World of Warcraft players rediscover the invisible bunnies that make the game work
A user nicknamed Woodwardo shared an unusual discovery on the World of Warcraft subreddit. After creating a new orc rogue, the player spotted an invisible bunny aboard the ship transporting their character to Azeroth. The detection was made possible through a fortunate combination of camera positioning and character highlighting. Woodwardo had no idea they'd accidentally stumbled upon a fundamental principle underlying the entire game universe – World of Warcraft runs on invisible bunnies.
Behind the orcs, wizards, dragons, and Lich Kings lurks an army of phantom lagomorphs that make the game function. If an object moves through the environment – an invisible bunny pilots it. If fire falls from the sky – an invisible bunny summoned it. Sound effects, screen shake, lighting effects – invisible bunnies executing scripted tasks power all of it.
This solution emerged during the game's development as the simplest way to implement game mechanics. When developers needed to trigger a scripted event, control a moving object, or activate special effects, they used invisible NPCs. According to former Blizzard level designer John Staats in his 2019 book The World of Warcraft Diary, bunnies became the choice for a simple reason – "critter_bunny" was first in the alphabetical list of creature models. The compact size of bunnies also made them less noticeable if a player accidentally detected them.
WoW's development tools have evolved over the game's lifespan, but the fact that an invisible bunny was discovered in the revamped starter zone added with the Shadowlands expansion in 2020 shows Blizzard continues using the proven methodology. Such technical tricks are common in the industry – the train in Fallout 3 is technically a glove on an NPC's hand, many Skyrim tables are bookcases embedded in the floor, and Breen's broadcasts in Half-Life 2 take place in a small room outside the map.
As long as World of Warcraft servers remain active, there will always be an invisible bunny somewhere in the game world doing its job.
