Sandboxes are a type of MMO that emphasize player freedom and expression. They frequently include mechanics for building, crafting, trading, character customization and development, roleplaying, destruction, and significant interaction with the world and other players. A sandbox that is dominated by an open-PvP or free-for-all ruleset is sometimes pejoratively called a gankbox. Contrast with the themepark.
sandbox
MMOs You’ve Never Heard Of: Agonia Lands, Decentraland, Fable Valley, Bloodstone Online, Hunter’s Arena Legends
Welcome back to another roundup of MMOs and MMO-adjacent games you’ve (probably) never heard of - or have totally forgotten about until now!
First up...
Last Oasis details how to find safety in the deserts of the survival sandbox
In any survival sandbox, finding safety is pretty important, whether you happen upon some form of shelter or cobble some together yourself. The in-development...
Massively Overthinking: Our favorite MMORPG bugs ever
This week's Massively Overthinking discussion topic is inspired by Crowfall's J Todd Coleman, who last fall tweeted about the time playable spiders almost became...
EVE Online’s charity campaign to support victims of Australian bushfires is now live
Last week, CCP Games announced that it was reviving its PLEX for GOOD campaign specifically to raise funds for victims of the Australian bushfires...
ArcheAge Unchained offers players another shot at the Diligence Coin Compensation Package
All right. So back in the long long ago (meaning a couple of months back, obviously)Â ArcheAge Unchained had a bit of a problem, and...
The Survivalist: My top 20 survival game goals for 2020, part the second
With so many survival titles out there, it's no wonder I couldn't contain my full list of new year goals in a single Survivalist!...
Vague Patch Notes: Guild Wars 2 might be the MMO that defined the last decade
It's been about a week or so since we did our Overthinking on the best MMO of the decade, and I ultimately rattled off...
Over a million people subbed to RuneScape in 2019, with ‘many millions’ more playing F2P
Ah RuneScape - the MMO everyone seems to be playing, but nobody you know. It's made our "underrated" lists repeatedly over the years while...
Desert Oasis: First impressions of Black Desert’s new Guardian class
Remember that Futurama episode where Fry, Kip, and Zaf Branbigan got stranded on a planet full of amazons and were sentenced to death by...
PlanetSide 2 patches in weapon changes and major shifts to continent lockdowns
The latest patch for PlanetSide 2 does not contain some of the database migration that was originally planned for the title. That's the bad news....
Perfect Ten: The MMOs with the most uncertain futures at the start of 2020
This annual column always inspires a certain amount of debate, which is intentional. Outside of the office, a good chunk of that debate is...
Black Desert Guardian pre-creation has begun on PC as the Dark Knight snags succession skills
It's patch day across Black Desert! Really, there are so many versions, it's almost always patch day for Black Desert. Here's what's on deck...
The Daily Grind: What are some genuinely creepy places in MMORPGs?
I think I am well past the age and experience where a giant skull or red light streaming in through windows is going to...
Wurm Online is finally getting third-person perspective toggle
The cult MMO sandbox Wurm Online is hitting 2020 at a flat run thanks to a lot of ambitious features planned for the game...
Massively OP Podcast Episode 255: Girls, elementals, and other things that ruin MMOs
Justin and Bree discuss Magic Legends, Tarkov, World of Warcraft, Crowfall, Lost Ark, Elder Scrolls Online, and SWG Legends, with mailbag topics on how MMOs can avoid murderhobo gameplay and how to escape MMOs that suck you back in.
The Survivalist: My top 20 survival game goals for 2020, part the first
You might say that I like survival games. You should say it because I really, really do. Especially games that let me explore and...
Choose My Adventure: The juggling act of Black Desert Mobile’s many advancement systems
Last week’s edition of Choose My Adventure had me genuinely impressed by how much stuff I had to manage in Black Desert Mobile, so...
ArcheAge players score $420,000 in ancient class action suit over consumer law violations
We've been following the saga of the ArcheAge lawsuit for what seems like ages now. Back in 2015, three gamers filed a class action lawsuit...
Dual Universe shares its latest narrative Tale and shows off community creations
Sure, Dual Universe is mostly about building neat stuff and surviving the sandbox world of its sci-fi space, but it's also got some lore...
Fantasy Toonz is a in-development open world MMO featuring battle royale arenas
If you're one of those people who hates the word "toons," you're not gonna like what this one's called. In fact, if you're also...
