On The Pleasures of Sandboxing

There's something about a well-crafted video game world that appeals to me; much of the time, I'd rather act like a tourist than a protagonist, gawking at the details in the scenery; and even when playing the story, it often feels that it's more about creating more background for me to enjoy than advancing the plot.  For lack of a better term, I'll call this exploration of a video game setting 'sandboxing'.

That isn't to say that non-sandbox video games - like Bioshock - aren't worthy of exploration; however, they tend to be fairly linear and one-way.  A sandbox-style game - like the Grand Theft Auto series - is more fun to explore, sussing out the nooks and crannies.  That isn't to say that sometimes the designs are lacking a little bit.  Take, for instance, the original renditions of the fictional Liberty City (aka NYC) and Vice City (aka Miami) from the GTA series... each city, supposedly home to millions, and with cars constantly streaming down their many roads, has exactly one gas station each.

More recently, I've been playing Far Cry 5, which is a sandbox-style game set in a remote Montana county.   There's only one town in the entire county, and it's a small one - a general store, a church, a bar and an auto garage, plus some houses.  Unrealistic?  Sure, but the 'one-town county' is such a regular cliche in storytelling that when you come across something different (such as the game State of Decay, a zombie survival sandbox with three towns in a remote county), it tends to really stand out.  No, the problem is something else.  In the game, you play a deputy in the county sheriff's office... but there's no actual sheriff's office in the game.  It's such a weird oversight, especially since you hear a dispatcher in the opening cinematics (in a way that suggested you would see her again).  There's also mention of a county newspaper, a county fire department, and even some school buses, with nary a corresponding building.

Then again, this sort of thing always has to be done tongue-in-cheek, considering that one of your missions is to hold an annual food festival despite the fact that a religious cult has taken over the region.