Why walk when you can teleport?

Travel constitutes a significant activity in the majority of Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPGs), whether players are pursuing quests, trading, adventuring or simply exploring. Yet not all journeys are equal, and the roles of, and responses to, various journeys demonstrate a number of interesting interpretations of travel. From one perspective, journeys in games are simply consumers of time: notably, World of Warcraft obtained the nickname “World of Walking” due to player perceptions that there was too much travel involved. Yet it is intriguing that some players voluntarily undertake extensive journeys, which are often difficult (in gameplay terms) and time-consuming, when more convenient routes are available. This article seeks to consider the many roles of travel in MMORPGs, and to reflect on ideas of the journey as, among other things, labour (travail), a rite of passage, and a means of saying goodbye.