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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 7470856" data-attributes="member: 3192">I don't think there is spectrum between a "sandbox" and a "railroad". One is a game and the other is a story. A sandbox is played and succeeded or failed at due to the players' actions and abilities. The latter is where the "player" reads or listens to a story. What I think confuses contemporary gamers is many computer games  try and remove gaming from their design and predetermine a linear story. Future events are almost entirely not a consequence of players playing a game, but really pushing the buttons to feed themselves more of the linear story. This is sometimes called a gauntlet design. The player has to proceed down the gauntlet and overcome every challenge along the way as a game, but if they fail they simply resurrect over and over and over again. "Bad" gauntlet games then become ones where the gaming is actually considered a hindrance for receiving the "pellets" of story the designer is feeding them.Compare that to a game that is actually designed to support many of the assets found in games rather than stories, Chess for instance. The number of pieces and types of moves for every piece are highly limited, but the quantity of potential future situations is staggering. That's what actual D&D is: a massive quantity of potential futures shifting as you take each action in the game. Every action matters for the entire length of the campaign, but resurrection is highly limited and if you die you have to start over at the beginning - not the starting location, but back at level 1. You need to self select to face easier challenges for your role.</blockquote>

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