The Linux Foundation Projects
Skip to main content

Sandbox Game

A game with a gameplay element that gives the player a great degree of creativity to complete tasks towards a goal within the game, if such a goal exists. Some games exist as pure sandbox games with no objectives; these are also known as non-games or software toys. Very common examples of sandbox games are ones where the player has the ability to create, modify, or destroy their environment, i.e., a game that includes some form of a game creation system. The term alludes to a child’s sandbox where the child can create and destroy with no given objective. While ‘open world’ and ‘sandbox’ are sometimes used interchangeably (or with only the implication of ‘sandbox’ being smaller), the terms refer to different concepts and are not synonymous.