Open world

An open world is a video game level where players can freely roam a virtual world.^[1] Open world gameplay is sometimes described interchangeably with sandbox gameplay or free-roaming.^[2][3] Terms such as open world and free-roaming allude to the absence of artificial barriers,^[4] in contrast to the invisible walls that are common in more linear level designs. However, many open world games still have such restrictions at some point in the game environment, either due to absolute game design limitations or temporary limitations imposed by the game's linearity.

1 Gameplay 2 History 2.1 Origins 2.2 Beyond Grand Theft Auto III 3 Notes

An open world is a level designed as a nonlinear, vast open area with many ways to reach an objective.^[5] Some games are designed with both traditional and open world levels.^[6] An open world facilitates greater exploration than a series of smaller levels,^[4] or a level with more linear challenges.^[7] Reviewers have judged the quality of an open world based on whether there are interesting ways for the player to interact with the broader level when they ignore their main objective.^[7] Some games actually use real settings to model an open world, such as New York City.^[8]

A major design challenge is to balance the freedom of an open world with the structure of a dramatic storyline.^[9] Since players may perform actions that the game designer did not expect,^[10] the game's writers must find creative ways to impose a storyline on the player without interfering with their freedom.^[11] As such, games with open worlds will sometimes break the game's story into a series of missions, or have a much simpler storyline altogether.^[12] Other games instead offer side-missions to the player that do not disrupt the main storyline.^[13] Most open world games make the character a blank slate that players can project their own thoughts onto, although several games such as Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole offer more character development and dialog.^[4]

Games with open worlds typically give players infinite lives or continues, although games like Blaster Master force the player to start from the beginning should they die too many times.^[4] However, there is a risk that players may get lost as they explore an open world. Thus designers sometimes try to break the open world into manageable sections.^[14]

Elite is often credited with pioneering the open world game concept in 1984,^[1][15][16] and games such as Wing Commander: Privateer and Freelancer have been described as sandbox games.^[17][10][13] However, the games that had the most impact were the Grand Theft Auto series,^[3] and other early 2D games also featured nonlinear level design.^[4] Furthermore, there were several games before Grand Theft Auto III that offered players the ability to explore an open worlds while driving a variety of vehicles. Turbo Esprit provided a 3D free-roaming city environment in 1986 and has been cited as a major influence on Grand Theft Auto.^[18] Others include the DMA Design (later renamed Rockstar North) game Body Harvest (1998) and Midtown Madness (1999). Grand Theft Auto III has also been likened to the Driver series in 1998.^[19]

Critics sometimes treat the release of Grand Theft Auto III as a revolutionary event in the history of video games, much like the release of Doom nearly a decade earlier.^[20] Still, Grand Theft Auto III merely combined elements from previous games (the game has been likened to Zelda and Metroid^[4]) and fused them together into an entirely new and immersive experience. After the release of Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, many games which employed a 3D open world were labeled, often derogatorily, as GTA clones. Ironically, some reviewers extended this label to the entire Driver series, even though this series began years before the release of Grand Theft Auto III.^[19]

With the success of GTA III, many open world games produced afterward such as The Getaway (2002), Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven (2002), and Saints Row (2006) featured similar themes of urban crime. True Crime: Streets of LA (2003) and Crackdown (2007) presented the open world crime genre from the perspective of a police officer.^{[citation needed]} Meanwhile, Rockstar Games published Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002, which has been called one of the best games to use an open world design, ^[21] and followed this with even larger worlds in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Other games employed the open world concept beyond that of the urban crime genre. Spider-Man 2 (2004) was highly praised for its large, free-roaming Manhattan that players could freely "swing" through and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (2005) was similarly praised for the new sense of freedom and power the open world concept brought to its comic book setting. Bratz: Rock Angelz (2005), Jaws Unleashed (2006), and Bully (2006) showed other ways of implementing an open world beyond the familiar conventions of Grand Theft Auto.

The Destroy All Humans! series is well known for its twist on 3D open world gameplay. Instead of playing on the traditional "mankind defending the world" type of alien invasion game, Destroy All Humans! allowed players to play from the alien perspective, allowing for a new and different open world gameplay experience. ^[22][23]

The Sims 3 and The Dark Knight (video game) will also feature open world abilities.^{[citation needed]}