The right one.

I prefer left.

Wow, very polarized :). Thanks for everyone's opinion!

The right one is the one I made based off of the home page design. The left is one I paid a designer to make.

One of the main goals for this icon is to ensure that it's really easy to recognize that it's a map of the world even when viewed very small. I made it small in this thread on purpose.

I agree showing the whole world is better. The reason the right one is zoomed in is because the contrast between the water and land isn't as high, so when it was showing the whole world it wasn't easy to recognize. The left has higher contrast so it's able to show the whole world.

How about a hybrid of the two? What's your vote now between 1, 2, and 3?

Definitely right.

The blueness makes it appear less dull, and it generally looks more sleek, more professional and more interesting.

I agree that it would be a LOT better if it were the entire world, and that a more eurasian view would be more interesting (more land with red connectors!!!).

I think 3 - but maybe make the land a bit darker and the water a bit lighter, like 2, so that it stands out a bit more.

Lol not right middle :D

Like this?

Yeah, like that. 4's definitely the one I think's the best.

1 is really bad. It looks kind of Windows 98-ish. I give an anti-vote to 1.

I agree with bob, the far right one looks pretty good, but the second left would make a good second choice.

I think either 2 or 4 - Probably 4 as it is a full world.

Lol I've just realised that this may be an icon for the mobile client.

I don't think it should be a 'world thing'. I think you should use the URL mark (the 'WL' think next to the URL) on a black background. This is simple, tells you what it is and looks pretty good.

Just my opinion.

I prefer the colours in the far right image, but I think it's to short and doesn't take up enough space - unlike the far left one. I think I would choose the first one if it had slightly brighter colours, this is because I like the design of the (links) and the space it fills within the frame.

4th now is perfect imho.

2 because the border on the others seems out of place

#4
it's a bit small, and there 's a lot of background, so maybe try to zoom it to the same level as #1(#1 is fatter somehow ? )

Yeah, the aspect ratio if #1 is messed up a bit, whereas the others are correct.

In #5 I zoomed it in a little more and made a few other tweaks to try and increase the contrast:

5 is definitely the best. though 2 is a good choice too.

4 and 5 are pretty the same, with a slughty change, and are the best.

How about this one?
It's simply No. 5 with the Warlight logo added.