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
The Game Archaeologist: The short ride of Auto Assault
When you think of post-apocalyptic video games, what comes to mind? Most likely it's a crawl through a bombed-out or zombiefied landscape as you...
Wurm Online teases UI and mission changes ahead of next week’s roadmap reveal
The most recent dispatch from the Wurm Online team does not actually contain a full roadmap for the game's development updates; that's expected to roll...
EVE Online’s unpopular ‘resource distribution’ plan, plus the messy 49u battle and Japanese localization
Earlier today, EVE Online studio CCP Games released a dev blog on the next leg of its resource distribution plan. The studio aims to...
Inside Star Citizen closes its summer broadcasts with a close look at 3.11’s cargo decks and feature set
It's the final broadcast for this quarter's series of videos from Star Citizen, and this one is closing out with a deeper look at...
Leaderboard: Are you tempted by Ultima Online’s New Legacy server?
So here's a fun fact for you: While vanilla, legacy, and progression servers have been all the rage for the last five years or...
Massively Overthinking: MMO voids that haven’t been filled
I swear, so many of the posts I bookmark on Reddit to muse on later wind up deleted, and today I've got another one,...
MUD network and roleplaying repository Skotos celebrates 20th anniversary with retirement
While many old-school MMORPG players came from MUDs, I didn't: I didn't even know they existed until several years into playing Ultima Online and...
Broadsword just announced Ultima Online: New Legacy on its 23rd birthday
We're updating this post with the big news down at the bottom!
All year, Broadsword's been teasing something big for Ultima Online, which we've been...
RuneScape and Old School RuneScape announce Steam launch as Jagex delays mobile
As many other games have proven, it never really seems to be too late to arrive to Steam, so consider that when learning that...
ArcheAge Unchained promises changes to Marketplace and ArchePass items that avoid pay-to-win territory
Gamigo, in coordination with XLGames, is promising to take ArcheAge Unchained player feedback to heart regarding items in the Marketplace and as part of...
Boundless introduces new sovereign and creative worlds, celebrates second birthday
There's already a fair amount of creative freedom in the voxelbox of Boundless, but as of the most recent update that freedom has extended...
Book of Travels promises gameplay footage this fall, delays early access to Q2 2021
Book of Travels effectively took Massively OP's most anticipated award last year, especially since the game that tied with it no longer really exists....
Black Desert dates O’dyllita release for October 7, adds Garmoth’s Nest to the Red Battlefield and new events
It's all about the PC version of Black Desert in this week's bundle of news and updates from the game, so if you're a...
RuneScape adds new Lunar spells, launches a fresh Yak Track, and announces Golden Gnome finalists
This week in RuneScape brings yet another cornucopia of... stuff. It's another update post and it's once again all over the map, but it...
Massively OP Podcast Episode 289: Microsoft and Bethesda sitting in a tree
Justin and Bree discuss Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax and Bethsoft, Fallout 76, Conan Exiles, Elder Scrolls Online, Echo of Soul, Phantasy Star Online 2, Final Fantasy XVI, and Crowfall, with adventures in WoW and SWG Legends, plus a mailbag topic on FOMO marketing tactics in MMOs.
Star Citizen devs offer alpha 3.10 postmortem, consider nerfs and ‘power triangle’ tweaks
It appears that 3.10 is truly in the rearview mirror of Star Citizen, but that doesn't mean that the team at CIG hasn't learned...
EVE Online players submitted over 41M classifications to fight COVID for CCP’s latest Project Discovery initiative
What's better than a science MMO story or a feel-good MMO story? One that's both. And this one is both, as EVE Online and...
Choose My Adventure: Wurm Online is not for me, and that’s OK
Wurm Online has made me feel the most noobish I've ever felt in an MMORPG in ages even after the tutorial. A tutorial that, by the way, I did indeed do; it's literally impossible not to do the tutorial. I couldn't get in to a different island until I got through the tutorial. The tutorial was done.
EVE Online’s Rolling Thunder update arrives today
There's nothing worse than spending all sorts of time and resources to acquire something you think will be cool... but turns out to be...
The Daily Grind: What location in your favorite MMO have you only recently discovered?
Until last week, somehow I had heard of the Agrilat Swamp but never actually visited it in Star Wars Galaxies. SWG Legends' @RoarAshley tweeted...
