War of Worlds

War of Worlds (WoW), sometimes called Worlds at War (WaW), is the concept that drives the Global Tournament style of play in the PvP part of Guild Wars. In this war, groups of players belonging to different territories (Korea, America and Europe) fight for the Favor of the Gods. A territory gains the Favor by winning five consecutive PvP battles in the Hall of Heroes.

By holding favor, the players in the territory can go to the Realms of the Gods and deny it to the players of the other territories. The War of Worlds is criticized not only for making the PvE side of the game unfairly subservient to the PvP side, but also for creating this false nationalistic tension between players in cyberspace by breaking the fourth wall separating reality and the fictional setting of the game: "America", "Korea", etc. do not have any in-game meaning. Often, players in territories that do not have Favor can be seen in the Temple of the Ages cursing the territory that holds the favor and is denying them entry.