosely-defined term in the MMO space referring to games that are 'worldy' and don't have the player on a fairly well-defined course of experiences. Games that do the latter are sometimes called 'theme park games'. The term sandbox refers to a literal sandbox that you played in as a kid - it's a blank slate for your imagination. Of course, there are always limitations, whether imposed by genre, game systems, etc, which is why it's a 'loose' term.
Ultima Online, Eve Online are sandboxy, whereas DIKU-inspired games like Everquest or World of Warcraft, and other MMOs like Star Wars: The Old Republic or Lord of the Rings Online, are considered more theme parky.
Theme parky is more popular overall, and is arguably better used to tell an overarching story to individual players or give a more controlled game experience, whereas sandboxy games are arguably better at allowing for roleplaying and emergent content.
Within the games nominated, there's certainly a range of sandbox-y too. Achaea's pretty sandboxy, but less sandbox-y than Second Life, by a wide margin, for instance. (Though I don't think SL is a game either - there are games created in it, but it itself isn't one).
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