Because of World of Warcraft's extremely large player base and long-standing popularity, it's inevitable that any new MMO, particularly fantasy MMOs, will be compared to it. I'm not annoyed by that part, but I am annoyed at how the conversations frequently go.
There are a lot of people who basically say "[New Game X] has these features in common with WoW; why can't you do something original?" I hate to tell you this, but a lot of those features aren't original to WoW, either. Things like racial bonuses (D&D), weapons limited by class (D&D), auction houses (MUDs), the basic makeup of classes (D&D) and races (D&D), and even the concept of a talent tree (similar to skill/class PnP combos like Rolemaster) are things that have existed in fantasy gaming for a long, long time. WoW popularized many of these things but they did not invent them.
There are a number of things common to fantasy games and a number of things common to MMOs that WoW uses. That doesn't mean that other games using them are copying WoW; it means there's some fairly standard things people making fantasy games and MMOs do. WoW is unique not because of its general mechanics, but because of the specifics... and even games that use very similar mechanics can be vastly different because of that. So dismissing a game as being a "WoW clone" because they're using some really standard game and gameplay mechanics without at all even being willing to look into the details is... well, the word I want is probably "idiotic". Seriously.
I'm not saying there aren't games out there trying to capitalize on WoW's popularity by making a game that's similar in both mechanics and details, mind you. It's just that it seems like the only way to not get labeled a "WoW clone" by some people is to be in an entirely different genre (and even then...). And those people are really, really vocal, so I keep running across them, and it keeps being irritating. Luckily, I have a blog I can rant on about it, and just leave them to discuss their mistaken ideas by themselves.
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Yeah, that gets old. I seem to recall there being a time when every FPS was a "Doom Clone", and later a "Quake Clone"; luckily the format doesn't have a clear leader anymore.
ReplyDeleteThere was also a phase (or is it ongoing?) where for each leading game X, game reviewers were apparently obligated to discuss the potential of every other vaguely similar game being the "X-killer". (Particuarly bad for diablo and especially starcraft, IIRC.)
Because the world only plays one game per genre at a time. Or something.