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Kotaku's Mike Fahey discovered an interesting image over on Digg that provides us with a visual comparison of many of gaming's largest game worlds, MMOs included.
In the article, Fahey asks us, "Does size matter? Compare the size of these seven video game words to the amount of enjoyment you got out of playing the game."
Many MMO gamers and especially our readers here at MMORPG.com often regard a large open world as being key to a great MMOG. Read below for a breakdown of MMO game world sizes according to the above image:
World of Warcraft -- 80mi2
Asheron's Call -- 500mi2
Guild Wars: Nightfall -- 15,000mi2
The Lord of the Rings Online-- 30,000mi2
If you've played more than one of the above games did you find the one with the comparitively larger world more enjoyable as a result? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Comments
Hmm, can't seem to find it, how big is Vanguard's world of Telon?
I find it interesting that LotRO is ridiculously larger than WoW, yet, I dont think most people would say the content is all that greater. I am now a WoW-fanboy, but I used to play it, and gotta give Blizz credit wheres its due.
Asheron's Call's 500 square miles seemed a lot larger before fast travel/ portal summoning was added. As for GW and LoTR I haven't played either of those games enough to notice the size of the world.
Asheron's Call's wide open world really FELT wide and open because it wasn't divided into very tight, distinct zones, the way WoW, EQ2, DAoC, LOTRO, and most other games are split up. It really felt huge to run and run across forests, deserts, mountains, and it all shaped together into a believable world (for the most part).
I'm surprised they don't mention EVE online, which I suppose would be on a galactic scale and many magnitudes larger than anything else.
However, with both EVE and Daggerfall, although the worlds are technically large, you don't really "go" to most of the places; fast-travel modes take you across the vast majority of those distances without actually experiencing it, making the game "feel" like a small, zoned world. Only in Asheron's Call did you feel like you were in a big, open world.
IMO, its more about what is in the world, not the size of it. If that world is broken up into a bunch of smaller zones and instances and stuff, and you get everywhere by clicking an npc/item and insta-taveling there, then the "size" of the world doesnt matter nearly as much as if it were one big open world to explore. Along with that, theres also the matter of how unique the different places in the world are. Id much rather have a medium sized world with lotsof unique, memorable places and new things to do in each area, than a massive world that just feels pretty much the same everywhere you go and travelling around doesnt really offer you anything new to do or explore.
Dark and Light: 15.000 mi²
Lotro has a larger world than DnL? - Cant really belive it, because it takes 12-15min to climb on the largest mountain (without flying mount ^^) ...
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Playing: Overwatch, Genshin Impact, Black Desert Mobile, Hundred Soul, Cyberpunk 2077
Inactive: WAR, DAoC, RIFT, GW1/2, TSW, Age of Wulin, Black Desert, Blade & Soul, Skyforge
My guess is Vanguard would dwarf all of the MMOs listed there. That world is HUGE!!!!
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One thing to remember about LOTRO is that it is representing a world that used to be more thickly settled, but has had the "fall of Rome" syndrome -- all the infrastructure has fallen apart. In LOTR, it takes months of time for people to walk across what we can get across in a few hours, jogging, less by mount, even less via the stable system.
So the scale of the place is actually telescoped down, one an experiential basis -- it has to be, or it would take weeks to get from city to city to get the next "stable" (teleport point) registered for your character, and no one would put up with that.
But true to the books, the world is full of curious ruins and lost forts and cities, elven vaulted domes smashed like filigree eggs a giant baby tired of, all the right stuff. It's meant to be desolate, and the content is concentrated (as per lore) in the outposts of civilization that survive.
LOTRO is quite big, but it feels small because there is little variation in there, everything looks the same.
I don't think Vanguard is that big, it is just the variation of climates / themes that makes it feel large.
Another thing to consider for LotRO is that you can run (or ride your mount) all over the world without actually zoning from one 'zone' to another. The game may not look it, but a lot of the regions are very large. A good example of this is the Shire; the size is more noticeable there, as you have tons of FedEx types of quests. I'm guessing that Rohan (when it gets released) is going to be quite large as well. That being said, Vanguard's world (Telon) puts LotRO and the others to shame.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
As someone who has ran a dark elf from their starting area to the highelf area (and still had half a continent to go), I can say that Telon is huge. Don't forget you can also explore the oceans (and all the scattered islands), something you can't do in most other games.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
In response to Mike's question I've played WoW, AC and LOTRO (no GW). Of those three I found Dereth (AC) to be the most enjoyable, then LOTRO, then WOW. AC from those numbers is 60 times smaller than LOTRO but felt 100 times bigger and more open. It was layed out in an open manner which made me feel like I could truly go any direction and explore. LOTRO felt like being funneled from one quest hub to the next. There were a couple areas where you could shortcut through a hub area but on the average you are funneled.
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Yep Vanguard have biggest world of all MMOs . I still remember my one month adventure all over the 3 continents of Telon in save of Unicorn race, while even have not explored 1/10 of the world. It was real adventure with real exploration and valuable reward: Unicorn mount!
Where themepark games try to hide that they are copying WOW, games like Mortal Online and Darkfall make no attempt to hide their inspiration
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LordOfDarkDesire
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2587797#2587797
Too bad someone on this website had this idea already, and this one
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/3210667#3210667
I have played Both VG and Darkfall, VG for more than year in total, Darkfall for something like 4-5 months at release. While can say that have explored most of the Darkfall world, cannot say the same for Vanguard. Vanguard world is really huge.
Where themepark games try to hide that they are copying WOW, games like Mortal Online and Darkfall make no attempt to hide their inspiration
______\m/_____
LordOfDarkDesire
I wonder how Perfect World would compare on the list, that game is so goddamn huge.
not quite true, moria, lothlorien and mirkwood are seperated from the rest of the map. however moria had to be because its is a giant cave and there needed to be a way to restrict those who had not meet the requirements from accessing it, the same applies to mirkwood. lorien is really only seperated from the west of the misty mountians because the only way to get there currently is by going through the mines, however that will hopefully chage as more of the map is filled in
Odd, I would have said Asheron's Call was far larger than Lord of the Rings Online. I have not played Lotro lately, have they added that much land in the expansions, because I don't recall ever thinking it was very big?
EVE universe is stellar cluster (more like a disk) about 120 light years across. about 5000 stellar systems in known space, plus 2500 in wormhole-space. dozens of stellar objects per system. granted, most of it is empty (as apropriate for space).
travelling from one side of stellar cluster to other can take anything from one instant (jump clone once per day) to several hours, depending on mode of travel.
the map has about doubled since launch i think, but i havent actually compared the launch map to the current map, so i could be mistaken
"It's not the size that counts but how one uses it"
lol
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Ok what about World War II Battle Ground Europe.
Its the biggest one out there i belive.
http://www.battlegroundeurope.com/
Did they count dungeons/instances too or just world map?
That pic. is clear bullshit, GTA San Andreas' map is like 5 times smaller then Burnout Paradise? excuse me, i've played both games numerous times, and if there is one thing not right, its that san andreas has a smaller map than burnout paradise.
I wonder how you calculate it, because at the moment your doing it wrong.
oh and the biggest is Battleground Europe WW2, covering like whole of western europe :P
lol, never relised LoTRO online was so huge.. i played it when it came out for awhile and the world didnt really feel any bigger then WoW. but its like what 350 times as big according to this? that cant be right....
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