In the days of old, there used to be a MMO called Roma Victor in like the mid 2000s. It was subscription based, but I was too young and broke to get into the game. Anyway it was like one of the first unique 'sandbox-like' mmos I had come across. It was set in the ancient Roman times, you had to build structures, eat, there was politics, etc etc.
It was a real unique game at the time, but it closed down a few years back due to lack of funds. It is interesting however that if this game had been created in this decade with the advent of crowdfunding projects and the new interest in experimental mmos, this game might have succeeded.
Nostalgia.