The 7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding

The Seven Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding

The video frames common worldbuilding pitfalls as the seven deadly sins. Its central advice is to make the setting serve a story, game, or other creative project—not let worldbuilding become an end in itself.

• Pride — Lore dumping: Don’t assume an audience will care about a world’s history, gods, or dynasties before it has a reason to. Introduce lore when it matters to the story, and let curiosity build gradually.
• Greed — Seeking rewards too soon: Don’t focus on monetization, merchandise, or audience support before making something people value. Create consistently and earn an audience first.
• Wrath — “Edgelord’s disease”: Darkness and suffering lose their impact when they are constant. They can also make a setting feel implausible if society continues functioning amid relentless catastrophe. Dark material works best when supported by compelling characters and storytelling.
• Envy — Cloning: Inspiration from history, mythology, and other fiction is normal, but close imitation can make a setting feel derivative. Consider how common an idea is and how strongly it is associated with a particular world. Similarities alone, however, are not proof that an idea must be discarded.
• Lust — The rule of cool: Cool ideas can enrich a setting, but they should have consequences and fit into the world’s logic. Ask how elements such as dragons, artifacts, or floating cities affect daily life, trade, and power.
• Gluttony — Worldbuilder’s disease: Endless maps, histories, and lore documents can consume effort without moving a project forward. Focus on the parts of the setting that support the work, and leave unneeded areas mysterious.
• Sloth — Never finishing: Constantly starting new projects can leave a graveyard of abandoned settings. Choose an idea, work through its difficulties, and finish a novel, campaign, game, or other project.

These habits do not automatically ruin a project; the danger is letting any one of them take over. Worldbuilding should help people engage with and enjoy the work.

Creators and Contributors Mentioned

• Evagrius Ponticus, whose catalog of spiritual failings inspired the framing
• Brandon Sanderson, whose approach to judging similarities between ideas is cited
• The unnamed presenter from Large Lads Studios