World of Warcraft Realms

World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game with more than 11 million monthly subscribers.  This is too many players for any single server to support, so different realms have been created.  All the realms are identical in terms of location and story line and each hosts a few thousand players.  Players cannot move between realms or interact with players in other realms.  There are realms dedicated to the two main types of gameplay.  The first is Player versus Environment, and the second is Player versus Player.  Some realms are also set up as Role-Playing realms where players can delve more deeply into their characters' back stories and development.

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Player versus Environment (PvE) realms focus on quests and tasks as the characters move through the environment.  There are still opportunities for Player versus Player (PvP) interactions, and players can set their preferences for engaging in PvP interactions.  There are certain scenarios that will automatically activate a character's PvP mode such as entering a battleground or attacking an enemy town. In the PvE realms, players cannot be attacked and participation in combat between factions is voluntary.  Players that are interested in focusing on quests, defeating monsters or harvesting materials without being attacked by other players tend to prefer PvE realms.  Players have the option to set their preferences about interacting with other players in the PvE realms.

The PvP realms have the same quests and tasks as the PvE realms.  The key difference is that they can be attacked by other players at any time.  Maps are divided into zones with flags to show their status.  Green zones are areas that are friendly to your character's faction, either Alliance or Horde.  Red zones are areas that are hostile to your character's faction.  Yellow zones are contested areas belonging to neither faction.  Blue zones are considered sanctuary and PvP interaction is disabled upon entering one of these zones.  Players interested in engaging in player to player combat tend to be the ones who choose the PvP realms.  It is harder to complete quests and tasks in the PvP realm because of the disruptions from attacks by other players.

Both PvE and PvP realms have role-playing variations.  In role-playing realms, players spend more time developing their characters' personalities and backgrounds.  They are in character the entire time they are engaged in the game.  Players in role-playing realms not only work towards their own tasks and quests, but can actually interfere with the progress of other characters.  There are special rules associated with the role-playing realms, which should be read before deciding to enter the game through one of them.  The same basic rules for PvE and PvP realms apply to the role-playing realms in that players cannot attack other players that are in the same faction as they are.

Players who want to focus on the tasks and quests of the game without having to worry about player to player combat will tend to prefer the PvE realms.  Those who enjoy the player to player combat will generally prefer the PvP realms.  Players who enjoy character and backstory development are most likely to enjoy the role-playing realms. Careful consideration must be given to which type of realm a player wants to enter because once the character is created, it cannot be moved to a different realm.

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