Why are video game moons enormous?

Avatar image for doctordonkey
doctordonkey

2139

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

While playing The Witcher 3 and marvelling at the incredibly beautiful skybox, I thought about something. Why are moons in video games fucking enormous? I can't even count the number of games I've played that have a disproportionately huge moon when you look up at the sky. Were it real life, and the moon appeared to be as big as the moon in Witcher 3, I would be freaking the fuck out.

Avatar image for shindig
Shindig

7011

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Maybe its a tiny moon that is closer to the planet it orbits. I dunno how that would dick with tidal surges but whatever.

Avatar image for isomeri
isomeri

3528

Forum Posts

300

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 26

Because bigger moons look cool. Even our Moon used to be closer to Earth, and thus looked much bigger and produced more pronounced tidal activity.

Avatar image for t_wester
T_wester

839

Forum Posts

47

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#4  Edited By T_wester

A big moon adds visual flair to an otherwise kinda empty sky box but they should just add northern lights instead.

Avatar image for tennmuerti
Tennmuerti

9465

Forum Posts

1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 7

Because it looks cool.

But specifically in Witcher 3 they have their own unique solar system, so there's that too.

Avatar image for ftrevelin
ftrevelin

97

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Think the other way round: The moon's size is correct, it's the planet that's much smaller, think about it, you could fit whole game continents inside your town map :P

Avatar image for cirdain
Cirdain

3796

Forum Posts

1645

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: -1

User Lists: 6

#8  Edited By Cirdain

@doctordonkey: I just want to say that Sean Murray from no man's sky wanted to have moons and planets the correct distance away but the other guys on the team pointed out that it looks really cool when planets are close. I think they're totally right.

No Caption Provided
Avatar image for larrydavis
LarryDavis

1698

Forum Posts

23

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

The Witcher does not take place on Earth.

Avatar image for hermes
hermes

3000

Forum Posts

81

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 7

#10  Edited By hermes

Because it looks better than a lot of empty sky, and it is a good way to evoke some sense of the supernatural.

Avatar image for naoiko
Naoiko

1680

Forum Posts

2703

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Maybe it's an inside joke? Like its the game developers way of 'mooning' the players without actually offended anyone.

Avatar image for tp0p
tp0p

182

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

No Caption Provided

Avatar image for 456nto
456nto

265

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Somebody's been shooting it with a sniper rifle.

Avatar image for wrecks
wrecks

2685

Forum Posts

1152

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

I blame Chairface.

Loading Video...

Avatar image for lead_dispencer
lead_dispencer

552

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

The Witcher does not take place on Earth.

wait really? i thought it was earth but like a alternate reality type of thing. do they ever call their planet by name? I did hear a side conversation about some dude saying a snarky remark "yea right mate! whats next? that they say our planet revolves around the star!?"

Avatar image for geraltitude
GERALTITUDE

5991

Forum Posts

8980

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 17

User Lists: 2

  1. The Witcher doesn't take place on Earth last I checked - aren't there two moons even?
  2. If you're gonna make a fantasy world, why not have a big ass moon?
  3. Many things affect how the size of the moon appears, including but not limited to:
    1. the size of the moon
    2. the size of the planet
    3. the distance between the two
    4. the current position of the moon vs the planet
    5. the current position of the moon observer vs the moon

So I dunno. Big moons look nice in games and then can be more justifiably used as giant light sources.

Avatar image for evilsbane
Evilsbane

5624

Forum Posts

315

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Cause it looks rad as fuck.

Avatar image for turambar
Turambar

8283

Forum Posts

114

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

#18  Edited By Turambar

Think the other way round: The moon's size is correct, it's the planet that's much smaller, think about it, you could fit whole game continents inside your town map :P

Your planet is the real moon.

Avatar image for millionthlayla
millionthlayla

196

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Because it's pretty!

Avatar image for punched
Punched

173

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

The moon looks that big on Earth at times. Look up supermoon.

Avatar image for jimbo
Jimbo

10472

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Also Geralt probably has really good eyes so it looks closer.

Avatar image for strife777
Strife777

2103

Forum Posts

347

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

It looks awesome that's why.

Having a bland clear sky at night is, well, bland. I would definitely enjoy some different ways to fill up the sky, but it's not like there's a whole lot of options other than stars, visible planets and the moon. That is, of course, outside of a sci-fi/fantasy context.

Avatar image for deactivated-5cc8838532af0
deactivated-5cc8838532af0

3170

Forum Posts

3

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 12

@lead_dispencer: Kinda. It's mentioned in books that humans may not actually be from the main planet. Some say they only arrived during the magic sphere touch thing. Also in the books a certain character does quite a lot of world hopping.

Avatar image for original_hank
Original_Hank

270

Forum Posts

13

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#24  Edited By Original_Hank
Avatar image for wacomole
Wacomole

1194

Forum Posts

681

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Because people keep shooting it with sniper rifles.

Avatar image for stinger061
stinger061

529

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Probably because someone spent multiple days of their life working on the moon model and they wanted everyone to recognise how hard they worked.

Avatar image for mrtrainman
MrTrainman

11

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Because you need that gravitational interaction brah.

Or because it's trying to eat Termina.

Take your pick.

Avatar image for gruebacca
Gruebacca

813

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Have you actually seen the Moon in real life? It's quite small. Put that size of a moon in a video game, and it looks unimpressive. Like, why would you even go through the trouble of putting something that small in there?

Avatar image for frostyryan
FrostyRyan

2936

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Same reason some characters have big boobs. Pleasing to look at.

Avatar image for deactivated-630479c20dfaa
deactivated-630479c20dfaa

1683

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

one time in like real lyfe driving home from work the moon was so huge in sky, bigger than I have ever remembered seeing it before and I got this sinking feeling in my gut, like I was in that movie Melancholia. I like giant moons and planets in my games skybox, they just kinda freak me out in my own.

Avatar image for jacksukeru
jacksukeru

6864

Forum Posts

131

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 22

Real life moons are also, quite big.

Avatar image for nonused
nonused

324

Forum Posts

660

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#32  Edited By nonused

Does the Witcher take place on not Earth? They reference Cinderella. Actually, I guess they reference a ton of old fairy tales, but I haven't heard another specific name drop like that one in the game.

Avatar image for babblerock
babblerock

47

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#33  Edited By babblerock

Apparently the moon has been slowly moving away from earth since it was formed. Back in pre-dino times it was about as close as games put it if not closer. And the Witcher takes place in the precambrian era iirc

Avatar image for deactivated-629ec706f0783
deactivated-629ec706f0783

1682

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

That's no moon....

Avatar image for deactivated-58670791014d2
deactivated-58670791014d2

354

Forum Posts

7

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 9

Because Video Games

Avatar image for armaan8014
armaan8014

6325

Forum Posts

2847

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 17

#36  Edited By armaan8014

As everyone has said, it's probably cause it looks cool.

@456nto said:

Somebody's been shooting it with a sniper rifle.

Dunno if I remember correctly, but was that a cheat in Vice City? :D

EDIT: Ah yes, most of the GTAs infact

Avatar image for chu52
chu52

701

Forum Posts

238

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 5

Avatar image for gruff182
Gruff182

1065

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Aesthetics.

Avatar image for emfromthesea
emfromthesea

2161

Forum Posts

70

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 10

I like it from an aesthetic angle, but I can help but be reminded of Bruce Almighty every time I see a big moon.

Avatar image for ezekiel
Ezekiel

2257

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Same reason some characters have big boobs. Pleasing to look at.

I don't think it's that pleasing. It's overdone. This looks better:

No Caption Provided

Avatar image for deactivated-5e49e9175da37
deactivated-5e49e9175da37

10812

Forum Posts

782

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 14

For the same reason that video game sunrises and sunsets last forever and have the maximum amount of magic time; it's beautiful.