To annoy Funcom Montreal's creative director, just say 'sandbox'

- Craig Morrison, creative director of The Secret World developer Funcom Montreal, speaking to Gamasutra from GDC Europe. There's a dichotomy in MMO design right now -- one that could glibly be summed up as "EVE vs. WoW." Theme park MMOs lead the player on a journey through handcrafted content; sandbox games deliver gameplay in which the players interact with each other inside a system. Morrison doesn't see value in this dicotoy, however. "We need to try to move beyond that," says Morrison. "I'd like to get rid of those phrases. I hate the terms 'theme park' and 'sandbox.' To me the beauty of these virtual worlds is that they're community-based and that they can be actual virtual worlds, where players can tell their own stories alongside the storytelling from the developers." Our full interview with Morrison will appear on Gamasutra in the near future. Gamasutra is in Cologne, Germany this week covering GDC Europe. For more GDC Europe coverage, visit our official event page. (UBM TechWeb is parent to both Gamasutra and GDC events.)