Other than Grand Theft Auto, perhaps the biggest and best example of MYOF would be The Sims. You can get your Sims jobs... or don't. You can fulfill their personality requirements... or don't. You can get them married... or don't. You can kill them off... but that takes a while.
Grand Theft Auto, and now Bully, are exactly the same way. You see, in both games there are things called "missions" that you must complete in order to move on through the game. They can range from making an errand to killing (or beating up in Bully's case) a specific foe. While in Bully I find myself inclined to complete the missions and beat the game, I have never felt that way for Grand Theft Auto. Perhaps it is because the killing and stealing in Grand Theft Auto are more fun than in Bully.
That isn't to say anything bad about bully. GTA is for mature audiences, and Bully is for teens. I just found a huge appeal and stealing people's cars. It's not as if I don't randomly go around beating people up in Bully for the heck of it... I just focus on the missions as well. In GTA, however, I find most of the missions tedious. But even without them... I've never had any trouble having fun -- making my own fun.
I think I have this appeal in both games because of Rockstar's use of witty dialog. I find myself laughing out loud at the things the characters say when I am fighting them. There's a whole city (or region in GTA's case) to explore, and most of the time 99% of it has nothing to do with your mission at hand. It's just fun to explore.
While games like Halo and The Legend of Zelda without these sandbox qualities will always be my favorites (though Zelda does have the "go where you want" and "take the game at your own pace" qualities, there's just less to do), I will always enjoy The Sims, GTA, and now Bully for their unique quality.
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