This is something that I had never known before about World of Warcraft (and I've been studying this game for quite a while): some of the ingame locations are actually based on real-life buildings and environments. Tree of Life has a terrific post (based on one of our own Around Azeroth screenshots) up showing comparisons of the ingame reproductions and the real-world influences, and some of them are almost perfect recreations.

Most of the dances I at least recognized as their real-life counterparts, but other than maybe the Stormwind Castle (and Stonehenge -- duh), I don't think I recognized any of these overtly. Of course, the influences are there -- you can definitely see the Oriental flavor in the Night Elf architecture, and Human buildings are definitely inspired by English and French architecture, but did you know that Durnholde's wreckage compares to a ruined castle in France, or that Zul'Farrak is a take on Macchu Picchu?

Very cool finds. Definitely shows you how much Blizzard borrowed from the real world to make this fantasy setting as believable as possible.

Tags: architecture, art, blizzard, darnassus, design, english, france, oriental, real-life, seoul

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Screenshots