Not.
You know what's amazing? How many people seem to think that WoW is now synonymous with MMO. Does it have Elves, Orcs, Dwarves or other fantasy-based classes to play as? It's a WoW clone.
Does it have anything remotely fantasy-ish in nature? It's a WoW clone.
Does it have instances where people get together to kill a big boss? Yup, WoW clone.
Do you kill things in it? WoW clone.
It doesn't matter that there were plenty of games and MUDs before it. It doesn't matter that IPs like Warhammer and LotR have been around far longer than WoW, and that it wasn't WoW that introduced races like Orcs and Elves to the MMO world. It doesn't matter that things like instances, reputation gain, all classes, all races, world pvp, world events, arenas, instanced pvp, crafting, and let's face it... everything WoW has, was done first elsewhere. Nor does it matter that many games have features that make them stand out from other MMOs or were completely invented, brand new, for these MMOs.
They're still a WoW clone.
Honestly, whoever started using this term needs to be taken out back and dealt with and anyone who uses it needs to be sent back to kindergarten. There, it's okay to say that anything round-ish is a circle.
If you want to say "It's like WoW because..." and then explain why, that's fine. But saying "it's a WoW clone" means that you are obviously not using whatever it is that's sloshing around between your ears. Give it away to science... at least then it won't be wasted. And don't bother typing. The moment "WoW clone" shows up in any post, your entire post is null and void as a pile of ...
No, you just misunderstood. WoW clone, means a game tried to emulate the success of WoW by copying and implementing features/ feeling in the same way/manner as WoW did. A game like SWG implementing expertise, is not a copy of AA's from EQ or even the skill tree in Diablo, it is clearly an attempt to exactly copy WoW's talent system. It's all about grabbing a piece of that 9million subscriber pie, and thats why there are WoW clones.
Fri Dec 28 2007 3:12PM ReportBaio, by calling anything a "WoW clone," you're making assumptions about a game. Are you creating these games? No. Then you don't know what these developers are thinking. You're just going "wow, they're similar, they must be stealing it!" without any proof. Until you have proof, then all you're doing is proving my point above.
Fri Dec 28 2007 3:46PM ReportThe reason for this is because WoW brought in a great deal of "noobs" with its mass appeal. They don't know about older MMOs and most didn't know MMOs even existed until WoW. To them, everything must simply be copying the game they started with and see as "the beginning" of MMOs. This has a much more detrimental side effect in that they also expect other games to conform to what their vision of an MMO is, that being WoW, which causes other games which might have been original in their own right, to truly become a "WoW clone."
Fri Dec 28 2007 5:00PM ReportThey are all clones of Ultima Online... which is a clone of Ultima... which is a clone of MUDs... which is a clone of Dungeons and Dragons... which is a clone of... The Medieval Ages!
Fri Dec 28 2007 6:25PM Reportgood point am0n! I totaly agree with you.
Fri Dec 28 2007 7:09PM ReportFirst off, i have never used the term WoW Clone. Secondly WoW did adversely effect the MMORPG genre. WoW IMHO is the "pet rock" of the MMORPG market. It's all the rage and is absolutely blah.
WoW brought to the table a game specifically oriented towards younger crowds. Inexperienced players who don't know what a true MMORPG is suppose to be (not to imply that the game lacks an older population as well). IMO WoW is a mutiplayer first person Warcraft game more then an mmoRPG.
I tried the free trial of WoW when they first offered it some time ago, I enjoyed Warcraft & Warcraft 2 very much in my early gaming days. But my first MMORPG experience was SWG when it first came out and i am still subscribe to this day thou i rarely play anymore because of the NGE. From there i went to Evequest 2 and EVE Online and some other games.
When WoW first came out with its free trial i was very interested in playing it because of my previous experience with Warcraft games. But after about an hour of playing it i could not get past the games complete lack of sustenance and cartoonish grpahics and dysfunctional UI. Compared to that of my previous MMORPG experiences in SWG and Everquest 2.
It truly is a mass production game with no real qualities. Built for the linear gamer with no imagination. My 12 year old brother has several lvl capped characters (for example). Everything about the game is Linear and hollow. And may as well be single player game. WoW makes me think of that thing that the Riddler puts on peoples TV's in that Batman movie that makes everyone zombies (forget which one). Theres no complexity everything cookie cutter.
Not to say that its not enjoyable, it obviously is to alot of people. But from my POV, its far to simplistic and mind numbing and the anime graphics give me a headache.
Anyways all this ranting has led me to the OP's original point of WoW Clones. WoW has produced alot of changes in many MMO's whether they were inputed during development or added to all ready live games. Most notably in SWG.
The NGE Linearized and simplified a game that was unprecedented in the market. This was brought on by SOE's greed for money and more subscribers, ultimately failing in its attempt to bring in the Linear gamers and alienating its sandbox player base, leading to the downfall of the game. And one the most infamous screw ups in the history of MMORPGS.
Moral is WoW did effect the MMO's in a vast way. And SWG is a good example of a WoW Clone and/or wannabe. That can't be denied or disputed. But i wouldn't say that all games or even most games are WoW clones.
Sat Dec 29 2007 11:21AM Reportmore WoW drivel followed by more SWG whining. I dont know which group of people I like less.
Sat Dec 29 2007 8:29PM Reportredcap036, that is exactly right. lol
Sun Dec 30 2007 3:53PM ReportDigitalGamer already said it best, I can't add anymore really. It is sad how shallow the game is.
Sun Dec 30 2007 8:09PM ReportMMORPG.com writes:
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