History Videogame / AnarchyOnline

* LevelThemes: Each of the Shadowlands realms has a different one
** Nascence is a GreenHillZone like area (although the northeast corner of it is more like a swamp), fittingly, it is the first and lowest Shadowland (meant for level 1-50)
** Elysium is more of a PalmtreePanicZone, it's similar in appearance to Nascence but sunnier, and has a beach and ocean at the brink (although walking far enough out into the ocean makes you fall down to Rubi-Ka
** Scheol starts out as a half-assed DarkWorld, but turns into an UndergroundLevel in the northern (higher level) half
** Adonis is a combination of UnderTheSea and UnderwaterRuins as the above water areas are still rather watery, in addition to having a bunch of ruins
** Penumbra is a SlippySlideyIceworld
** Inferno is a LethalLavaLand
** Pandemonium is the hardest to pin down, but seems like a combination of ancient ruins and FloatingContinent (although it's technically just a few islands with ancient buildings on them, rather than a full-continent.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Due to the [[ObviousBeta disastrous state of the game upon launch]], many people predicted it would go out of production within a year or so. [[LongRunner it's managed to survive to this day, and most of the horrible bugs have been ironed out.]]

* AbsentAliens: Weirdly zigzagged. When the game first came out WordOfGod said that none of the creatures on Rubi-ka were aliens, and even the really weird ones were created by Omni-tek. Then, when ''Shadowlands'' came out, it was [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] that some of the creatures did in fact come from the Shadowlands to Rubi-ka. A the Shadowlands are AnotherDimension, this technically made them aliens. Finally, the ''Alien Invasion'' expansion added the Kyr'ozch as actual aliens from another planet.

* AbsentAliens: Weirdly zigzagged. When the game first came out WordOfGod said that none of the creatures on Rubi-ka were aliens, and even the really weird ones were created by Omni-tek. Then, when ''Shadowlands'' came out, it was [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] that some of the creature did in fact come from the Shadowlands to Rubi-ka. A the Shadowlands are AnotherDimension, this technically made them aliens. Finally, the ''Alien Invasion'' expansion added the Kyr'ozch as actual aliens from another planet.

* BilingualBonus: The "songs" sung by the Yutto [=NPCs=] are actually taken from a Norwegian song that was entered in the [[EurovisionSongContest Eurovision contest]] (and lost spectacularly).

* KingArthur: Arthurian legend makes appearances, both on Rubi-Ka and in the Shadowlands.

** Much of the Shadowlands also have motifs that draw right from Arthurian legend, despite the fact that the events hinted at in various flavor texts happened at the very least several thousand years before KingArthur was around. Commonly drawn motifs are: Merlin, Arthur as the FisherKing, often hinted at as being the Beast, the final boss of the whole dimensional area you're in, and Lord Galahad and Lord Mordeth (Mordred) as the final leaders of the Redeemed and Unredeemed respectively before reaching the blasted, hellish area known as Pandemonium.

* [[FiveRaces Four Breeds]]: Unlike most other settings where the player can choose a race for his character, the choices available in ''Anarchy Online'' are all different species (or breed) of homnid. The type of breed determines how costly it is to spend points building up a specific trait or skill. Story-wise, all of the breeds were created by Omni-Tek (with the exception of Solitus).

* GunsAkimbo: The Adventurer profession has the option to wield either two swords or two pistols as their WeaponOfChoice, and yes, this means the Adventurer also is lucky enough to have DualWielding, but not one gun with one sword ... yet!
** Thanks to the game using a PointBuildSystem (with zero restrictions, beyond Improvement Point cost) for its skills, anyone can do this, with varying degrees of effectiveness.

* DetachedSleeves: Invoked, as sleeves are treated as separate clothing items.

** To curb some the tweaking, [=FunCom=] implemented "soft" level limits--utilizing equipment or pets of significantly higher level causes them to operate at reduced effectiveness, depending on how far they are above you, and simply not function at all if they're too high.

Despite a ''very'' rocky launch that involved serious stability, registration, and billing issues (and which took half a year to fix), ''Anarchy Online'' has survived to this day. In total, it's had three {{Expansion Pack}}s (''Shadowlands'', ''Alien Invasion'', and ''Lost Eden'') and two "booster" packs (''Notum Wars'' and ''Legacy of the Xan''). Development on the game hasn't stopped, either; in 2008, [=FunCom=] started work on a comprehensive graphics upgrade, intent on bringing ''AO'' closer to modern standards of quality. 2013 saw beta testing of the graphics overhaul, which also includes completely reworked low-level content to better prepare the modern MMO player for the wilds of Rubi-Ka.

* AKA47: The Desert Reet, the game's answer to the Desert Eagle.

** The Healer: Doctor, Adventurer, Meta-Physicist and Martial Artist in a pinch.

* ArmlessBiped: The Leets, though Pendpods can also qualify.

* BarrierWarrior: The Soldier profession.

** A class-specific set of armor could only be worn when wearing certain items--eyeware like this being one of them.

* DeflectorShields: The bread and butter of the whole Soldier profession.

** To curb all the tweaking, [=FunCom=] implemented "soft" level limits--utilizing equipment or pets of significantly higher level causes them to operate at reduced effectiveness, depending on how far they are above you, and simply not function at all if they're too high.

* LevelGrinding: An estimated 320 levels to work through (though not in straight progression) makes for much grinding. Broken down as follows--

* PVPBalanced: Initially ''AO'' was designed this way, but over the course of two expansions the dynamic became considerably unbalanced. The ''Lost Eden'' expansion helped to correct this problem.

* ShootingSuperman: Especially after ''Lost Eden'' and the patches that came afterward, a sufficiently leveled character has enough power to casually ignore most monsters that aggro them in the wild. The Meta-Physicist profession and Soldier profession both stand out with their unique flavors of DeflectorShields.

** With the release of the graphics engine upgrade, [=FunCom=] implemented a New Player Experience , including a new tutorial that replaced the ICC Shuttleport opening from ''Alien Invasion''.

* BackStab: The "Sneak Attack" special available to two professions, as well as a similar attack for the ranged professions known as Aimed Shot.

* ObviousBeta: The original release was a notorious train wreck, with terrible connection issues and GameBreakingBugs far beyond the normal birthing pains of an MMO, resulting in serious panning by reviewers. However, the devs worked overtime to iron things out, eventually winning AO multiple "most improved game" awards.