Sandbox MMORPG
Stars Reach is a social sandbox MMORPG in the vein of games like Ultima Online or Star Wars Galaxies.
History of the Term MMORPG
Back in the day of UO and SWG, the term MMORPG was still defined as
| Massive(ly) multiplayer online role-playing games or MMORPGs are virtual persistent worlds located on the Internet. They are a specific subset of massive(ly) multiplayer online games in which players interact with each other through avatars, that is, graphical representations of the characters they play. |
Source: Wikipedia, 2004 and before (emphasis added)
or
| A massively (or massive) multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG is a multiplayer computer role-playing game that enables thousands of players to play in an evolving virtual world at the same time over the Internet. MMORPGs are a specific type of massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). |
Source: Wikipedia, 2005 (emphasis added)
With persistent worlds to this day being defined as:
| A persistent world or persistent state world (PSW) is a virtual world which, by the definition by Richard Bartle, "continues to exist and develop internally even when there are no people interacting with it". |
Source: Wikipedia (emphasis added)
That definition then changed, as themeparks with entirely static worlds that were neither persistent nor evolving, became the predominant form of MMORPG. These worlds couldn't change even if players interacted with them, and were often subjected to weekly resets, to make absolutely sure nothing could persist.
If we look further back to text-based MUDs (multi-user dungeons) though, we find that themeparks are based on the older type of "Diku-MUD" where everything was hardcoded, and gameplay was very focused on just numbers-go-up and bragging rights. The predecessors of those early sandbox MMORPGs were actually later MUDs that evolved from Dikus - attempting to make things more dynamic and less hard-coded, and also taking ideas from MUSHes and MOOs.
Stars Reach subscribes to that vision of evolving, persistent, virtual worlds. And to that of players socially interacting with each other through their avatars - instead of just playing next to each other.
In Stars Reach, any changes made to the virtual worlds will persist and be visible to other players, and influence the world simulation. The world simulation may get paused when there are no players around, but will then fast-forward through everything that would have happened in the absence of players, so that effectively the world does continue in to evolve in the absence of players.
Advances in computer hardware and internet infrastructure allow for persistent worlds to be far more dynamic and better simulated than ever before. Stars Reach is trying to push the envelope on what can be done with persistent worlds.
Social Play
In a social graph, people are often shown as circles or "nodes", and the connections between them as lines or "edges".
Stars Reach tries to design for social play, by optimizing this graph for ingame characters to a desired density, where players are connected to other players in many ways - including asynchronous weak bonds through gameplay interdepencies, supply chains and player contracts (missions, work requests) - but where already large nodes are also stopped from becoming too dominant or forming a (partial) monopoly. This includes making goods transport slow to allow for regional markets and regional pricing as well as arbitrage.
Another important factor is not to pull players apart - be it through server boundaries or power-gaps caused by one outleveling the other. Stars Reach will be single-sharded, which means there will be no separate servers, but everyone will play together in the same shared universe (except for maybe a US/EU/Asia separation - that's still undecided). And there will be no character levels. Instead of gaining level ups, character progression is skill based, where characters can train a few of various skills trees (over 40 of them are currently planned). This allows players to grow more skilled and to specialize, without growing hit points and damage numbers to where it's impossible to play together.
And finally, they aim to let players fullfill the fantasy of becoming a tavern owner, or a master artisan, or owner of a cozy mom-and-pop shop, or a famed mercenary, or a politician running a city or even a planet.
See Riffs by Raph: Designing for Social Play for more information.
Sandbox
When it comes to MMOs, the term sandbox implies games that allow for a broad range of different playstyles to not just coexist with the same world, but interact and cooperate with and depend on each other.
Stars Reach tries to push this further, by not just supporting a very wide range of playstyles - both combat and non-combat ones - through more than 40 planned skill trees, but also by offering a player contract system through wich other activities - both ingame and out of game - can be integrated to the economy. Bascially through contracts you can hire (and pay) another player to do whatever you come up with.
Further, sandbox also means, that gameplay will be more "simulationist" in nature, and less "stagecraft". Those are the terms Raph applies to activities where players just try to influence the game world, economy and virtual society in some ways (think EvE Online) as opposed to the premade "rides" of instanced dungeons and raids that themeparks offer.
Stars Reach has currently no plans of using any instancing at all, except for maybe the very initial starter tutorial. All the rest of the gameplay will take place on procedurally generated planets, which are shared open worlds, accessible to anyone who knows of them. These worlds run a cellular automata based simulation that players can influence and play with in various ways. There seem to be no plans for NPCs that hand out quest-chains, or anything of that sort.
Living Galaxy
Stars Reach calls this combination of sandbox, exploration, and alternate-life game on a massive scale, a living galaxy.
"It’s a single shardless galaxy full of living planets to explore, settle, and rule with your friends. Thousands of planets and space zones, each persistent whether you’re online or not, all connected into a single galactic online multiplayer game.
It’s a massively multiplayer sandbox RPG with a deep skill tree horizontal progression system, dozens of professions, and no classes, gender locks, or annoying rails. If you decide you want to change your build, just let some skills fall out of practice and go learn something else. It’s built for immersing you into an alternate world of adventure.
This huge galaxy won’t get in the way of having instant fun, though. Download your brainwaves into a clone body close to your friends. Have fun in a five-minute session – or spend hours decorating your house. It’s a modern online game that respects your time and preferred ways to play."
How is a Living Galaxy different from a sandbox MMORPG?
"It’s broader and takes place in an intelligent, living, fully modifiable universe rather than in stage-managed, static set pieces that only look like worlds. It draws a lot of inspiration from our team’s time working on past MMOs (the project is headed by Raph Koster, the original designer of Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, who basically invented the sandbox MMO). It’s the kind of play environment we’ve wanted to build for years."
Also see:
- Riffs by Raph - Themepark vs. Sandbox
- Raph's Blog - Simulationism
- Stars Reach - Overview
- Stars Reach - Frequently Asked Questions
for more information.
