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.

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

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.

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

Because it looks cool.

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

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

@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.

The Witcher does not take place on Earth.

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

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

Somebody's been shooting it with a sniper rifle.

I blame Chairface.

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!?"

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.

Cause it looks rad as fuck.

Your planet is the real moon.

Because it's pretty!

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

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

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.

@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.

the rule of cool explains all things

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool

Because people keep shooting it with sniper rifles.

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

Because you need that gravitational interaction brah.

Or because it's trying to eat Termina.

Take your pick.

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?

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

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.

Real life moons are also, quite big.

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.

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

That's no moon....

Because Video Games

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

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

EDIT: Ah yes, most of the GTAs infact

@456nto: boom. You beat me to it!

Aesthetics.

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

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

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