One of the reasons that we love MMORPGs so much is because of the feeling of freedom many of them offer. They accomplish this by having large, expansive gaming worlds that players are free to explore at their leisure. Different regions that have their own, distinct environments adds a richness to online gaming that has helped it maintained its popularity over recent decades.
MMORPGs as well as other types of RPG games typically boast the biggest gaming worlds. This is especially true for extremely popular games that have millions of subscribers. A passion for large gaming worlds is one that many gamers share, so we’re going to take a look at some of the largest gaming worlds of all time,
World Of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is by far the most well-known of the MMORPGs out there and has managed to hold on to its player base of 10+ million for the better part of the last decade. While popularity has waned ever so slightly in the last few years, WOW continues to bring in thousands of fresh players every year. It’s not hard to see why, however, as the game offers the perfect combination of PvE and PvP, allowing players to battle the environment as well as one another.
World of Warcraft has grown substantially thanks to expansion packs, but the game was perhaps most beloved before the release of Burning Crusade. At this time, players were able to explore a world more than 200 km2. While this is fairly small compared to many other games on this list, Blizzard made sure to put plenty of interesting things to do and see in those two hundred square kilometres. WOW will consume an enormous amount of hours, so more casual gamers may want to steer toward other types of gaming, like Android apps, online pokies real money and titles in a similar vein.
Guild Wars Nightfall
Guild Wars is another famous name in the MMORPG sphere. It has a smaller player base than World of Warcraft, but the majority of the players have a deep passion for the Guild Wars universe, and there’s always something new to do. Guild Wars 2 is a big game, but it was Guild Wars Nightfall that really takes the cake when it comes to playing sizes. Guild Wars Nightfall, released in 2006, and was technically released as an expansion at the time.
Nightfall offers players the chance to roam a map that’s almost 40000 km2, making it a true behemoth in every sense of the word. It proved a popular choice, because it was one of the reasons that Guild Wars became a staple within the MMORPG community and is very much still a favorite today.
Lord Of The Rings Online
The Lord of The Rings is an epic in every conceivable way. Tolkien’s unique and highly detailed universe leaves very little to the imagination, and the scope is truly impressive. The size of Middle Earth was difficult to really convey in the original trilogy as well as the later movies, but it’s perhaps Lord of The Rings Online that really does the novels more justice. Right from the time you enter the gaming world, the size of everything is overwhelming. It’s clear that much inspiration was taken directly from the books themselves, and Turbine made sure to try and capture the titanic size of Middle Earth in all its glory.
This is great news for the player that wants to feel like there’s truly no limit to how far they can explore. For fans of the books in particular, LOTRO offers so many small details and places that make it really stand out. The original game boasts a whopping game world of almost 77000 km2, and that’s before taking the many expansions into consideration. In terms of the size to detail ratio, LOTRO may be the best game in the world.
Minecraft
Minecraft stands out as one of the most successful games for many reasons. While there is technically a limit to its world, it’s virtually impossible for players to ever come across it. When a player starts a brand-new map on Minecraft, the world is generated at random using a seed, and it means that no two worlds are ever truly identical.
On a technical level, there is actually a limit to Minecraft, but the map in its entirety measures at around 4 billion km2 – making it by far the biggest gaming universe of all time. In fact, it’s so large that it’s bigger than the surface of our planet. No matter how many hours players spend looking for the edge, the sheer size means they will never discover it.
