No Game End
Some games are defined as open-ended and without a final win/loss or ending condition. They are games that, theoretically, could be played forever. They are generally games in which there is no overarching goal to be achieved (since fulfilling it would end the game), or there are goals being added constantly so that players never run out of things to do.
A game with No Game End is different from one that offers options for added replayability. A game that ends, but allows the player to continue playing, or offer a more challenging mode would not really qualify. A few questions to ask when wondering if a game has no ending include: does the game have a campaign or story mode? Are there any limits to the players progression in the game? Does the game have a story that is resolved?
Examples
Strong Examples
Vanguard:Saga of Heroes
Vanguard:Saga of Heroes is an MMORPG, where the player is immersed in a fantasy world that is constantly growing. Enemies are constantly respawning so there is no end to the adventuring and combat. There is a crafting system to allow the player to create powerful items to sell for other players with no limit to how many they can make. There is a constantly changing economy, with no limit on the amount of wealth a player can accumulate. There is real estate and boats in game to purchase or build. There is pvp content to allow for player verse player competition with no ultimate victor, as long as players are willing to continue the fight. There is an in-game strategy card game that influences the world, and adds another game with in a game. With regular updates that add new quests, items, dungeons, monsters, level caps, and classes the game has no definite ending, and the player can put in as much time as they want in this constantly expanding world
Roller Coaster Tycoon
The player con continue playing this game as long as his interest in the game persists. There is no resource exhaustion, narrative exhaustion, etc. The player has the freedom to continue building his roller coaster theme park as long as he wants.
Everquest
Everquest is a MMORPG in which the player controls a character that participates in adventures in an online, persistent 3-D world. There are theoretically no limits to the amount of adventuring the player could engage in since enemies are constantly respawning. On the other side, there is no way for the players character to be permanently eliminated from the game (short of direct intervention from the administrators due to exceptional situations). Though some players do experience all the content the game has to offer, EverQuest was also ever expanding as the game consistently came out with new expansion packs. These expansions would deliever a varying amount of things like, new content, new level caps, new races/classes, new 3-D engines.
World of Warcraft
The World of Warcraft is a strong example of a game without a definite ending. Being an online MMORPG, more quests are added after time so players never run out of things to do completely. Although one will try to become the strongest character and try to achieve the top gear, he or she must continue to play constantly due to the rapid updates.
The Sims
The Sims allows you take take and create avatars that you control their lives and outcomes. With the Sims there are no objectives of what to or what you can't do. In the original sims the characters don't even die so there is no ending at all, its just play for fun and stop when your bored.
Sim City 4
Just like all the Sim City games, when you aren't playing any specific challenges you are given an open world to build upon and the game never ends. You can continue to run your city forever if you like or make more and more cities till the zone is filled up. You can play the game until you get bored.
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing has no end. Even if the player attains every piece of furniture, clothing, and item as well as catching/finding every fish, bug and fossil, the game still does not end. This is because there is always something for the player to do because the tasks that can be performed can be done over and over again.
Harvest Moon 64
Harvest Moon 64 is a strong example of a No End Game. As the game's objectives are to simply fix up the farm and have a successful life within three years, one would expect that the game may end after that. However, the game, true to life, does not just end there: one can keep growing crops, making friends and viewing cut scenes for all of eternity, because gameplay does not stop after the "ending" provided by the game. One can continue to play the game indefinitely continue to experience any scenes not viewed before the "ending" of the game.
The goal or ending provided by the game serves as a stopping point for players, but there are no true requirements for reaching the goal and there is no way to lose the game; hence, HM64 is a strong example of a game without an ending.
Star Wars Galaxies
There is absolutely no end to Star Wars Galaxies for several reasons. One being that you could alter your character endlessly and master different combinations of professions and locations with those. The other reasons have to do with the fact that it is an MMORPG and there is constantly updated features being applied from the developers. This could also be looked at from the social point of view. There is no end to a game in which you can engage in a conversation with someone because conversation could potentially have no end. This game could be more of a social tool with no end.
MLB2k6
This is a strong example because for many reasons this game never ends. Even when you win the world series in franchise mode you just continue on into the next year, I mean I have 10 world series titles so obviously you can keep going. Plus there are about 5 different game modes and the game in itself never ends.
Shattered Galaxy
The online game Shattered Galaxy is a strong example of No Game End gameplay. After reaching a level 100, the player can gain a special badge that specifies the player that has reached level 100 and automatically resets the leve to 1. Of course, all the resources and units(armies, tanks, etc) appear even though the player gets reset to beginning. Upgraded units appear to be upgraded units but it will be also reset to level 1. This means that the player will never see the ending. It is possible to reach the highest level(100) but would not have ending.
Nexus TK: the Kingdom of the Winds
Similar to Everquest and World of Warcraft, Nexus TK, an MMORPG, offers the player no overarching goal to attain. The player can essentially play indefinitely (and in some cases, some users seem to) and instead the game is based off of a more communal aspect than most other games, providing players with a social world that is not reflected in many games. Players can continue hunting and making their characters stronger and stronger, and many choose to for Player-Killing combat, but there is no true end to this game.
Weak Examples
Civilization IV
Once a player has beaten the game, they are given the option of continuing play or not. Score is no longer kept but players can continue on, perhaps trying to conquer the rest of the world or build the perfect civilization. However, the official outcome for the game has already been determined so it is a weak example being that this is most often when players end their game
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
In Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the player could continue playing past game end, but there is a limited amount of content. And you could clear every dungeon and complete every quest, and yet the game doesn't end. This is a weak example because, though the game lacks more content, the game doesn't end and the player's character can still wander the world aimlessly.
However, Elder Scrolls (the PC version) is a somewhat gray area, in between weak and strong, because the players can download patches to extend the gameplay. One such patch allows the player to create more content for the game. In this sense it is a strong example of "No Game End" because as long as the player creates more content, the game doesn't have to end. On the other hand, if the player just downloads content produced by the game company, then there is the very real possibility of hitting a content wall where no more is being produced. Thus, providing the weak example mentioned above.
Jets 'N' Guns
After beating all the missions in the game, the player is sent back to the beginning to start over, albeit with all the money and weapons they'd acquired. There is even content which is unavailable until having played through the game a few times. However, once every item and ship has been acquired, there is nothing more to accomplish, but the game will send you through all the missions indefinitely. There is no game end in that the player never reaches a true end point, but there will be no more challenges, decisions, or content which have not already been met.
Black & White
In Black and White, you may defeat all the gods in your level and continue to play the level for fun simply making your creature better and making your villagers happier. Your creature grows as time goes by as time goes by and can be continually played with to make it angelic of devilish. You may simply play with your Creature like a Tamagotchi (toy that takes care of an animal). You can do all of this, but most people do not and simply end the game once they reach storyline and goals end.
The Sims 2
Like The Sims, The Sims 2 allows the player to continue playing until they get bored. However, in The Sims 2, characters can die, and so it is possible for a game to end, although it is always possible to create another family.
Chrono Trigger
In Chrono Trigger, once a player has completed the game, he/she has the option of starting a new game with a previous game's character experience and items. Based on this game option, Chrono Trigger provides a loose interpretation of no game end, as a player can continue using previous versions of characters in a new game storyline.
Tetris
Often, people think of a game of Tetris as being over when you lose. However, theoretically, given the correct blocks put in the correct places, one could be stuck playing the game forever, because the pieces never stop dropping even when you have reached the highest level, highest score (all nines in the score box) and have perfectly lined up your blocks to eliminate every piece on
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