Orgrimmar
May 9th, 2006
Design matters, even in the virtual world.
World of Warcraft is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, or MMORPG. It is so popular that over six million people play it worldwide. What makes MMORPGs unique is the in-game community, economy, and politics fostered by the players. Real phenomena occur in a virtual place.
Players in WOW create characters for either the Horde or the Alliance. Each faction has three major cities in which players congregrate to learn new skills, trade goods at the auction house, store items in the bank, rest at an inn, or train in a profession. These centralized hubs of activity are often so crowded that players’ computers cannot keep up with the graphical requirements.
Public places, whether real or virtual, should be designed with the user in mind. Orgrimmar, one of the Horde’s major cities in World of Warcraft, is no exception. Video game designers should never disregard the handicap of finite bandwith, but should also not sacrifice good design to this obstacle – especially in the virtual world where change is free from the politics and social costs present in real-life urban planning.
Orgrimmar is made up of six “districts”, each offering a specialized theme of services. The Valley of Strength is the social center of all activity. This is where the inn, the bank, and the auction house – services used daily by all players – are located. It is no surprise that the open space in front of the bank (and even the space on top of the bank) has become a gathering place for characters to meet. It is when players need a specific service that the geography of Orgrimmar becomes awkward.
Orgrimmar was designed to feel like a war camp. Buildings are situated haphazardly, as if the settlement is only temporary. Dirt roads connect each district, but the routes are only made more confusing by the twisting terrain. Furthermore, each district is not directly accessible from the Valley of Strength. If a player wants to get in queue for battlegrounds, he or she must walk all the way through the Drag and to the back of the Valley of Honor. This virtual walk takes two real minutes! In video game time, that is rough.
The layout of Orgrimmar, especially the separation of specialized services into districts, reminds me of our practice of zoning. Each land use is pulled apart and isolated. This results in poor use of space. A high density, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly design would be much more efficient.
Consider the Undercity. Another one of the major Horde cities, the Undercity is a model of good urban design. Its condensed and symmetrical layout provides players with a logical mind map of where things are supposed to be. Additionally, it’s circular shape with radial routes allows players to traverse from one district to another with ease.
I wonder if Blizzard employs urban planners. Perhaps I should reevaluate my career path.
