Sandbox Game – What does this mean?

We hear the term quite often used on Twitter, in general gaming talks and in various other outlets of discussion but what is a Sandbox Game?  This surely can’t mean a game you play in a sandbox with toddlers at a public park… right?  Well we can confirm right now in this opening paragraph that sandbox game indeed does not mean something you play in a sandbox… sorry.  The rest of the article is about to get a lot more definitive, so put on your glasses and let’s get a little nerdy together.

What sandbox game is your favorite?

What does sandbox game mean? A sandbox game is a video game with nonlinear gameplay that presents players with challenges that can be completed in a number of different sequences. Each player sees only some of the challenges possible, and the same challenges may be played in a different order. (via WikiPedia) Sometimes you’ll hear people use terms like “open world” or “free roam” interchangeably with sandbox but these terms more describe more the environment whereas sandbox is much more of a game mechanic.  In most circumstances, when used interchangeably, it is likely they are being used correctly.

What are some sandbox games? Below is a list of some of the more popular and well known sandbox games just so you can put the above information with a bit of reference.

• Grand Theft Auto
• Red Dead Redemption
• Assassin’s Creed
• Fable
• Zelda

One of the most recent games in the spotlight regarding sandbox games has been Battlefield. Bad Company 1 and 2 were known for their sandbox type campaign missions and a lot of questions raised up whether Battlefield 3 would follow this same type of philosophy.  When talking “sandbox” with an FPS, it’s not necessarily an “open world” which goes back to the message that sandbox is a game mechanic and not an environment. In April, it was announced that Battlefield 3 would take a more linear, scripted approach.

“I don’t see it as an absolute goal for all games to be sandbox games. We’ve been building sandbox games for quite some time and we’ve got pretty good at it, but I don’t see that as the only way of building games, because then we wouldn’t build campaigns at all,” said Bach.

“In some cases they aren’t, but in most cases sandbox games are hardcore, boring, hard to get into and they are not very popular.”

Side note – It is a bit amusing that this was stated since EA and Battlefield took clear jabs at the linear approach that the ever popular Call of Duty takes by showing their spoof Duty Calls.

Some would argue in fact they aren’t boring and the idea of an open world and free roam type gameplay is what give them staying power.  It would be hard to argue that Grand Theft Auto was boring or not very popular. You have to assume none of the games listed above were the target of the boring name tag. Maybe what was meant was that less mainstream sandbox games are harder to get into which would make the statement probably more accurate.

Regardless of your beliefs on whether sandbox games are boring or not, I hope this little tidbit of information helped explain in a little more detail what it means when someone says “Is that game a sandbox?”.