Theme Parks versus World of Warcraft

George and I were having this discussion about Theme Park world designs and what makes them compelling to play in. George doesn’t like Theme Park worlds all too much, his complain is that there is little story in them to make the world compelling and interesting. The fractured nature of the world means the interaction between the world’s pieces is limited, and the ‘mini-worlds’ in the theme park design are static, isolated, and resistant to change.

Let’s back up a moment and explain a ‘theme park’ world design. A theme park design incorporates many different elements into the world, based on classic fantasy tropes, and lets them all live together in one large disparate world. A theme park world typically has a ‘Count Dracula’ area, a ‘World of Egypt’ area, maybe some Arabian Knights, an Arthurian area, a dark ages area, and so on. If there is a genre of fantasy covering it, you can bet a ‘theme park’ world has an area for it.

Good examples of ‘theme park’ world designs are the classic D&D Mystara, Pathfinder’s Golarion, FGU’s classic Space Opera universe, Palladium’s Rifts multiverse, Blizzard’s Azeroth, and many others. They are worlds built out of the ‘best of’ everything, in order to appeal to everyone. Each area is a self-contained universe, linked together by the world they share.

Stop for a moment, I put Blizzard’s Azeroth world (for the World of Warcraft game) into the theme park mold, but does it really belong? Sure, the world has haunted areas, desert areas, arctic areas, and just about every fantasy trope out there, but is it a true ‘theme park’ world? I would say not really, and let me explain.

Azeroth contains many theme-park elements, but these areas are connected by a diverse group of organizations and factions. The Horde, the Alliance, the Scarlett Crusade, the Cenarion Circle, and many other groups all battle for control of this varied world, and you can find many of these factions battling over these zones time after time. The theme park is there, but it is not the focus of the game. Alliances, loyalty, missions, and plots run by these factions are way more important than the disparate areas of the world. The theme park in World of Warcraft is the backdrop, and not the focus of the setting.

SBRPG fans will notice the word ‘factions’ above, and instantly key in on where I am going with this. Without a consistent group of active factions operating in the world, the world (theme park or not) seems fractured. I am thinking this is what George is alluding to here with his dislike of these world designs. It is less so disliking theme parks, as it is a world without active groups trying to live in it, change it, and shape the future of the world.

With active factions, all of a sudden, every piece of the theme park is put on the table. Count Dracula’s area could be overthrown and destroyed by the ‘Church of the Light’s’ paladins, the desert nomads could sweep in and attack the Dwarf mountain home, and the deep Elven forest could be ravaged by the Orcs of the wastelands. Change becomes an active agent, and the world comes alive.