Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    I keep seeing this term float around the forums and it just doesn't make sense to me.

    There is certainly a lot of sand, but a sandbox game involves a particular amount of world interaction and the real possibility to "make your own fun". Two things that Sea of Thieves is lacking.

    What can I do in Sea of Thieves?

    • Perform quests for 1 of 3 factions to get treasure I can exchange for gold.
    • Attack players to try and steal their treasure that I can exchange for gold.
    • Take on a Cursed Fort for treasure I can exchange for gold. (May take upwards of 3 hours due to the player/ship respawn mechanics)
    • Get attacked by the Kraken (only if I'm on a galleon). No treasure to be gained for defeating it though.
    • Sail around from island to island and maybe find some treasure sitting around that I can exchange for gold. (I can also do this while doing quests however.)
    • Use gold to buy cosmetics. (Half of which are locked behind Rank 33+ of the factions)

    That's it. That's all the interaction the game gives you. Sea of Thieves simply does not have enough intractability to be a "make your own fun" sandbox game along the same lines as Minecraft, Terraria, Garry's Mod, or even GTA Online (and GTA Online fits the loosest terms of sandbox).

    It's definitely an open world game. It's just a shame that there's very little reason to explore that open world.

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  • Rivyer
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    I mean the map is a square with up being an option via cannon. So there's your box and beaches all have sand. Sand. Done.

  • Porkns
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    I'd agree that SoT isn't your typical sandbox however I can also see why people refer to it as such.

    I see the game as a blank canvas at the moment. Rare always intended to develop the world with community input. With our feedback and with updates we'll see a lot more being added to create the environment we want.

    In that regard, you could argue that it's definitely a community/developer sandbox.

  • Lowbei

    its a sandbox. you have no case.

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @lowbei

    And what exactly makes this a sandbox then?

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @personalc0ffee

    So then there's even less to actually do in this game than I listed. Thank you very much for assisting me in proving that this is not a sandbox game.

  • Rutta

    I can see why people call it a sandbox but it's a very limited one with little tools.

  • Lowbei

    @subaqueousreach said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei

    And what exactly makes this a sandbox then?

    im not going to explain to you what a sandbox is. try google.

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @personalc0ffee

    Except when thrown into a sandbox with sand, a shovel and a bucket, I'll find some water and make castles. Or a sculpture. Or I'll just dig a trench to see how far down I can go.

    Aside from doing an accent with every action I commit in the game, there's very little in this game I can bolster with my imagination.

    "Arr mateys, we be off to face the deadly crew of the Mad King... again. Because these quests only have a set number of names. BUT DON'T WORRY! This time we'll send them down to Davy Jones' locker for sure!"

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @lowbei

    It's not my job to back up your arguments.

  • Lowbei

    @subaqueousreach said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei

    It's not my job to back up your arguments.

    no worries, you dont have to, since you have no case to begin with.

    its a sandbox. gg

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @personalc0ffee

    Well you must have a better imagination than I do (either that or you're just very easy to satisfy) since I can't imagine spending 300 hours in this game as it is and enjoying myself the whole time.

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @lowbei

    My case is pretty clear at the top of this thread. It seems you lack basic understanding of what an argument is. Maybe try again when you're older and not using mommy and daddy's computer.

  • Lowbei

    @subaqueousreach said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei

    My case is pretty clear at the top of this thread. It seems you lack basic understanding of what an argument is. Maybe try again when you're older and not using mommy and daddy's computer.

    Im 33 and work at a bank, and your attempts to trash talk to feel better about losing the argument is funny.

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @lowbei

    You still seem to lack the basic understanding of what an argument is. Saying "No you" and walking way is pretty childish and is by no means an argument.

  • Lowbei

    @subaqueousreach said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei

    You still seem to lack the basic understanding of what an argument is. Saying "No you" and walking way is pretty childish and is by no means an argument.

    the game is both literally, and figuratively, a sandbox. you have no argument. gg

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @lowbei

    You've yet to explain how it's a sandbox, but I doubt I'm going to get a mature response from [Self-Modded due to language].

  • A13XA4D3R
    Marauder
    Insider

    @subaqueousreach The devs for this game called it: A shared world adventure game. So yea its not a sandbox. But it is an open world where you choose where you want to go, that isn't the only characteristic of a sandbox game, but that's probably why people are calling it as such.

  • Aenima123
    Founder

    I cannot agree more @subaqueousReach, it's a stretch to call SoT a sandbox. It's an open world, no doubt, but not a sandbox.

    A sandbox allows the player to create content, most of the times, in a permanent way, that modify the world, and not only interactions, because otherwise, you could call ANY multiplayer game a sandbox really.

    Usually, a sandbox is persistent, you'll meet the same people from a play session to another, allowing people to build relationship between protagonists and/or teams (wars, alliances, etc.)

    Last but not least, in a sandbox, you don't have quests, everything is player driven, in SoT, of course, nobody is forcing you at gunpoint to do voyages, but everything is built around it, and voyages are necessary in order to keep the balance between PvE and PvP.

    SoT isn't a sandbox, it's a social and casual crossplay multiplayer game with a pirate theme. No more. It lacks too much tools to be called a sandbox.

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @personalc0ffee

    Fair enough. I rescind my earlier statement.

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @a13xa4d3r

    That makes sense and I can see why people would be calling it a sandbox, but it simply lacks the tools to be a sandbox.

  • Hrenli

    To me SoT is quite close to a pure sandbox. Definitely MUCH closer than Terraria or GTA Online. Just because it's up to you to come up with reasons to explore the world instead of following a predetermined path.

    In other words - I agree it could benefit from more mechanics/content. But it's definitely a sandbox. And one of the good ones in that.

  • subaqueousReach
    Ship Mate

    @hrenli

    You say the player needs to come up with reasons to explore the world, but that doesn't make it a sandbox. That makes it an open world exploration game.

    And as the game is right now I can't come up with many reasons to explore the world (mostly because I've been to every island about a dozen times).

  • Aenima123
    Founder

    @hrenli a dit dans Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox :

    To me SoT is quite close to a pure sandbox. Definitely MUCH closer than Terraria or GTA Online. Just because it's up to you to come up with reasons to explore the world instead of following a predetermined path.

    In other words - I agree it could benefit from more mechanics/content. But it's definitely a sandbox. And one of the good ones in that.

    I'd like to know why you would consider SoT much closer to a sandbox than Terraria ! And i would agree that GTA:O vanilla isn't a strict sandbox, except with mods.

  • Hrenli

    @subaqueousreach said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @hrenli

    You say the player needs to come up with reasons to explore the world, but that doesn't make it a sandbox. That makes it an open world exploration game.

    That what I actually tried to point out. You just threw in "it's not a sandbox" without that much of clarification/definition of sandbox. And as there is no commonly agreed definition of what sandbox computer game is, it's just pointless.

    As I see "sandbox" it's exactly the opposite. SoT doesn't have enough content for an open world exploration game. It's just a sandbox.

  • BusinessJjj
    Founder

    @subaqueousreach
    Unfortunately I must say I disagree with you. Sot is a sandbox. As I kid I used to play with tonka trucks freaquently in a sand box. It’s a box full of sand and you get toys to play with in it. There’s nothing in this box that tells you what to do, just your imagination. What I would do is pretend I was at a construction sight, move sand around and make roads. Sea of thieves does the same just with pirate stuff. The only limitation to a sandbox is your imagination.

  • Hrenli

    @aenima123 said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    I'd like to know why you would consider SoT much closer to a sandbox than Terraria !

    To me Terra has too much predefined content (actual progression system for example) so it can be seen as it is feeding you reasons to play other than "come up with your own fun ideas". As I wrote above - "sandbox" and "open world game" are quite common terms but there is no commonly agreed definition of them. So it's pointless to put such labels without clarifying what you mean.

  • Faal Zoor Kriid
    Founder

    It's a sandbox but with like only 3 toys in it.

  • oxynatOr
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @lowbei sagte in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @subaqueousreach said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei

    And what exactly makes this a sandbox then?

    im not going to explain to you what a sandbox is. try google.

    a Sandbox is a environment to test untrusted and unauthorized applications! Nothing more nothing less...

    So where is the Editor to create own Content ?

    did ya googled it you Sir Bankboy (LOL)

  • Lowbei

    @oxynator said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei sagte in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @subaqueousreach said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei

    And what exactly makes this a sandbox then?

    im not going to explain to you what a sandbox is. try google.

    a Sandbox is a environment to test untrusted and unauthorized applications! Nothing more nothing less...

    did ya googled it you Sir Bankboy (LOL)

    its also a box of sand. ill tell you all about it when you come in for a loan tomorrow :)

  • oxynatOr
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @lowbei sagte in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @oxynator said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei sagte in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @subaqueousreach said in Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox:

    @lowbei

    And what exactly makes this a sandbox then?

    im not going to explain to you what a sandbox is. try google.

    a Sandbox is a environment to test untrusted and unauthorized applications! Nothing more nothing less...

    did ya googled it you Sir Bankboy (LOL)

    its also a box of sand. ill tell you all about it when you come in for a loan tomorrow :)

    Yea its a box of Sand... [mod edited]

  • Aenima123
    Founder

    @businessjjj a dit dans Sea of Thieves is not a sandbox :

    @subaqueousreach
    Unfortunately I must say I disagree with you. Sot is a sandbox. As I kid I used to play with tonka trucks freaquently in a sand box. It’s a box full of sand and you get toys to play with in it. There’s nothing in this box that tells you what to do, just your imagination. What I would do is pretend I was at a construction sight, move sand around and make roads. Sea of thieves does the same just with pirate stuff. The only limitation to a sandbox is your imagination.

    That's the thing, you're very much limited in SoT, you can't build anything so you have no impact whatsoever on the world you're playing into, and in order to progress, you have to do quests. One could say that you could progress only by selling stolen booty, but that would resume SoT a simple PvP game.

  • knine kadeyooh

    @subaqueousreach I couldn't agree more. I also just posted my disapproval on the false marketing of this game.

  • eat1bread
    Founder

    I don't really think of it as a sandbox game primarily because there is something to do. Like, if you want, there are levels to grind, missions to complete, etc., like them or hate them.

    What I do think is meant in the context of Sea of Thieves when talking about sandbox, is the emergent complexity involved in the combat with other players. Like, fighting against any crew, you're likely to have a lot of different experiences -- there's enough space, and things to do, and ways in which players can react, that most if not all of your PvP experiences will feel significantly different from one another.

    Whether that's a "sandbox" or not, I don't even know if I really care about the definition. You can, if you want, disengage from the "purpose" of the game (to become Pirate Legend) and just do a limited amount of weird things, or have shootouts. It's not complicated, but it is quite varied if you allow yourself to change up how you approach things.

  • SirLiborius
    Marauder
    Founder

    I have to agree with @Hrenli: the line between sand box and open world is quite blurry.
    Most people seem to think of sandbox games only if there is crafting involved, which actually just is an additional feature in many games.

    And then there is a statement from @subaqueousReach which i can't agree on: "It's just a shame that there's very little reason to explore that open world."
    This is actually something most people link to sandbox games: The games don't tell you why you should explore. You decide towards or against it on your own.
    Why would you not explore in SoT? There are hidden treasures, some marked players as eastereggs and just many details in the world. If all of this doesn't matter for you, ok. But please keep in mind that other players do care for it and this game is a compromise to make it enjoyable for many players, so surely the most of us are finding parts which they don't enjoy in the game, but also see different upsides.

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