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{{quote|'''''[[Trope Namer|Law of Cartographical Elegance]]:''''' ''The [[World Map]] always cleanly fits into a rectangular shape with no land masses that cross an edge.''|[[The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches]], Rule #45}}
So you've [[Get
Since everything's placed in the center, the edges of the map serve one of two purposes:
* [[Wrap Around|Loops]], where the player can travel to one end of the map and appear roughly on the same X- or Y-coordinate on the other side of the map. Topologically, this would mean the world is shaped roughly like a [[World Shapes|donut]] (In geometry, such a shape is referred to as a "[[wikipedia:Torus|Torus]]"). Or a cylinder if it only loops on one axis. Even so, this is merely part of the game's presentation, and none of these games are [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|ACTUALLY supposed to take place]] on a toroidal or cylindrical world
* [[Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence|Insurmountable Waist Height Fences]] that stretch to infinity, designed to confine the player within the boundaries of the game. These can be [[Invisible Wall|invisible]], or [[Gravity Barrier|defined by the game's topography]] if the "world" only consists of [[It's a Small World After All|a single country or kingdom]].
Seen in almost any video game that uses a [[World Map]] where the player can freely travel.
The world-maps at the front of many fantasy novels also obey the
It should be noted that this trope can be blamed on actual maps of earth which also happened to be set up in such a way that the only land mass that actually crosses over the edges is Antarctica and the Chukchi Peninsula. In any case, [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|an acceptable break from reality]].
Subtrope of [[Video Game Geography]].
{{examples}}
== Looping World Map==
* Also see [[World Shapes]].
=== Platformers ===
* The special stages in ''[[
* Present in ''[[
=== Role-Playing Games ===
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games. (Except for ''[[Final Fantasy II
* The ''[[Ultima]]'' games (In some installments. In others, the world literally ''is'' flat and rectangular, surrounded on all sides by an ethereal void).
* The ''[[Tales
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Most of the ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' games (see exception below).
* ''[[Final Fantasy Adventure]]'' is a torus with a land mass that crosses on both edges.
* Justified in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]'', where the "Vortex World" is, essentially, the area along the inside of a giant sphere.
* The original [[The
=== Action-Adventure Games ===▼
* Most games in the ''Zelda'' series are bounded by topography (usually mountains to the north and the ocean to the south). ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
▲== Action-Adventure Games ==
** It also mentions that there's a storm (which you can see) further on. So, if you like, you can just imagine that the Wind Waker world is occasionally frequented by ''horrendously magnificent'' hurricanes, and that the game takes place in the eye of one.
▲* Most games in the ''Zelda'' series are bounded by topography (usually mountains to the north and the ocean to the south). ''[[The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'' keeps you hemmed into the game world by having your boat [[But Thou Must!|forbid you]] to continue past the edges.
▲** It also mentions that there's a storm (which you can see) further on. So, if you like, you can just imagine that the Wind Waker world is occasionally frequented by ''horrendously magnificent'' hurricanes, and that the game takes place in the eye of one.
*** Being that the world of Wind Waker only came about {{spoiler|because the Gods themselves flooded Hyrule, creating the ocean}}, that's not as far-fetched as one might believe.
* ''[[Terranigma]]'' is an especially bad example, because the world is supposed to be, y'know, ''Earth''.
** Not quite an Insurmountable Waist High Fence in this case, though, so much as Insurmountable Mountain Ranges and Unmoorable Coastlines.
* Justified in ''[[Beyond Good
=== Driving Games ===
* ''[[Motocross Madness]]'' had an Insurmountable Thirty Foot Fence around the arena, which was actually pretty easy to get over if you crashed into it just right and hit the recover button (in some versions, recovery occured automatical). You can then drive around the border of the arena, but if you drive too far away from it you get fired back into the center of the arena, painfully. Driving along it or even doing nothing doesn't help - sooner or later, you get kicked from the zone of nowhere whatever you do or do not do.
** And [[Rule of Cool|awesomely]].
* Maps in the ''4x4 Evolution'' series all have seamlessly looping edges, most often placed far away from the checkpoints of the race to give a better illusion of large, open spaces.
=== Role-Playing Games ===
* The world of the ''[[
** Would you want to?
** Yes! There's a Djinni down there.
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** In ''[[Oblivion]]'', when you reach the end of the map, a message appears saying that 'You cannot go that way. Turn back.' If, by modifying the game's settings, one walks over the border, there's a stretch of badly generated landscape, which ends in nothing.
** In one of the series' spin-offs, ''Redguard'', one could reach the edge of the map. There, a graphical glitch would cause the water to be shaped really odd. (This was referenced in one of Morrowind's books, where a character reaches the 'spiked waters at the edge of the map'.
** Earlier, ''[[The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
* ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' differs from the later games in the series in that all of Alefgard appears to be surrounded by water.
** In the second game, it's revealed to be one of several "continents" in the game world.
* ''[[
* Justified in the first ''[[The
* The ''[[Wasteland (
=== Simulation Games ===
* In ''Doshin the Giant'', it is possible to walk off the edge of the world.
* ''[[Drakengard]]''.
* The world maps (which are actually very large islands) in ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]'' work this way. Each one is bordered by endless ocean, much like the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' games but without the invisible barriers out to sea. If you do insist on flying out into the ocean, you just end up off the map and hopelessly lost.
=== Tabletop Games ===
* Creation in ''[[Exalted]]''. Like the ''Ultima'' example given above, this is because Creation is ''literally'' flat and (roughly) rectangular; the [[Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence|Insurmountable Waist Height Fences]] are the Elemental Poles of Air, Wood, Fire, and Water, beyond which lie the formless chaos of the Wyld.
=== Wide Open Sandbox ===
* In the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' games, Liberty City consists of 2 islands and a peninsula with mountains separating it from mainland, Vice City is made of 2 long, parallel islands, and the state of San Andreas is pretty much a huge, neatly formed square of land.
** Out in the middle of nowhere, too. Try flying just straight north/west/south/east. You'll run out of attention span (and maybe trigger a few glitches) before hitting a barrier, I think.
*** If you sail out far enough in SA and try to swim back you can actually be blocked by an invisible wall from getting back to land.
* In ''[[Mercenaries]]: Playground of Destruction'', the main game takes place on 2 maps in North Korea, both of which form a perfect square. The player cannot normally reach the boundaries though because passing into a red zone (which surrounds the map a good distance from all edges) will cause the Allies to bomb them until they die. One can reach the edge though certain means, though. Each "Ace" has their own island separate from the main maps, where the same rules apply.
* Perhaps an [[Egregious]] example would be in ''[[Prototype (
==
=== Adventure Games ===
* ''[[Discworld]] II: Missing Presumed...'', where, of course, the world really does have an edge.
=== Four X ===
* In all of the ''[[Civilization]]'' games (and the spinoff ''[[Sid
** The Activision clone ''Civilization: Call to Power'' allowed a 'Donut-shaped World' option in world generation.
*** ''Civilization IV'' also allows donut worlds, as well as ones that wrap north-south, in addition to the traditional east-west wraps and flat worlds. It also has a zoom-out function for the standard cylindrical map that makes it look like a globe with very large impassable polar caps.
* ''[[Spore]]'' averts this with looping on the X axis, no looping on the Y axis and faster movement on the X axis as you get closer to poles to represent the distortions caused by the projection.
=== Miscellaneous Games ===
* ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'' and its sequels are partial aversion. At the lower sizes the world is restricted by [[Waist High Fences]]. At the second highest size it is the classic toroidal shape, with the katamari, teleporting to the other side of the map in mist. At the highest size the Katamari rolls over a proper globe.
=== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s ===
* Azeroth of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' masquerades as a globe. Swimming brings you death, but it is theoretically possible. Outland is a perfect example of this trope, since it's a magically shattered remnants of a planet set in the 'Twisting Nether" where [[Rule of Cool|physics do not necessarily apply]].
** Sometimes, [[Good Bad Bugs]] allowed one to reach the far outside border of one of the continent maps. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9cg9Wnq2xE There's] a massive strip of land out in the middle of the ocean that denotes the edge of the game world for each continent.
=== Platformers ===
* Round worlds are commonly seen in every ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' since the second one, though they're not very big worlds, about the same landmass as a regular level.
=== Real-Time Strategy ===
* ''Populous: The Beginning'' is a RTS from 1998 with with planets instead of maps, meaning that every world you fight on is round. If you zoom out, you'll see half the world. You can never see the entire world in one screen, but you can scroll in any direction. Your units can move in any direction as well. For a RTS this is quite remarkable.
=== Role-Playing Games ===
* Most of the ''[[Might and Magic]]'' games have worlds that are literally flat and rectangular. There's no fence at the edge, so if you're not careful you can walk right off into outer space.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Its sequel ''[[Final Fantasy XII
*** In both versions this is justified since the games take place in only a portion of the greater world of Ivalice and the map only covers that portion.
* ''[[Wild
* The world in ''[[Secret of Mana]]'' actually is spherical. It rotates normally on the X-axis, but if you fly along the Y-axis long enough, you'll eventually see some of the countries scrolling by upside-down. Interestingly, this makes it harder to navigate since most players aren't used to viewing game worlds that way.
=== Turn-Based Strategy ===
* Averted entirely in ''UFO:Enemy Unknown'' (aka ''[[X-COM]]''), which has a nice rotatable round map.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]
[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
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