Wide Open Sandbox/Playing With


 * Basic Trope: A Video Game that doesn't have strict rules and timelines for the player to follow.
 * Played Straight: A videogame has a goal for the player to accomplish, but he/she is given several ways of doing so and no time limit to accomplish those tasks.
 * Exaggerated: The game has no rules, and no way to "win" whatsoever!
 * Justified: The sidequests don't seem important, but become important to the plot later.
 * Doing the sidequests earns the player extra rewards, such as game credits that can be used to purchase better weapons or defense.
 * The game is not based around winning; it's just one of those happy little time-wasters.
 * Inverted: The game has strict rules and time-limits.
 * Closed Circle
 * Subverted: Although there is an ultimate goal to be accomplished, there are numerous sidequests that can be undertaken, some of which may be semi-important, others not so much.
 * Double Subverted: But there is no time limit to the ultimate goal of the game.
 * Parodied: Calvin Ball
 * Lampshaded: "The rules are: there ain't no rules!"
 * Averted: See "Inverted"
 * Enforced: "We need to make this game more fun, and more appealing to different kinds of gamers and personalities."
 * Invoked: An optional Sidequest comes up that has little to do with the central plot.
 * Defied: The player chooses not to do this, preferring to just accomplish the central goal, whatever that may be.