[PvK]

It's definitely not a matter of two distinct categories. I'm not sure it's even a spectrum between two poles. More like, players have a different degree of interest in each type of play.

Personally, I'm more interested in what you called the "sandbox" aspect, but I also enjoy the balance issues and friendly competition.

I very much enjoy playing leisurely single-player games, where I only resort to hunting for the most effective techniques when I'm about to get wiped out, and otherwise follow the careers of my warriors, try to keep them alive, explore things I haven't tried before, and so on. Tons of fun to be had there, for "sandbox" players.

I also very much like playing PBEM games against other players, with only partial in-character roleplaying aspects.

I even get tempted to want to play games such as Asynja versus munchkin-wannabes trying to exploit what they think are the latest "abusive" tricks.

PvK