So, with the addition of instanced PvE, is EVE still a sandbox?
I’m going to say NO; it was already borderline because of PLEX. But instanced PvE is across the line, in fact IMHO instanced anything is the line.
2 Likes
You can totally ignore the content if you so choose. Even the NPE content is entirely optional.
“In spite of their name, various sandbox games continue to impose restrictions at some stages of the game environment. This can be due the game’s design limitations, or can be short-run, in-game limitations, such as some locked areas in games that are unlocked once certain milestones are achieved.”
2 Likes
It’s just a small part of the game you know. It didn’t change the rest.
8 Likes
You can just sit there at the filament beacon and gank them the instant they exit, and there is little or nothing they can do about it. More than likely they are exiting the Abyss with a suspect timer and possibly already heavily damaged to begin with. It’s up to you to engage in this new content provided by CCP. I mean how much easier could ganking get? You already know exactly where they are, what they are flying, and you’re only going to have to wait a maximum of 20 minutes for them to exit.
And what does PLEX have to do with EVE being a sandbox?
1 Like
It’s not a sandbox for at most 20 minutes, then you return and it’s someone else’s sandbox. Then they shoot you in an arena entirely to their design, you either die or manage to escape.
In the end the amount of sandboxyness averages out.
Yet. That we’re only going to see more of that should be obvious given CCPs development history of the past years.
Abysmal dead space has not changed ■■■■ in my opinion game is still deadly.
Yeah but given their current pace it takes them two more decades to transform this into hello kitty online.
As an individual, you can choose not to engage in certain activities, but on the large scale, every activity affects the economy of the entire game, and that in turn affects all individual players.
You might never have cared about moon mining. But you have used T2 ships and modules, right? Or you may have taken part in fleet battles that ultimately may have been about some moons that nobody ever told you about. Or your decision what goods to trade or produce may have been influenced by moon mineral prices. So, no, you cannot choose to ignore content at your convenience.
How is it not a sandbox, I don’t get it?
1 Like
It doesn’t even require a mining permit…
To continue with the analogy of sandboxes. This instanced content is just a bucket to create castles. It is not required, though, it may make it easier for you to have the added structure and guidance, but a bully can still kick it over when your done.
So, still a sandbox.
EVE was never a sandbox game, it keeps being called one but a sandbox must allow you to go around and do what you will without progression being necessary. Since you need SP to unlock a titan for instance EVE is not a sandbox despite how many times people, including CCP state that EVE is a sandbox.
Skill injectors actually moved EVE towards being a sandbox at the cost of becoming play to win if flying a titan in one day was something you wanted. (dont misquote me here, im saying this scenario where a day one player can fly a titan is pay to win, since it cannot be achieved any other way).
Since PLEX can be used for several things i dont see why you think PLEX pulled EVE closer to being something it never was, that of course being a sandbox game.
Instanced game play itself does not define a sandbox game either. The requirement is freedom to move about the game doing as you please, so going into and out of an instance has zero impact on whether a game is a sandbox or not.
Honestly, I would think only fairly simple games could truly be called sandbox games since an form of progression rules the game out: straight out of the box.
1 Like
I agree with you on EVE not being a sandbox game. However, in certain parts of the game we have high degrees of freedom. Moving around intercelestial space is such an example. Other parts of the game have very clear functions, can be interacted with only in very specific ways.
EVE does a good job at being partly sandboxy, while also being partly balanced, while also running the same round for 15 years. There is a lot of room to improve, but what we already have is probably one of the greatest achievements in game design: to bring together seemingly mutually exclusive concepts.
1 Like
Go fit a ship capable of doing tier 4 sites and run them in high sec. Let us all know how long it takes you to die.
lol wut?
What does farming T4 have to do with a sandbox discussion and instanced PvE?
If you consider it a “Sandbox” with missions, why would the Abyss stuff make it any different?
Agent tells you to go rescue that damned Damsel again, and you fly off to do the same thing you’ve done every time. So predictable that they’ve made an entire website devoted to telling you step by step how to run each mission (Eve Survival).
Activate a Filament, slip into a random pocket of space, kill some bad guys, and come home with loot. The biggest difference being that you can’t predict exactly what will happen every step of the way. So Abyss stuff is actually more dynamic and “sandbox-y” than Missions.
Eve was never sandy, hope that doesn’t make anyone salty.
There just isn’t the technical ability to allow the freedom to do what you will.
But on top of the lack of tech, is the smack of lips. as people think of isk.
EVE is a piggy bank, that pretends to be a sand box
I’m perplexed. How is it not a sandbox? I don’t get it.
I think most people compare it to the real world sandbox.
In EVE however there are technical limitations that makes you unable to do things like… walking into your captains quarter and chill on the chouch there. The door is just not there to go through. A technical limitation. In the real world you could break trough the wall of your garage and walk into your living room. Not so in Eve. We have limited effect on the universe, can’t land on planets or bombard them or fly our space-boats through the atmosphere. All technical stuff.
But If you accept those limits like physical laws reduce our options in real live, you could argue that within those boundries, EVE fullfills the criteria for a sandbox. It does not force you to do anything, you have the choice to behave and do within it however you please. (As long as it doesn’t conflict with the EULA. ^^)
So for my part I think EVE is at least the most sandboxy MMO we have at the moment.