Sandbox: The Future?

[Jibar]

It's something I've noticed rising slowly in video games. Sandbox gameplay is becoming very popular.
Ever since Grand Theft Auto 3 showed up, bring this idea of one huge space and no rules to the masses, many many games have been released that offer players much the same. Freedom.
Thanks to the success of games like Spiderman 2, Morrowind and Oblivion, the various following Grand Theft Autos and the future promises of games like Prototype and Spore, it seems that the sandbox style is becoming popular.
But it's just the sandbox style, but also the idea of customisation. Games these days will recieve some harsh criticism if they are a linear affair and even the simplest form of customibility is very appreciated.
Many people over in the Zero Punctuation thread, myself included, side with Yahtzee in dismissing JRPGs because of their very predefined gameplay and Western RPGs are praised for their size at times. Oblivion, while not as big as past games, was massive and had a level of detail that wowed first time players. Mass Effect built an entire galaxy, and while much of it was unexplorable, the parts that were were huge as well. Every planet had a lot of attention put towards it to make it very believable.
Freedom is on the march it seems, and sandbox looks like it will soon be very big.
I love sandbox gameplay, and I have too many good memories of simply swinging around New York City in Spiderman 2, but what do you think? Sandbox, good or bad?

[Oregano]

I think it's good to have a sandbox with ultimate freedom but I disagree with Grand Theft Auto popularising it, there was many sandbox games beforehand, and it doesn't/didn't(have played number 4) offer the customisation that you speak of, San Andreas was the closest but even then you're a set role. I like JRPGs despite their flaws aswell but that's a whole other topic.

Some sandbox games aren't that sanboxy either, Dead Rising is really restricted and there's not much options, the same with GTA(especially when they cut off entirely islands and you have to unlock them).

I prefer Sanboxes like the Elder Scrolls and I think a 3D adventure/rpg should work great as a sandbox, which is what I'm hoping Fable 2 will offer.

[Chumbaniya]

I'm a big fan of sandbox games, but you definitely still need a system for giving the player structured things to acheive. I think games like Morrowind and Oblivion are the perfect example of this because they not only offer a choice between completely open gameplay and a central storyline, but also offer everything from singular quests to longer-term objectives in the form of advancement within guilds/houses. I think it's important that sandbox games allow you to have some form of acheivement beyond simply gaining more money and items - as a guilds/houses system like this delivered - to prevent them just becoming a series of unrelated challenges.

[Tom_Violence]

I sure hope not.

While I enjoy sandbox elements in games, I find that games that have the sandbox concept at their core to be ultimately shallow and rapidly boring experiences. All the Grand Theft Autos are games that I can't play for more than about a half hour at a time before getting bored, and The Elder Scrolls games have never managed to appeal to me for similar reasons.

Basically, my experience with 'Sandbox' games has found them to be big, but dumb. Too much freedom is just as bad as not enough. Being able to go anywhere I like is no good at all if when I get there there's nothing that I want to do there. These games just seem largely contentless, with a few nice ideas spread way too thin. GTA had nothing to do after you'd switched your brain off for a little while and ran over some hookers. Morrowind (I've not bothered with Oblivion yet) had no dialogue, crappy combat, etc.

I think these games come from a misunderstanding of 'Freedom', thinking that its somehow a virtue in and of itself. By way of analogy, I'd rather go to the best restaurant in the world yet have no choice over what I eat, than go to one that serves a hundred thousand different types of pig swill.

[factotum]

It's not like sandbox is a NEW idea. In fact, the first game I ever played which had no real ending--e.g. you had to do things the way YOU wanted rather than follow a predefined plot--was Elite back in 1983!

Speaking personally, I don't mind sandbox at all so long as there's plenty of stuff to do, like there is in GTA and the X series.

[Om]

To my mind the best marriage of freedom and content was the Fallout series or BGI. These games gave you vast areas to wander around but there was always a main quest to anchor your attention and to give the game some structure. In contrast Morrowind's "plot" was simply a device to level you up, by pushing you into the wilderness, before the end game

[Hoggy]

Personally, I very much like the Sandbox of Mercenaries. See anything, go anywhere - then drop ten tonnes of pure explosive goodness on it.

Except the trees. I hear Mercs 2 is going to remedy that.

Anyways, I love Sandbox, love it very much.