Optional Sandbox Endgame

[cekivi]

I saw this getting discussed on another thread and thought it warranted its own: the idea of an end game for the sandbox. Instead of just surviving forever you could optionally choose to walk away and have your character continue to survive indefinitely.

How I envision this working is to have a clear set of goals a player would need to achieve in order for their character to survive the Long Dark and come out the other side. These things could be:

• A home with fireplace, bed and workbench (e.g. the Camp Office on mystery lake)
  
• Renewable clothing (craft an entire set of animal clothes)
  
• Tools to last the year (I'm guessing the homemade knife and axe if they ever get balanced correctly)
  
• A matchless way to start fires indefinitely (right now just the magnifying glass but hopefully others are added)
  
• The bow and arrow for hunting and defence
  
• A few weeks worth of food and water

At this point, you would then have the option to retire your sandbox character and have them live to the spring and through the years to come without you needing to play. Instead of leader boards for duration of survival you can track how long it takes a player to achieve the ability to survive indefinitely. Scores may be assigned based on quality of life post-retirement (e.g. quantity of man-made tools and ability to repair them). As a final treat, if you do everything right, your character gets an conclusion of walking outside and seeing something green growing through the snow accompanied by "you survived the Long Dark".

Again, not for everyone but personally I'd rather have the goal of a self-sufficient character to work towards as opposed to just trying to live as long as possible via hibernating.