diff --git a/core/src/main/java/tc/oc/pgm/map/MapInfoImpl.java b/core/src/main/java/tc/oc/pgm/map/MapInfoImpl.java
index 2ecef78116..09e403d3ad 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/tc/oc/pgm/map/MapInfoImpl.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/tc/oc/pgm/map/MapInfoImpl.java
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ public VariantData(Element root, @Nullable Element variantEl) throws InvalidXMLE
       if (variantEl == null) {
         this.variantId = DEFAULT_VARIANT;
         this.mapName = name;
-        this.world = null;
+        this.world = assertNotNull(root).getChildTextNormalize("world");
       } else {
         this.variantId = XMLUtils.parseRequiredId(variantEl);
         if (DEFAULT_VARIANT.equals(variantId))