Elite Dangerous is not a sandbox

[SzaryWilk]

In a sandbox game you can craft, you can manipulate the market by embargos, dumping on the market, can fly capital ships, can construct your own items, weapons, ships, etc.

Right now the market value barely changes, even with a ton of money used to move product. I understand that this feature is supposed to become more "sandboxy" later on, but it isn't now.

next one. Sisyphus..You dont understand what it means "sandbox". In the sandbox, You do what you want, create your own story, and what you do affects the whole world games.

After the first.....now is Alpha and Beta tests of game. We dont play the game, We just test this game.

Secondly....Elite Dangerous is scheduled for 10+ years of playing. This is not a game for 1-2 Years of play. Elite Dangerous from year to year will have more and more elements that enrich the world, and will give new opportunities.

ED is similar to sandbox games in that it doesn't have a predifined objective and that trading will be open ended. However, you are not ever going to meet more than 32 players in your game, so you can't really do massive pvp the way you can in a true sandbox like EVE.

Next player form EVE Online hihi. Do not compare Elite Dangerous game to EVE Online. In many ways, these are two different games.

32 palyersy......for now but.......this number will be increased along with the technical capabilities in the future, Frontier is announced this.

Until ED fixes the market to make it more reliant on players, adds crafting, custom weapons, custom ships, allows players to own and operate sectors of space, etc, there is no way to consider it a true sandbox game.

These elements and much more will be in Elite Dangerous. ED will have elements of the other MMO games do not have.

At most ED has a few sandbox elements - you can be a pirate, a trader, an explorer or bounty hunter.

But that's only 4 things to do! More like 3, if you consider the fact that piracy and bounty hunting both involve practically the same thing: combat.

:smilie: hihi I found, I found, I found........we can be Smugler tooo
I see that you've never played in the Elite and You do not know this game.

Exploring is one small sandbox element, but not enough to make this game a true sandbox.

In terms of exploration, Elite Dangerous will be as complex and realistic as any other MMO game so far.

I greet you and invite you to become better acquainted with the game and in her plans.

 

[Sisyphus]

I think the longer ED is around the more "sandboxy" it'll become (using the OPs definition). The game will need new content injecting into it, which is already planned with the first two expansions. But what if ED is still around in 5 years time? I'll be very surprised if Frontier stop at the EVA expansion and say that's it. I'm sure if its still making money via micro-transactions and there is a demand from the playerbase for further expansions I wouldn't be surprised if they put the feelers out to see how the idea of adding a crafting system or player owned content, will be perceived.

Even those of us today who aren't particularity interested in those things and are content with the basic trade-combat-explore concept, may yearn for more interactive things to do a few years down the line.

Due to its size, I believe this game has an unprecedented potential to evolve way beyond anything we can imagine at this moment in time. If the popularity of it grows and it remains financially viable in years to come, it could well widen its scope to attract new players and keep existing players interested with new ideas and concepts.

I hope you are right. And I hope that specifically, they allow more sandbox features to achieve what you are saying it has the potential to achieve.

 

[Sisyphus]

next one. Sisyphus..You dont understand what it means "sandbox". In the sandbox, You do what you want, create your own story, and what you do affects the whole world games.

After the first.....now is Alpha and Beta tests of game. We dont play the game, We just test this game.

Secondly....Elite Dangerous is scheduled for 10+ years of playing. This is not a game for 1-2 Years of play. Elite Dangerous from year to year will have more and more elements that enrich the world, and will give new opportunities.



Next player form EVE Online hihi. Do not compare Elite Dangerous game to EVE Online. In many ways, these are two different games.



These elements and much more will be in Elite Dangerous. ED will have elements of the other MMO games do not have.



:smilie: hihi I found, I found, I found........we can be Smugler tooo
I see that you've never played in the Elite and You do not know this game.



In terms of exploration, Elite Dangerous will be as complex and realistic as any other MMO game so far.

I greet you and invite you to become better acquainted with the game and in her plans.

I invite you to read my first post all the way to the bottom. Specifically, the definition of sandbox that I added.

 

[Mu77ley]

So we are all arguing semantics over each of our own interpretations of the term 'sandbox'?

Now come on Kerrash, you know we have to label things properly so we can put them in nice safe little boxes and then go about our business, happy in the knowledge that we know how to describe them to other people...

 

[Oddball]

My apologies Sisyphus. It was meant to be a little joke so please don't take it to heart.

Seriously though, does it really matter if ED is a sandbox game or not? The word 'sandbox' is just a vague modern computer term used by some people.

I like to think that ED is something new. Something that has never been done before. Something that will set a new high standard in computer game development.

 

[Herik]

I agree.

Someone mentioned that you will be able to land on planets eventually... but then what? There has to be a better end game.

No there doesn't have to be an 'end game'. With the planet landings, injected events in a 4000000000 sun galaxy and on planets; the game is "endless".

 

[Robert Maynard]

Yes there is, as mentioned by the previous commenter: once you own every ship and have too much money, the game is essentially over.

By "end game", one doesn't mean the end as in "mario saves the princess", but where a game stops satisfying you because all possible achievements have been made. Simply exploring space is not going to be enough to keep this game going.

As an example, building and holding on to empires WILL keep players interested.

So now we're discussing different definitions of the term "end game"....

Your example may keep those players interested - what of the others?

 

[GrillMonkey]

Applying this definition to Skyrim:
Crafting (limited but it's there): +1

Apply it to ED:
No player driven market (only a slight influence): 0

How come Skyrim get's a point for a limited feature but E : D does't?

Anyway, sandbox/open world/space sim... who care's?!? I've still got EIGHT days to wait and it's killing me !!

 

[devastat]

Seriously though, does it really matter if ED is a sandbox game or not? The word 'sandbox' is just a vague modern computer term used by some people.

Come one guys, we are grown ups enough to see that there is much more into this discussion than wheter Elite can be labeled as a sandbox game or not.

 

[Andrew Sayers]

Player owned empires are incredibly dull?

More precisely, they work against the aesthetic of the game. I don't think Frontier are really thinking about this yet, but I expect they're more likely to scale up the universe rather than the player. So you might be able to transport ever more types of people with different strange requirements, or explore further out into space and deeper into gas giants, or divine more complex relationships between tradable goods, or whatever. In other words, providing further expansion by unraveling the vastness of the universe in which the player remains a tiny speck.

 

[SzaryWilk]

My apologies Sisyphus. It was meant to be a little joke so please don't take it to heart.

Seriously though, does it really matter if ED is a sandbox game or not? The word 'sandbox' is just a vague modern computer term used by some people.

I like to think that ED is something new. Something that has never been done before. Something that will set a new high standard in computer game development.

Right 100 percent !!!

I only wish that I see people from EVE Online or SC, which is starting to disturb.

 

[Sisyphus]

So now we're discussing different definitions of the term "end game"....

Your example may keep those players interested - what of the others?

What about others? Who are these others and what do they have in common for you to lump them all as merely "others"?? If you mean people who do not want to participate in empire building, or crafting, or whatever else, then they don't have to - they can continue playing the game the way you do now. If you mean something else, then please elaborate.

 

[Sisyphus]

More precisely, they work against the aesthetic of the game. I don't think Frontier are really thinking about this yet, but I expect they're more likely to scale up the universe rather than the player. So you might be able to transport ever more types of people with different strange requirements, or explore further out into space and deeper into gas giants, or divine more complex relationships between tradable goods, or whatever. In other words, providing further expansion by unraveling the vastness of the universe in which the player remains a tiny speck.

I'm sorry but MORE transporting, MORE exploration and MORE trading, etc, is not enough to keep players interested because it's just more of the same. Eg: you see a blue giant, then a red giant, a red dwarf, a nova, a blackhole, a neutron star, etc. Then, you do it over and over again?

The game should be more dynamic and interesting than that.

I do agree with you that they do not need to expand the player's role or impact on the universe to be interesting - that is, empire building is not the *exclusive* way to improve the game. But it is one way. maybe Frontier can figure out ways to keep the game interesting in other ways, though after reading their development archives of future features, it doesn't seem like it.

 

[Robert Maynard]

What about others? Who are these others and what do they have in common for you to lump them all as merely "others"?? If you mean people who do not want to participate in empire building, or crafting, or whatever else, then they don't have to - they can continue playing the game the way you do now. If you mean something else, then please elaborate.

They will of course continue to play the way they do now as there are no corporations, no crafting and no player control of stations, planets, systems, etc.

They may not wish to participate in these activities however I don't think that they would be unaffected by them - the goal of a corporation is to dominate.

 

[Vikinger]

At one point iam sure I will find this game boring no matter how much content it will be but I think it will take some time before I reach that in this game as iam quite satisfied what they plan to do whit the game.
Iam also intressted in astrophysics and in this game I can actually virtually explore parts of the real universe and for me that is content. So I think we define content differently what we want from a game.

Ive played many games, some have hooked me real good but I don't play them anymore simply because i got tired of them and wanted something new.

Today I use to be active in 3 games, play them random, not to much but enough to keep me intressted in them.
Atm thos games are Secret World, Rise of Flight and Elite dangerous.

They are totally different games from each other and that keep me going.

 

[Alric]

Player owned and controlled empires: +1 (again, deserves a +100 in my opinion)

E : D will support that at launch just as well as EVE did.

 

[Sisyphus]

My apologies Sisyphus. It was meant to be a little joke so please don't take it to heart.

Seriously though, does it really matter if ED is a sandbox game or not? The word 'sandbox' is just a vague modern computer term used by some people.

I like to think that ED is something new. Something that has never been done before. Something that will set a new high standard in computer game development.

I didn't take it to heart - I ignore all posts that don't contribute to the discussion because ... this is the internet, after all. Don't take that to heart.

But now that you've said something to contribute: I don't think the definition is as vague as you think. I'm referring to the bottom of my original post.

 

[Sisyphus]

E : D will support that at launch just as well as EVE did.

Really? Because I am pretty sure Frontier said that the game won't allow players to build empires. Hence the NPC empires such as the Federation, etc...

 

[Gibbonici]

I do agree with you that they do not need to expand the player's role or impact on the universe to be interesting - that is, empire building is not the *exclusive* way to improve the game. But it is one way. maybe Frontier can figure out ways to keep the game interesting in other ways, though after reading their development archives of future features, it doesn't seem like it.

Out of interest, what was your opinion on the Incarna thing?

 

[Maxeren]

This thread is bonkers silly... pages and pages of someone demanding everyone acknowledge that ED isn't a sandbox until he is content.. even then he wont be lol