ESO is an open world MMO, where you can go anywhere and do anything. There is no set path for you to level, in-fact it has been clarified that you are able to level up in whatever way you please.

--You can do quests, you can kill monsters, you can PvP to 50. When you do things such as quests, it forms the world around you, to how you wanted it to be. For example, you want someone to die during a quest or objective? There , he's dead, you won't see him again. You don't save the building from burning down? There, its not there anymore, and its not coming back.

This is a huge mixture between Theme Park style and Sandbox style MMO's, while you have general questing, PvP and exploration, there are sandbox elements such as you changing the world around you.

--End Game, the end game is what you want it to be, there arn't any raids at launch, so that means you'll have to do other things in your time, like explore to a different province still changing the world around you to fit your playstyle (an element of Sandbox MMO's mixed in with Theme Park style)

--Perks and Skills, see this is where things get really interesting. You have 4 classes that arn't entitled to do anything but what you want them to do. You want a Sorceress that specializes in two handed combat? You can have that. You want a Dragon Knight that uses a staff and throws fire in peoples face, you can do that. You can't do that in Theme Park MMO's. World of Warcraft, a Mage can't dual wield daggers, use two handed swords, and a linear skill path is set out for you, whereas, in ESO, took more of a Sandbox approach to the skills, and perks. You're not forced into any specific category, you can do anything you want, at any specific time. WoW? Can't do it, have to be Fire, Frost or Arcane.

--Race customization, this is very interesting, because from what some of the new articles are saying, it has almost as much customization with all the different sliders you can use to create your character. Fat, short, tall, skinny, wide, green, white, black, cheek bones, pigment, and many more. This is a Sandbox element, because it lets you decide what you want to look like. You don't have to pick a pre-created face to start like most other Theme Park MMO's.


With all of this information provided, i've come to the conclusion that ESO has a very nice mixture of Theme Park styles and Sandbox styles of gameplay. If you want to go in a straight path and do the quests, you can, if you want to choose your own path to leveling you're character you are able to do so. Having a good mixture is a very healthy thing for a game, because you're not just catering to one side.

Looks like a good mix so far.