Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Linear Progression Leveling Should Lead to a Horizontal Ssandbox

I realize there is a strict line between Themepark style games, ala WoW, and Sandbox games, ala EvE; however, I want to know why both environments can't come together.

Why can't there be an MMO where there is a linear progression game of quest and leveling up till level cap, and then the vertical character growth stops and horizontal growth begins.

The end game would be void of quest and such, but have more other things to do, such as housing, world events (this should really happen more in all MMOs), and collectibles.

There would still be raids, but the rewards would be cool furniture for your house, or some rare outfit you could don at the bank. I'm reaching far here on the rewards, but they could really be anything that didn't give your character additional power.

Would most of the linear progression types be turned off from a system like this once they hit level cap and gathering more powerful items for their character wasn't possible?

What about the reverse; would a sandbox player be able to stomach 80 levels of quest just to get to the sandbox?

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