Elite Dangerous is not a sandbox

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bonsek

bonsek
I see people mention crafting as a requirement to be a sandbox game. Well pimping your ship is crafting. You don't have to make the ship from scratch to call it crafting, you have a pre-detriment shell.
But rhe modules are there and it's up to you to decide what to install on your ship. For example you can "craft" your cobra to be an explorer ship, or a miner ship, or a mean killing machine.
Two bounty hunter Cobras can be dramatically different from each other in terms of loadouts.

Not everything is black and white. Elite is not a pure sandbox game, or a pure MMO game, it's a nice mix.
 

Satanski

S
For me, sandbox is a game where you can influence and change the world in a significant way - the more you can influence the world, the more sandbox a game is.
As much as i like ED, its not much of a sandbox for me as theres not much you can change in the game world. Hope the'll add more sanbox features though.
 

cptzipzap

C
sandbox "should" mean that you can freely do what you want. the game does not force you for a special way. the game sets no artificial limits.

I dont think sandbox should be linked to a specific game mechanic such as crafting. what is crafting? you obrtain ingame objects and combine them so they be another object. so even in elite there is "crafting". you combine a laser and an enemy ship to obtain credits..

means: no specific, be abstract. the more you define such mechanics the more work has be done etc. its senseless.
sandbox = freedom - would be the better definition
 
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Portent

P
Morbad said:
Nothing about a sandbox game requires a crafting system, or instances that support more than x number of players.

All you need for a sandbox game is a world without too many arbitrary limitations on where you can go or what you can do.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Can't believes we're at over 600 posts on this! :)
 

Monk

Monk
Hmm...lets take a different look

What do you do in a real life sandbox? You build worlds, right? Then destroy them and remake them again in another way or fill it with water to simulate the great flood...whatever.

Does Elite let you do anything of that sort? The ability to completely make something new...
 

cptzipzap

C
Monk said:
Hmm...lets take a different look

What do you do in a real life sandbox? You build worlds, right? Then destroy them and remake them again in another way or fill it with water to simulate the great flood...whatever.

Does Elite let you do anything of that sort? The ability to completely make something new...
Click to expand...

depends on how abstract you see: "making something new"

when you jump into an asteroid field the pg makes something new: many new asteroids. I think its not your definition, but you must make your definition more clear. and with clearance and detail you come to a grey zone - meaning that going back to abstract would be better and to make abstract limits to what a sandbox is.

my idea would be not to make sandbox tag dependant from ingame mechanics but on how the player feels when playing.

do you feel freedom? yes or no...
 
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Monk

Monk
Ok, to be more clear. Sandbox is creating something creatively new. i.e. You had an idea for how a system should look, you build it, then you fly in it...that, to me is sandbox...


Freedom is subjective as well...but freedom without the extra ability to remake the universe is Open World.

In real life, I live in an open world I can build things based on physical limitations and resources available to me. In a figurative sandbox, I am god and can recreate the entire world w/o any care for resources or physical limitations.

So there is a freedom to be a part of a system and there is freedom to be a god. Freedom to be a god = sandbox game...freedom to be whatever denizen you hope to be in a defined world is open world game

just my opinion tho...doesn't really matter TBH
 

foxpur

foxpur
Satanski said:
For me, sandbox is a game where you can influence and change the world in a significant way - the more you can influence the world, the more sandbox a game is.
As much as i like ED, its not much of a sandbox for me as theres not much you can change in the game world. Hope the'll add more sanbox features though.
Click to expand...

I sorta see you point on a small sandbox... this is easily the biggest Sandbox in gaming. But we are looking at a real-based volume of area.. How do you propose you can affect a entire galaxy based on the realistic factors. I could see affecting a faction, or maybe making your name of the news of the game for something outstanding. But overall... it's a galaxy, Try and imagine you are a moth, and you fly to the sun (ok, you are a seriously creative moth) and the effect you have on that sun is billions less than you have on the galaxy.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Robert Maynard
Monk said:
In a figurative sandbox, I am god and can recreate the entire world w/o any care for resources or physical limitations.

So there is a freedom to be a part of a system and there is freedom to be a god. Freedom to be a god = sandbox game...freedom to be whatever denizen you hope to be in a defined world is open world game
Click to expand...

If "god" abilities are a requirement of a sandbox game then E: D is definitely open world.... Each of us is a pilot in a ship - not a special snowflake.
 

Zak Gordon

Zak Gordon
The 'sandbox' can be entirely outside the game, in your head for example, and that is where the Elite games have always been inspired.
 

Meritz

Meritz
Monk said:
Ok, to be more clear. Sandbox is creating something creatively new. i.e. You had an idea for how a system should look, you build it, then you fly in it...that, to me is sandbox...
Click to expand...

By that definition, EvE is definitely not a sandbox. You can't create anything new. All you can make are conglomerates of premade ingame assets and arrange them in a broad, but still limited number of ways. You can't even be creative with those, because optimized combinations for pretty much anything are readily known, and have been for a long time now.

The same you can do with ships in ED. So both games, as already pointed out, rest on same principles. EvE simply allows for a greater number of combinations. But you cannot design your own ships, or invent completely new technology, or add anything to the game which would really constitute as "creatively new".

Thus, both games have their strengths and weaknesses. EvE will always pay for its massive scope with less than stellar and immersive gameplay. ED pays for its immersive gameplay with a shallower scope of things you can do, although keep in mind that we're talking about a new game here - EvE is an old one and many features it sports today were not present when it launched.

But both games are based on same principles. Thus, if EvE is a sandbox, so is ED. Crafting has nothing to do with it - it is essentially an activity just like any other.
 

remusus03

remusus03
Well I hope the idea of " FD and EVE " are combined :p , then that would be exactly the dream game I was hoping for :) , since i have bought FD will play with what it has to offer , but hope they add more features.

SC has projected the features pretty close to EVE , waiting for Monday to download it , but in SC as well they have made it as Player Influenced Economy :( , or Player controlled economy , we can take over capital ships with a boarding party but can not built capital ships , hope it will have them there.

I respect Elite for initiating the genre , though I have not played old elites , I value the initiation that what I feel rest of the games took elements of Elite and made some of my fav games like Eve online and yet to be one my favs Star Citizen, if they would deliver what they have in store on then design.
 
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