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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9733572" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Does it? I'm surprised to hear that.I certainly think it has meanings--whether denotation or connotation--that mean folks avoid it because it doesn't fit their interests, but that's hardly the same thing.Well, responding to these in order...1: That just means it was a badly-made sandbox, assuming the group actually did want to play one. If the GM offers a sandbox and then doesn't fill it with sand, that's not the format's fault.2: Again, this either means terrible execution, or the group just didn't want to play a sandbox. More likely the latter. Sandboxes have no "plot", they're just what the players choose to do. It's <a href="https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/06/arms-arent-even-that-cool" target="_blank">complaining that cupcakes are small, not big like regular cakes.</a>3: The first part is just false, sandboxes can surprise anyone. "Narrative twist" requires an established narrative, so that's, again, "Who likes dogs? They only bark, they never meow."4: I'm sensing a pattern here..."endgame", in this context, means...a narrative conclusion. Can't have a narrative conclusion if there is no narrative. Complaining that a thing which explicitly lacks a narrative is bad because it lacks a narrative conclusion is crappy, if you agreed to do that thing.5: So...95% of this is "sandboxes are bad because they aren't pre-plotted linear adventures", which means the complainer is being either foolish or jerkish, take your pick. The other 5% are "sandboxes can be executed poorly", which...yes? That's not news. It's not like other styles are always executed perfectly!The problem is, "railroad" started off specifically and intentionally negative. As in, the people using it were specifically doing so to point out a thing they saw as a flaw. That's why almost all uses of the term "railroad" are negative, and it's only been in the last like...maybe 15-20 years that we've seen people try to reclaim it as "well not ALL railroads are bad!!"Sandbox has been neutral or positive from the beginning. Railroad has been negative from the beginning, and has only recently had anyone try to reclaim it.It's that simple.Your "complaints" above fundamentally boil down to either: (a) someone forced to play in a sandbox when they don't want to, (b) someone who agreed to play in a sandbox...but either lied or grievously misunderstood, or (c) someone complaining that a style they don't play is different from the style they do, which is blatantly foolish.I do think it could be useful to develop the opposite of what you're asking for though: a term to capture "an open, plot-free game gone wrong", just as "linear" was an attempt to capture "a fixed, plot-driven game done right", since the primary sense of "railroad" is negative.Do you have ideas for what one might call such an open game gone wrong? I like the sound of "hinterland" or, better yet, "wasteland" game. "Wasteland" implies all the negative things you brought up: empty, sprawling, unfocused, directionless. The trackless waste is a common poetic metaphor. And "wasteland" naturally has negative connotations because of the word "waste", so there's little chance that anyone would see it as a positive word being misused. What do you think?</blockquote>

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