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
PlanetSide 2 hosts Nanite of the Living Dead event for Halloween
You can travel to another world, but even in PlanetSide 2 the dead of Halloween will chase you. Yes, it's time to celebrate the...
MMO Business Roundup: Bethsoft Moscow, A:IR publishing, OSU esports, SpatialOS, and Square-Enix
Business business business numbers, is this working?! Let's dip into some of the scattered online gaming business tidbits of the week that might otherwise...
Destiny 2 announces Festival of the Lost Halloween event
This Tuesday, October 16th, Destiny 2 will be getting in on the seasonal celebrations as it rolls out its Halloween event, Festival of the...
The Daily Grind: How important are minimaps to your MMORPG experience?
MMO minimaps became the topic of a weird debate this week, as multiple sites appeared to have misunderstood a Belgian magazine's interpretation of the...
ArcheAge 5.0 Relics of Hiram launches on October 24
ArcheAge's next big thing has a release date in the west: 5.0 Relics of Hiram is launching in just two weeks on October 24th. As...
MapleStory 2’s launch did well on Steam, but the Mapleopoly event was a problem
Good news, MapleStory 2 fans, the game did well after its first day on Steam! The chart for the game is obviously not indicative...
Black Desert’s Russian publishing transfers this week, and we still don’t know the fate of player accounts
Back in September, we covered the surprise announcement from GameNet that it was handing back its Russian Black Desert publishing rights back to Pearl Abyss...
Recapping Star Citizen’s CitizenCon 2018, plus the new Squadron 42 trailer
"Well, you can't accuse us of not running a live demo," Chris Roberts quipped today during CitizenCon when the Star Citizen demo he was...
Battle Bards Episode 130: Oddballs 2
While every Battle Bards episode is a cavalcade of strangeness, this week the team is ratcheting it up with the return of “Oddball” MMORPG...
Fallen Earth, APB, and Descent get a slick new GamersFirst site
Little Orbit's acquisition of GamersFirst a while back is starting to pay dividends to its fans. The company pushed out a revamped GamersFirst website...
The Stream Team: MapleStory 2 launches (with Ducky Rickshaw)
Massively OP's MJ got her first peek into MapleStory 2 during the head start, but today is the more important day. No, not launch...
It’s suddenly spring in Black Desert as Cookie Day arrives
Happy Halloween, have a cookie in Black Desert.
No, really, Kakao has kicked off its Cookie Day event, which is an odd choice for the...
Star Citizen’s CitizenCon 2018 has officially begun – here’s how to watch at home
Just as this post goes live, Star Citizen's "CitizenCon 2948" in Austin, Texas, throws open its doors.
You might recall there was initially some fuss over...
MapleStory 2 formally launches this afternoon, lowers prices; here’s the launch trailer
MapleStory 2 officially rolls out of headstart and into formal launch today, although the servers are currently down until around 1 p.m. EDT for maintenance....
Massively OP Podcast Episode 190: SWTOR Unite!
Justin and Bree discuss Mike Morhaime's exit from Blizzard, the launches of Lineage 2 Classic and MapleStory 2, Legends of Aria's early access, and Bless Online's F2P plans, plus MMO guilds, how WoW might someday end, what the #SWTORunite community effort is all about.
Greed Monger’s original lead programmer now says he’s working on a prototype for the failed Kickstarter MMO
The Greed Monger saga never freakin' ends. But hey, at least we're getting some twists and turns for the Kickstarter money that got pissed...
MapleStory 2 is only in headstart and Nexon is already waging war on gold farmers and spam
MapleStory 2 hasn't even fully launched out of its headstart - that's tomorrow - but the bots, spammers, and gold farmers, are already swarming...
EVE Online rolls out its October balancing update as EVE Vegas buzz grows
EVE Online's October update is officially live, complete with the promised tweaks to target jamming, ECM mechanics, graphics, and UI.
"This release brings a host...
Worlds Adrift is launching PvE servers today – if the griefing put you off, give it another look
Worlds Adrift is laying New Foundations today - literally, as that's the name of its 27th update. The downside with this update is that it...
EverQuesting: A guide to EverQuest II’s expansion prelude event, Against the Elements
Sometimes it feels like forever before the next expansion comes -- even when it's regular every year! That's what this year has been like...
