- Dont use the internet to connect to your MMO. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented the internet, so using it to interface with your game clearly qualifies it as a WoW clone.
- Dont support input devices such as a mouse or a keyboard to control your game. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented the alphabet, the mouse and both cables and the radio, so using any of these will qualify you as a WoW clone.
- Dont support monitors for displaying your game. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented fire, the tube, the LED and the flatscreen. Using any of these qualifies your game as a WoW clone.
- Dont run on windows. Blizzard fanbois know that Blizzard invented Microsoft and Windows ... only if they even have a clue what that is, of course.
- Dont use electricity to run the game computer. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented electricity, so using electricity clearly qualifies your game as a lame WoW copy.
- Dont use physics, matter or energy anywhere in your game. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented creation, the laws of physics, the big bang, and really everything around us. Using any of this makes your game a WoW clone.
- Dont bother telling any Blizzard fanboi that there are other MMOs, or that Blizzard did in fact NOT invent any of the above. They will just ignore you, because you're obviously a weirdo and have no clue about the world.
So you're saying the only people who complain about these "clones"/overdone mechanics, are WoW/Blizzard fans?
- Dont use the internet to connect to your MMO. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented the internet, so using it to interface with your game clearly qualifies it as a WoW clone.
- Dont support input devices such as a mouse or a keyboard to control your game. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented the alphabet, the mouse and both cables and the radio, so using any of these will qualify you as a WoW clone.
- Dont support monitors for displaying your game. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented fire, the tube, the LED and the flatscreen. Using any of these qualifies your game as a WoW clone.
- Dont run on windows. Blizzard fanbois know that Blizzard invented Microsoft and Windows ... only if they even have a clue what that is, of course.
- Dont use electricity to run the game computer. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented electricity, so using electricity clearly qualifies your game as a lame WoW copy.
- Dont use physics, matter or energy anywhere in your game. Blizzard fanbois know Blizzard invented creation, the laws of physics, the big bang, and really everything around us. Using any of this makes your game a WoW clone.
- Dont bother telling any Blizzard fanboi that there are other MMOs, or that Blizzard did in fact NOT invent any of the above. They will just ignore you, because you're obviously a weirdo and have no clue about the world.
fun read.. just a little fail with the microsoft and windows part imo :P
The comparisons to WoW do not exist simply because WoW is the big dog - they exist because of marked similarities between the two games. The crafting system, for instance, is almost identical - the way skill trainers for crafting work is nearly identical, with varying levels of training that you gain by repeating specific recipes until those recipes no longer provide skill increases, recipes coming every so many levels so that you can keep working your skill up, etc. In fact, the only difference between these may be in the ability to salvage resources from previous craftings - which only serves to make crafting skillups come marginally quicker in Rift.
Skill training in general also looks the same. Every 2 levels, just like in WoW, you have to visit your skill trainer to unlock a new level of a skill you already have, just like in WoW.
The bank vault is 100% identical. There's not even any attempt to hide the influence of WoW there. You can even put bags into it to increase your bank space, just like in WoW.
It's not fair to compare item rarities, because almost every game uses a similar system (although I may be wrong in thinking this - I think Rift uses the same colors for rarities that WoW does?), and quest givers/turn-ins look just like every other game as well. Yes, the Soul system of Rift has more versatility than WoW's talent trees, but the two look more similar than any other 2 games I've ever played, though the talent tree system is starting to become more commonplace, too. The bag system that Rift uses is spot on to WoW, but again many games use this system. These are, perhaps, issues more of the genre in general than in one game trying to mimic another, but when there are already existing similarities as close as the ones I've described, these similarities cannot be written off, either.
All tho its succefull game its a clone by it self blizzard have stole almost all implementations from other mmos/rpgs/games.
So WoW is a UO-EQ-AC1&2-DAOC-L1&2-and other games clone not other way around.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009..... In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
All tho its succefull game its a clone by it self blizzard have stole almost all implementations from other mmos/rpgs/games.
So WoW is a UO-EQ-AC1&2-DAOC-L1&2-and other games clone not other way around.
Ha, I wish. If WoW had 1/8 of the depth and gameplay variety DAoC/UO/AC had than I'd be playing it. Since instead it's just a watered down and gutted version of EQ, most aren't happy. We got tired of EQ in 2001.
hmm by the logic I'm reading, every game to come out after WoW is a clone of WoW because it share's some similar features. So I now declare that unless your older than me, and are nothing than a blob of skin, you are a clone of me, so there, lol.
hmm by the logic I'm reading, every game to come out after WoW is a clone of WoW because it share's some similar features. So I now declare that unless your older than me, and are nothing than a blob of skin, you are a clone of me, so there, lol.
hmm by the logic I'm reading, every game to come out after WoW is a clone of WoW because it share's some similar features. So I now declare that unless your older than me, and are nothing than a blob of skin, you are a clone of me, so there, lol.
People that use this term are stupid and think WoW was the first MMO for some reason. I can almost gaurantee that the majority fo people that use that term only use it because it makes them feel smarter on some level or another. In another forum a couple of idiots said they didn't like EQ2 because it was a wow clonw..../facepalm. People calling Rift a WoW clone still amazes me. I don't know, I don't get it. If some people really wanted to be technical about it, start calling everything an EQ clone.
Yes, THIS ^^^^^^^.
Finally someone who knows WoW isn't what is "cloned" here by other developers. All WoW did was bring the graphics up to 2004 standards and polish movement to make combat more fluid, shiny up a few other things that were already done in EQ and EQ2 and blammo....you have WoW. WoW is more a clone itself than it is cloned by others.
Dont be casual and easy with next to zero death penalty
Dont be super fast to level to cap
There you go, not that hard ey?
It is not a mystery. If a game talks like WoW, walks like WoW and quacks like WoW then it is a WoW clone.
Themeparks aren't necessarily evil. DAoC was a themepark and its one of the best MMOs that ever came out.
I'll add
-don't have instances (or if you must have one or two, don't abuse them)
-don't have quest based leveling as the only way to level up (or even in the game at all, make quests mean something)
-don't have raiding be the primary end game
-don't have items be the main and only point to the game
-don't be mind numbingly easy
-don't have the same class system as WoW
-don't have the same crafting system and AH as WoW
DAOC was not a themepark. And even though it's landmass was linear (zoned), it had an incredibly open playstyle and allowed for PvP battles, to be fought anywhere within the frontier. They didn't force you into any content, it was all there to take-in at your leisure.
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
hmm by the logic I'm reading, every game to come out after WoW is a clone of WoW because it share's some similar features. So I now declare that unless your older than me, and are nothing than a blob of skin, you are a clone of me, so there, lol.
Most AAA MMOs that have come out since WoW have indeed been WoW clones, go figure.
Games before WoW shared features, but nobody called them clones, know why? Because they all had their own distinct more mechanics vastly different from one another. The closest to a clone there was was DAoC and EQ. Yet DAoC brought massive amounts of innovation to the table both in terms of PvE, and in PvP. It STILL hasn't been knocked off the PvP throne.
WoW on the other handle, hasn't brought ANY new features to the table. And the games that came after it follow the WoW structure to a T.
They're all extremely simple and "streamlined", they all have the same UI, they primarily have hard locked classes where you "buy skills", heavily instanced, linear, quest based leveling, gear as the main objective of the game, and raiding as the only end game.
It's really sad. But I guess you guys just don't have any perspective on it. The people who were here for the MMO Golden Age can see how each new MMO that comes out is just a clone, because we're used to seeing MASSIVE differences between each game. You on the other hand, are so used to having everything play just like WoW that the slight differences must seem massive to you.
I really wish this genre would just crash and die already so we can revive it years later with some new ideas and actual MMOs.
People that use this term are stupid and think WoW was the first MMO for some reason. I can almost gaurantee that the majority fo people that use that term only use it because it makes them feel smarter on some level or another. In another forum a couple of idiots said they didn't like EQ2 because it was a wow clonw..../facepalm. People calling Rift a WoW clone still amazes me. I don't know, I don't get it. If some people really wanted to be technical about it, start calling everything an EQ clone.
Yes, THIS ^^^^^^^.
Finally someone who knows WoW isn't what is "cloned" here. All WoW did was bring the graphics up to 2004 standards and polish movement to make combat more fluid, shiny up a few other things that were already done in EQ and EQ2 and blammo....you have WoW. WoW is more a clone itself than it is cloned by others.
oh there are alot of us out here, but the WoW fanboys drown us out, lol
If you believe the most vocal detractors of games here everything is a WoW clone unless it is a sandbox game,in which case everything is magically better and the game is automatically great,or the game is not a MMORPG at all and some kind new MMO genre or some action hybrid.
Dont be casual and easy with next to zero death penalty
Dont be super fast to level to cap
There you go, not that hard ey?
It is not a mystery. If a game talks like WoW, walks like WoW and quacks like WoW then it is a WoW clone.
Themeparks aren't necessarily evil. DAoC was a themepark and its one of the best MMOs that ever came out.
I'll add
-don't have instances (or if you must have one or two, don't abuse them)
-don't have quest based leveling as the only way to level up (or even in the game at all, make quests mean something)
-don't have raiding be the primary end game
-don't have items be the main and only point to the game
-don't be mind numbingly easy
-don't have the same class system as WoW
-don't have the same crafting system and AH as WoW
DAOC was not a themepark. And even though it's landmass was linear (zoned), it had an incredibly open playstyle and allowed for PvP battles, to be fought anyIway in the frontier not in some PQ hotspot.
Its not themepark by today's use of the word (pretty much another word for a WoW clone now) but it was indeed a themepark. It wasn't a sandbox so what else was it? You leveled up, gathered loot. The classes were extremely flexible and the zones were open ended and without instances, but it was still a theme park. The frontier was open consentual PvP yes, but it still was only in the frontier. It's the good kind of theme park. Or at least themepark sandbox hybrid.
I think anyone looking for a hard definition for what constitutes a WoW clone is going to come up empty handed. Personally, as I've explained in other threads, I use the term quite frequently to describe games that resemble WoW to other MMO players who are experienced within the genre, and understand what WoW is. It's a great point of reference, because most people have played it, and so when someone says "WoW Clone" you can almost immediately summon some knowledge of what they're speaking.
As for the reasons why someone would call a game a WoW clone, most of that (for myself personally) boils down to the graphical layout of the UI and the manner in which progression takes place. It's hard for me not to think, "Man, that comes from WoW" when you look at some of the UI screenshots from RIFT or Alganon especially, particularly of the Warfront scoreboards from RIFT (I mean, that's almost directly from the BG system in WoW). Anyway, I think people who find the term derogatory need to lighten up, because as I've mentioned it's a great point of reference, and can instantly clue people into what a particular game is about or how it plays when describing it to someone who is unfamiliar with that product.
"This is life! We suffer and slave and expire. That's it!" -Bernard Black (Dylan Moran)
hmm by the logic I'm reading, every game to come out after WoW is a clone of WoW because it share's some similar features. So I now declare that unless your older than me, and are nothing than a blob of skin, you are a clone of me, so there, lol.
Most AAA MMOs that have come out since WoW have indeed been WoW clones, go figure.
Games before WoW shared features, but nobody called them clones, know why? Because they all had their own distinct more mechanics vastly different from one another. The closest to a clone there was was DAoC and EQ. Yet DAoC brought massive amounts of innovation to the table both in terms of PvE, and in PvP. It STILL hasn't been knocked off the PvP throne.
WoW on the other handle, hasn't brought ANY new features to the table. And the games that came after it follow the WoW structure to a T.
They're all extremely simple and "streamlined", they all have the same UI, they primarily have hard locked classes where you "buy skills", heavily instanced, linear, quest based leveling, gear as the main objective of the game, and raiding as the only end game.
It's really sad. But I guess you guys just don't have any perspective on it. The people who were here for the MMO Golden Age can see how each new MMO that comes out is just a clone, because we're used to seeing MASSIVE differences between each game. You on the other hand, are so used to having everything play just like WoW that the slight differences must seem massive to you.
I really wish this genre would just crash and die already so we can revive it years later with some new ideas and actual MMOs.
This..^^
And it goes back to what I been saying. That most new comers don't even understand the types of MMORPG's let alone the technologies driving them. If a game has the same mechanic, but delivers them to a populace with a different rule... some of you people think it's different. You do not understand what's being left out, or cheapishly hidden.
Zoned games are dead. With server cluster becoming cheaper and much more powerful, you will see more and more MMORPG's comming out with a Open World, or Sandbox style game world. Instead of instancing and zoned game world.
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
If you believe the most vocal detractors of games here everything is a WoW clone unless it is a sandbox game,in which case everything is magically better and the game is automatically great,or the game is not a MMORPG at all and some kind new MMO genre or some action hybrid.
I wouldn't consider everything a "WoW clone", but if your levelling system, pvp system, raid system, and "endgame" are all essentially the same as WoW...... with a few minor tweaks of course....
well.....
I don't even bring up graphics, and UI.. As i personally don't take them into consideration when comparing.. perhaps because they are less of a factor for me, i dont know...
There have been a few themeparks that were produced I wouldnt consider in this category, and they were brought up on the previous pages.
edit: it obviously doesn't need to have all of the above for me to consider it just a clone.. it could have a good many, and just be unoriginal ; )
hmm by the logic I'm reading, every game to come out after WoW is a clone of WoW because it share's some similar features. So I now declare that unless your older than me, and are nothing than a blob of skin, you are a clone of me, so there, lol.
Most AAA MMOs that have come out since WoW have indeed been WoW clones, go figure.
Games before WoW shared features, but nobody called them clones, know why? Because they all had their own distinct more mechanics vastly different from one another. The closest to a clone there was was DAoC and EQ. Yet DAoC brought massive amounts of innovation to the table both in terms of PvE, and in PvP. It STILL hasn't been knocked off the PvP throne.
WoW on the other handle, hasn't brought ANY new features to the table. And the games that came after it follow the WoW structure to a T.
They're all extremely simple and "streamlined", they all have the same UI, they primarily have hard locked classes where you "buy skills", heavily instanced, linear, quest based leveling, gear as the main objective of the game, and raiding as the only end game.
It's really sad. But I guess you guys just don't have any perspective on it. The people who were here for the MMO Golden Age can see how each new MMO that comes out is just a clone, because we're used to seeing MASSIVE differences between each game. You on the other hand, are so used to having everything play just like WoW that the slight differences must seem massive to you.
I really wish this genre would just crash and die already so we can revive it years later with some new ideas and actual MMOs.
This..^^
And it goes back to what I been saying. That most new comers don't even understand the types of MMORPG's let alone the technologies driving them. If a game has the same mechanic, but delivers them to a populace with a different rule... some of you people think it's different. You do not understand what's being left out, or cheapishly hidden.
Zoned games are dead. With server cluster becoming cheaper and much more powerful, you will see more and more MMORPG's comming out with a Open World, or Sandbox style game world. Instead of instancing and zoned game world.
Bumping this for perspective. I honestly don't think MMO newcomers (those who came in with WoW) are able to see a WoW clone from a real MMO because... well... they weren't around when real MMOs were being made.
I can only think of a few games that came out recently that weren't WoW clones.
hmm by the logic I'm reading, every game to come out after WoW is a clone of WoW because it share's some similar features. So I now declare that unless your older than me, and are nothing than a blob of skin, you are a clone of me, so there, lol.
If it has a hint of a similar mechanic or UI layout it will be labeled a clone of what it is similar to.
The only way for a "clone" to no longer be considered a clone, is if it is successful.
WoW was widely considered an EQ clone by the MMO community at large, up until it was considered a smash success.
Too bad then that no clone has been a success yet. I wonder why... oh maybe because people don't want to play the same game over and over again? AoC, LotRO, WAR, Aion, none of them did well because none of them have an serious identity. It's "WoW with Tolkien lore" or "WoW with boobs", ect ect.
WoW IS an EQ clone in terms of gameplay mechanics and goal, which is why most MMORPGs players ignored it when it came out and returned to their regular MMOs, they'd done it all before. WoW survives primarily on newbies coming into the market who never experienced these games already, so they don't know any better.
However, WoW cloned all of the addictive and broken features of EQ, while gutted any features that were complex, immersive, social, or redeeming.
Games that are WoW clones - Rift, LotRO, AoC, WAR(except for the RvR), Aion, what other MMOs have come out recently?
If it has a hint of a similar mechanic or UI layout it will be labeled a clone of what it is similar to.
The only way for a "clone" to no longer be considered a clone, is if it is successful.
WoW was widely considered an EQ clone by the MMO community at large, up until it was considered a smash success.
Too bad then that no clone has been a success yet. I wonder why... oh maybe because people don't want to play the same game over and over again? AoC, LotRO, WAR, Aion, none of them did well because none of them have an serious identity. It's "WoW with Tolkien lore" or "WoW with boobs", ect ect.
WoW IS an EQ clone in terms of gameplay mechanics and goal, which is why most MMORPGs players ignored it when it came out and returned to their regular MMOs, they'd done it all before. WoW survives primarily on newbies coming into the market who never experienced these games already, so they don't know any better.
However, WoW cloned all of the addictive and broken features of EQ, while gutted any features that were complex, immersive, social, or redeeming.
Games that are WoW clones - Rift, LotRO, AoC, WAR(except for the RvR), Aion, what other MMOs have come out recently?
Comments
So you're saying the only people who complain about these "clones"/overdone mechanics, are WoW/Blizzard fans?
I find that a bit shortsighted.....
fun read.. just a little fail with the microsoft and windows part imo :P
Here's what I posted on Massively about it:
All tho its succefull game its a clone by it self blizzard have stole almost all implementations from other mmos/rpgs/games.
So WoW is a UO-EQ-AC1&2-DAOC-L1&2-and other games clone not other way around.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
I would totally forgive a dev team from making a DAOC clone.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
This post makes my head spin.. seriously, i think i see the word "Clone" everywhere
{Mod edit - resized image}
Wow must really warp some peoples minds. I've seen some posters on here that claimed some games that came out before wow a wow clone.
Ha, I wish. If WoW had 1/8 of the depth and gameplay variety DAoC/UO/AC had than I'd be playing it. Since instead it's just a watered down and gutted version of EQ, most aren't happy. We got tired of EQ in 2001.
hmm by the logic I'm reading, every game to come out after WoW is a clone of WoW because it share's some similar features. So I now declare that unless your older than me, and are nothing than a blob of skin, you are a clone of me, so there, lol.
oh noez... im a darkmyth78-clone
yes, bow before you genetic superior! lmao
Yes, THIS ^^^^^^^.
Finally someone who knows WoW isn't what is "cloned" here by other developers. All WoW did was bring the graphics up to 2004 standards and polish movement to make combat more fluid, shiny up a few other things that were already done in EQ and EQ2 and blammo....you have WoW. WoW is more a clone itself than it is cloned by others.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
DAOC was not a themepark. And even though it's landmass was linear (zoned), it had an incredibly open playstyle and allowed for PvP battles, to be fought anywhere within the frontier. They didn't force you into any content, it was all there to take-in at your leisure.
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
-Nariusseldon
Most AAA MMOs that have come out since WoW have indeed been WoW clones, go figure.
Games before WoW shared features, but nobody called them clones, know why? Because they all had their own distinct more mechanics vastly different from one another. The closest to a clone there was was DAoC and EQ. Yet DAoC brought massive amounts of innovation to the table both in terms of PvE, and in PvP. It STILL hasn't been knocked off the PvP throne.
WoW on the other handle, hasn't brought ANY new features to the table. And the games that came after it follow the WoW structure to a T.
They're all extremely simple and "streamlined", they all have the same UI, they primarily have hard locked classes where you "buy skills", heavily instanced, linear, quest based leveling, gear as the main objective of the game, and raiding as the only end game.
It's really sad. But I guess you guys just don't have any perspective on it. The people who were here for the MMO Golden Age can see how each new MMO that comes out is just a clone, because we're used to seeing MASSIVE differences between each game. You on the other hand, are so used to having everything play just like WoW that the slight differences must seem massive to you.
I really wish this genre would just crash and die already so we can revive it years later with some new ideas and actual MMOs.
oh there are alot of us out here, but the WoW fanboys drown us out, lol
If you believe the most vocal detractors of games here everything is a WoW clone unless it is a sandbox game,in which case everything is magically better and the game is automatically great,or the game is not a MMORPG at all and some kind new MMO genre or some action hybrid.
Its not themepark by today's use of the word (pretty much another word for a WoW clone now) but it was indeed a themepark. It wasn't a sandbox so what else was it? You leveled up, gathered loot. The classes were extremely flexible and the zones were open ended and without instances, but it was still a theme park. The frontier was open consentual PvP yes, but it still was only in the frontier. It's the good kind of theme park. Or at least themepark sandbox hybrid.
I think anyone looking for a hard definition for what constitutes a WoW clone is going to come up empty handed. Personally, as I've explained in other threads, I use the term quite frequently to describe games that resemble WoW to other MMO players who are experienced within the genre, and understand what WoW is. It's a great point of reference, because most people have played it, and so when someone says "WoW Clone" you can almost immediately summon some knowledge of what they're speaking.
As for the reasons why someone would call a game a WoW clone, most of that (for myself personally) boils down to the graphical layout of the UI and the manner in which progression takes place. It's hard for me not to think, "Man, that comes from WoW" when you look at some of the UI screenshots from RIFT or Alganon especially, particularly of the Warfront scoreboards from RIFT (I mean, that's almost directly from the BG system in WoW). Anyway, I think people who find the term derogatory need to lighten up, because as I've mentioned it's a great point of reference, and can instantly clue people into what a particular game is about or how it plays when describing it to someone who is unfamiliar with that product.
"This is life! We suffer and slave and expire. That's it!" -Bernard Black (Dylan Moran)
This..^^
And it goes back to what I been saying. That most new comers don't even understand the types of MMORPG's let alone the technologies driving them. If a game has the same mechanic, but delivers them to a populace with a different rule... some of you people think it's different. You do not understand what's being left out, or cheapishly hidden.
Zoned games are dead. With server cluster becoming cheaper and much more powerful, you will see more and more MMORPG's comming out with a Open World, or Sandbox style game world. Instead of instancing and zoned game world.
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
-Nariusseldon
I wouldn't consider everything a "WoW clone", but if your levelling system, pvp system, raid system, and "endgame" are all essentially the same as WoW...... with a few minor tweaks of course....
well.....
I don't even bring up graphics, and UI.. As i personally don't take them into consideration when comparing.. perhaps because they are less of a factor for me, i dont know...
There have been a few themeparks that were produced I wouldnt consider in this category, and they were brought up on the previous pages.
edit: it obviously doesn't need to have all of the above for me to consider it just a clone.. it could have a good many, and just be unoriginal ; )
Bumping this for perspective. I honestly don't think MMO newcomers (those who came in with WoW) are able to see a WoW clone from a real MMO because... well... they weren't around when real MMOs were being made.
I can only think of a few games that came out recently that weren't WoW clones.
Fallen Earth
Darkfall
Mortal Online
you could try reading my argument
If it has a hint of a similar mechanic or UI layout it will be labeled a clone of what it is similar to.
The only way for a "clone" to no longer be considered a clone, is if it is successful.
WoW was widely considered an EQ clone by the MMO community at large, up until it was considered a smash success.
Too bad then that no clone has been a success yet. I wonder why... oh maybe because people don't want to play the same game over and over again? AoC, LotRO, WAR, Aion, none of them did well because none of them have an serious identity. It's "WoW with Tolkien lore" or "WoW with boobs", ect ect.
WoW IS an EQ clone in terms of gameplay mechanics and goal, which is why most MMORPGs players ignored it when it came out and returned to their regular MMOs, they'd done it all before. WoW survives primarily on newbies coming into the market who never experienced these games already, so they don't know any better.
However, WoW cloned all of the addictive and broken features of EQ, while gutted any features that were complex, immersive, social, or redeeming.
Games that are WoW clones - Rift, LotRO, AoC, WAR(except for the RvR), Aion, what other MMOs have come out recently?
Recent releases that aren't WoW clones- Mortal Online, Darkfall, Fallen Earth
DC Universe is certainly not a clone.