Is there any difference between Sandbox and Open World?

Is there any difference between Sandbox and Open World?

Sandbox = Minecraft (can build shit)
Open World = GTA (whoah, a boring city)

But GTA is always called a sandbox game

Open World games are big and empty
Sandbox games give you cool shit to play with

GTA is sandbox. Elder Scrolls is open world

So what is Goat Simulator?

Sandbox is just implying you have a big open area with things to goof around with. Open world is suggesting that you are allowed to go everywhere and do anything you want right from the very beginning of the game.

Sandboxes are fuckaroundadoodiee do anything you want from sunrise to the next sunrise. Openworld is structured with clear limits of what part of the world you can go to at certain limitations.

Some games can be a combination. In GTA you fuck around as much as you like but some areas of the map are prohibited until you complete certain pre-requisites.

Open world is a level design term for players being able to freely navigate the gamespace in a non-linear way rather than in a level by level and/or linear way.

Sandbox is a gameplay term relating to players making their own fun with various toys in emergent ways, without need of a specific goal.

sandbox is making your own stories, open world is following other stories

What's the best sandbox game OF ALL TIME?

open world is open world
sandbox lets you "play" with different elements in unconventional means.

Garry's Mod

Technically yes. You can have a sandbox game that's not open world. A sandbox game is essentially any game that allows the player to interact with it's gameplay systems in a variety of ways.
An open world game is self-explanatory, but usually the term entails that there are very few areas you CAN'T go to. S.T.A.L.K.E.R SoC, for instance isn't an open world game, just a game with very large levels. So is Crysis, but Crysis is still a sandbox game.

yes, its literally in the fucking name

Gmod

Grand Theft Auto III and any other answer is just contrarianism.

>gta
>sandbox

Here's your (you)

Far Cry 3 was pretty impressive in terms of graphics and scale.

I feel like people who call GTA a sandbox have never really playd a sandbox.

Let me guess, Far Cry is a sandbox too?


Literally any game that doesn't hold your hand or is a simple A to B hallway simulator with cutscenes is a sandbox to you right?

GTA is literally where the term comes form you underage faggot.

was about to post this

it's not a sandbox

Open world means you can explore the world created with minimal to no constraints.

Sandbox means you can manipulate and change that world.

you're entitled to your opinion but you're still wrong

It's open world and a sandbox.
Games can be both, either or none.

far cry's level editor was LITERALLY called "Sandbox"

how is GTA a sandbox? itsm ore of an open world theme park that lets you shoot random npcs for no reason.

Sandbox is an open world game where you ain't given any goals, you're just put in a world and go, you're free, fly like a bird.

That's what a sandbox is. You seem to be under the impression only games like Minecraft are sanbox games but the term predates minecraft by about 15 years.

There is literally nothing sand boxy about GTA. You dont have any, non scripted influence on the environment. If you kill NPCs theyll respawn and the game will cause a scripted reaction. You cant just build a house from materials you found in the world. GTA isnt a sandbox game, not in the slightest.

A sandbox can be open world, but an open world is not a sandbox. They're not mutually exclusive.

GTA is a sandbox title. While there exists a story, the whole purpose of the game is to mostly ignore that story and do WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT, however you want it--which is further extended on PC with mods, which takes the concept of a sandbox: whatever the fuck you want, to new heights;

>want to fire cars out of your AK-47? there's a mod for that
>want to be iron man? there's a mod for that
>want to turn off friction on all surfaces so that literally everything on your screen is now a flying death trap? there's a mod for that
>want to combine all of the above to make your own fun? you can do that

all of which takes place in the GTAIV/V large open world. This makes GTA a sandbox. You are making your own fun, using the objects in game or mods that add to it.

Mass Effect is an open world game, however it is not a sandbox. You can't do whatever the fuck you want, you are limited to the design of BioWare. You can't fly your Normandy to some outpost and use its weapons to blow shit up. You can't cruise around the citadel, take out your gun and shoot up the place killing scores of civilians; instigating a fight with C-Sec and raking up your bounty and threat level to absurd levels where they would be forced to bring warships to stop you; etc. etc. etc.

Also, like everyone else said, you're wrong.

i agree with everything but mass effect being an open world game

>GTA is literally where the term sandbox comes
Get your uneducated babby ass out of here. The term was used at LEAST as far back as Simcity 1.

Not that guy, but all of you are wrong. A sandbox game doesn't give you a world to explore, it gives you the tools to build a world.

Everything you just said you can do in GTA is part of the freedom the game gives you, but you're still limited. The fact that you're more limited in Mass Effect doesn't make GTA a sandbox game.

Here, let's see some limitations in GTA.

>you can't destroy buildings
>you can't access every location on the map at all times
>you can't control the AI
>you can't cause mayhem without triggering the cops on you
>you can't create new structures

You see? a sandbox game basically gives you developer tools to fuck around.

Oh and by the way, having mods that allow you to break those limitations doesn't count. Any game can be turned into a sandbox with mods.

>sandbox gives you the tools to build a world
I don't think this is strictly true. "Sandbox" can also mean a kind of fuck-around potential, playing the game without a goal but still making interesting scenarios happen and come about. You don't have to be building things.

It's also not an either/or binary thing. GTA has some light sandbox elements where you can mess with the world, whereas something like Minecraft or SimCity is basically nothing but "sand" that you have to shape into things to get any enjoyment out of it at all.

>Rockstar would have had to deliver an opus to avoid disappointing the fans, and continue its long trend of spearheading the sandbox genre
>destructoid, 2008

>although certainly not the first example, the GTA series is often held to be one of the premier examples of the sandbox genre
>The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto, 2006

>Rockstar's 3D sandbox will leave you breathless
>OPM, 2001

etc etc etc

I don't disagree in this case, but reviewers use terms wrongly all the time

True, but this guy is acting totally perplexed that we could even think GTA is a sandbox series. So I think some evidence that it's been considered a sandbox series for decades is relevant, even if the sources can't be called reliable.

Like, when someone misuses the term "Action-Adventure" to describe a game like Uncharted, I still completely understand where they're coming from and know that's how that terms been used, as a descriptor for basically every game that mixes elements of different genres, for at least 20 years.

Alright, I'm assuming there's no academic source to look for the definition of these terms so we're just trying to define them here.

To me the difference is in the existence of a previously created world. Some games have a story mode and a "sandbox" mode separated from each other.

Usually in this sandbox mode you are allowed to generate scenarios from start. Some examples would be Minecraft or Besiege, I can't really think of more of the top of my head, but I'm sure there are dozens.

Also like this guy said (even tho he wanted to prove the opposite point), level editors count as sandbox games. You generate your own scenarios.

There's no hard limit to what constitutes a sandbox. By your definition, UE4DK, CryEngine5DK, Unity5DK is a sandbox and every other game made from it is not.

That's so restrictive in scope that there's no fucking point to this thread then.

I understand why people would refer to GTA as sandbox, and I don't really think mixing the term with open world is something worth correcting irl.

That said, this thread was specifically created to debate the differences between these two terms.

Technically speaking, GTA is not a sandbox game.

the difference between a sandbox game and an open world game is your avatar

in a sandbox game your character is built up, and can be defeated
the only consequences are once something is removed from the game world, it will have to be put back in (an npc will respawn, a structure will reform, your character will be built up again)

in an open world game, your actions have permanent concequences
your character dies and it's game over, you kill an npc and they remain dead, you destroy a building and it stays destroyed

If you take a game engine and with it you make a game in which you give the player simplified tools for him to generate his own scenarios from scratch, then you have created a sandbox game.

Sorry, I thought you were the guy who posted

>Literally any game that doesn't hold your hand or is a simple A to B hallway simulator with cutscenes is a sandbox to you right?

I hope for his sake that he's just somebody who likes to exaggerate on the internet.

In sandbox games there is no story except the one your make yourself

...

Sandbox allows you to set your own goals with the gameplay systems provided to you.
Open world just means a free roaming world map you can travel with no forced guidance.
A game like Besiege is a sandbox, but not an open world game.
A game like Witcher 3 is an open world game, but not a sandbox

This is an interesting take, but you're just pulling these definitions out of your ass. Why would you assume that? what does it have to do with the words "sandbox" and "open world"?

GTA IS NOT A SANDBOX

Arma 3 is a sandbox (editor)
minecraft is a sandbox

gta isn't a fucking sandbox. it's extremely limited you stupid motherfucker

maybe people should think a little more about the sandbox analogy, here

I mean a sandbox is just a big pile of sand and the only way to have fun with it is to start making things or invent scenarios, basically shape the pile in some way to do something interesting and come up with ideas yourself (doesn't have to be building things)

if the game in question doesn't feel at least a little bit like fucking around with a pile of sand it's probably not a sandbox game

maybe the term "sandbox" doesn't have to have a blanket definition and can be interpreted in different ways

But it is a sandbox.

Sandbox has something interesting or at least useable in it's world.

Open world is just "look at all this space wow map is so huge"

The sandbox I played in when I was a kid. Man, I miss that thing.

you don't know what a sandbox game is

Sandbox
Go wherever you want and do whatever you want. There's usually crafting/building involved. If there's a storyline of some sort, the quests are generally very broad and loose. There's usually no "ending" or at least the game lets you keep playing after "beating" it.

Open World
There's a story with progression, but you can do the quests on your own terms. Some places/game mechanics may be locked until you reach a certain point in the story and some places may lock you out after a certain point. After you beat the game, you usually have to start a new game or new game+, but sometimes it will let you continue.

Correct answer is the BF2 Sandbox Mod.

No u.