Curious did WoW steal Shadowlands from Anarchy Online?

Community General Discussion
1

Curious though same expansion name but Anarchy Online (2003) had it and still have it at this day so curious why did WoW steal idea/name off Funcom/Anarchy Online ?

2

well they stole legion from ancient romans so…

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3

Originality doesn’t exist anymore.

4

The name’s also a book series. The term shadowlands is pretty nifty but not so unique.

5

The Shadowlands have been in the history of wow since before it was an MMO. The Shadowlands were in existance during Warcraft times and were canon well before the 2004 release date of the actual MMO. Therefore, I would think it’s more likely a coincidence rather than them stealing, especially since the lore and Warcraft games were created in the 1990’s or earlier (Lore not games).

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6

Not to mention being a part of Star Wars lore as well as the Chronical of Narnia books from C.S. Lewis

So, the short answer is. . No, WOW did not steal from Anarchy Online.

7

HP Lovecraft says hello and Michael Moorcock sends his regards.

:cookie:

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8

Oh yea, the term “Shadowlands” and the idea of a realm of death is totally coined by your irrelevant game no ones ever heard of.

Not like either of things things have existed before any of us were alive.

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9

Anarchy online is known by most mmo rpg gamers. I suppose maybe not the post mop zoomers but whatever.

Obviously shadowlands as a concept and term has been conceived well before any of these games. The op is a bit misguided but outright dismissing anarchy online as an irrelevant game when it was moderately successful in a pre wow era for the genre is a bit disingenuous.

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10

Want to know how someone played Anarchy Online?

They won’t stop telling you that they played Anarchy Online!

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11

So they’re the vegans of the MMO world?

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12

Them and DAOC players :wink:

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13

They stole a bit from FFXIV Shadowbringers, a bit from Divinity 2 (without getting too spoilery Source sure sounds a whole lot like Anima), and I’m sure bits and bobs came from various other properties as well.

Honestly, Blizzard has always done this and it’s the company’s biggest strength - taking other ideas, putting their own spin on it, then polishing it to a chrome finish. Shadowbringers and Divinity 2 were both fantastic games, so here’s hoping it’s a good sign.

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The name isn’t trademarked. WoW has teased ‘Shadowlands’ in lore for a very long time and other games have used similar names if not the same. While I think different IPS steal or get inspired from other games, the fact that it’s just the name means nothing.

15

I get the humor, but honestly I don’t often see people mention they played AO. Apart from when it released when it was pretty popular I think it was played far less than other games.

I see EQ/DAOC/Ultima mentioned waaaay more often and would say one of those is more likely the “vegan” variant of MMO :wink:

When I saw Shadowlands was the name of the next WoW expansion my first thought was joking about AO Shadowlands, but I mean… no, it was not really stolen.

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16

Yeah, Shadowlands has been a lore footnote long before Shadowbringers. But the Night Fae feel a lot like the FFXIV fairy zone (forget the name), it’s even ruled by a Fairy Queen who gifts you something at the end. Also the Swolekin look like FFXIV’s Vanu Vanu, who were in turn probably inspired by WoW’s OG Moonkin.