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Readers' Choice - The Ten Best Gameworlds
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Azeroth
Warcraft series
Your favorite gameworld was Azeroth, the world of WarCraft. With a commanding 22 percent of all votes, Azeroth was by far the most popular world. The humorous races that populated the world and the detailed depiction of the landscapes in the two WarCraft games no doubt contributed to your lasting enjoyment of the war-torn continents of WarCraft.
"It was a fantastical fantasy setting, with historical elements that made it believable. The world had politics and intrigue. It was a fantasy world and still is a world that did away with adventuring, so people could get the feeling of the 'land' as a whole, the whole idea of Azeroth, and form a believable backstory in their imaginations." -Jesse
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"As with many vast and detailed gameworlds, the world of Azeroth was the foundation for the Warcraft universe, which helped to elevate the game series to the huge success it has to this day. By taking the most primary elements of a role-playing fantasy world and merging them together in an intricate fashion, Azeroth helped to set the stage for Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, as the orcs were summoned by the evil wizard Medivh to destroy the humans. This event defined the darkest times of the kingdom's history, as Warcraft I ended with the orcs laying Azeroth to waste without even leaving the people with a king to guide them in their most dire need. By expanding the world beyond the shores of the kingdom of Azeroth, a much more expansive tale could be chronicled in Warcraft II: The Tides of Darkness. By including elves and dwarfs that helped the allied human nations, and the troll tribes and ogres to reinforce the Orc Horde, the tales of war that followed were more epic in size, and they recalled battles at various cities like Lorderon and Dalaran. The world of Warcraft helped to paint the legacy of two great wars, which followed the lives and deaths of many legendary people such as Adiun Lothar, King Liane, Gul'dan, and others. And with numerous other regions like the orcs' homeworld or Draenor and the realm of pure magic known as the Twisting Nether, the Warcraft universe has the possibility to continue expanding in times to come." -Bradley Toker
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"The amount of care that went into the creation of a believable world with an interesting backstory and well-placed factions certainly deserves credit. The entire gameworld of Warcraft II is certainly a great feat. Hey, even the map in the manual looks cool." -Michael Mackenzie
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When I saw the title of the latest TenSpot, I immediately thought of Azeroth from the Warcraft series. The world of Azeroth extends beyond that of the average real-time strategy game. Even though we are confined to the proud nation of Azeroth, we also learn of the plight of its powerful ally, Lordaeron, the eleven forests of Quel'Thalas, and the Dwarven wastelands of Khaz Modan. Warcraft II, in particular, was laid so well into the gameworld. Each mission played out in a location identifiable on the map of the human world, such as the island of Kul Tiras, the traitorous city of Alterac, and the arcane Tomb of Sargeras. Playing as the humans in Warcraft II, I felt as if I were patriotically fighting to reclaim my home - to free it from the corrupt orcs who were destroying my country. Azeroth was a land like no other in a strategy game." -Muad'Dib
"The amount of detail placed into the world of Azeroth can't compare with that of Middle-Earth or the realms of Dungeons & Dragons. Having said that, I'll add now that I believe no game has thus far been well compared with either of those as well. The thing about Azeroth that strikes me is that it has a history, one in which there are game-irrelevant historical details, there are historical characters who don't influence the gameworld, and in which there are events and occurrences in its history that do influence the gameworld. This is something that has been left absent from a few (hundred) too many games in the past few years. The Warcraft series has done its own part in creating a history that holds a role in the game, and yet the series has interesting details that don't hold sway over it. Hopefully, other game developers will learn from this and create games with a depth of history and a path of purpose for the future, and will see both in the present." -Eleynis Reyav
"Blizzard provided gamers with a rich and diverse land in the Warcraft series, one that continues to improve with time and with newer games. What starts off as a story of a war between humans and orcs matures into a realm that includes elves, dwarves, ogres, trolls, dragons, and more. Although this may seem like a cookie-cutter fantasy realm, Blizzard takes these elements and creates a fantastic gameworld filled with twists and turns that eventually deviate from a traditional Tolkien-esque setting. The orc hordes now are viewed as the fallen heroes, and their defeat succeeds in returning the race to its once primitive and honorable form. The humans, after defeating the horde, become sedate and even corrupt. Their discrimination against orcs shows that the humans are no better than their once vile enemies. With the introduction of more races, Blizzard will further enrich this gameworld with Warcraft III." -Phil Aylesworth
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