What is a theme-park?
2015
In terms of gaming and especially in mmo’s this is really an irrelevant term.
Almost every current mmorpg would fall under “Theme-park” with very few exceptions as noted here.
My Definition of Theme park = based on a set theme, the world/universe is created by the developer. the rules of game play are created by the developer.
Does the game have a set theme?
does it fall into a set genre like high fantasy or scifi?
If yes then it is a theme-park
The most commonly touted game as an example of theme-park is WoW, but I would argue that games like Eve and Archeage are also theme-parks regardless of what many people say. While there are differences in features content and “rides” they are all a set theme, all limited in what type of game I can play within it, while some games like wow have very static content which is generated only by the developer, and games like Eve rely on PvP to generate content, when I play any of these I am in a set universe/existence, with set roles and set rules/systems. I cannot make eve fantasy and I cannot make Archeage sci-fi I cannot create my own content or use the tools in the game to alter the game in any way.
more important than whether or not a game is a theme-park is how was the game designed?
how is content generated?
is it linear or open?
is it divided into zones or tunnels or is it a relatively seamless world?
how many different types of activities are there and how complex are they?
what are the class systems
what are the crafting systems
how is pvp implemented if at all?
The list just goes on and on and while many games can have systems or features that are reminiscent of sandboxes having any particular set of features does not make a sandbox.