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"WoW clone"
tochicool
Member Posts: 153
"WOW CLONE"
The term "WoW clone" isn't used properly. To clone means "to make an identical copy of" and we all know what WoW is. So, bassically, by calling a game a WoW clone, your calling it "An indentical copy of World of Warcraft".
Ultimately, no two games can be exactly the same or they would be the same game and the comany of the original would rightly sue them. People tag games as clones when they have been hooked up on their game that they have played for years that they simply cannot accept any other new game that comes into the market. Fair enough, your entitled to your opinion but don't say things that make you sound stupid as they aren't doing your beloved game any good.
Most games tagged "WoW clone" are free to play or cash shop games. By calling a free game a "WoW clone" means that it is just as good as WoW, only free. Ninja'd. There are some really brilliant free games out there that aren't even glimpsed at. If you're going to judge a game then I suggest you accually play it. They're free; you got nothing to lose (except time). Over looked games incude Allods Online, Runes or Magic (even though I personally wouldn't recommend it) and many, many, more...
However, if you are stupid enough to still call games "clones" then almost all MMO's are "clones" of Adventure or Island of Kesmai which is clearly not true...
Nuff said ¬ _¬
TochicOol 
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Comments
Why bother arguing over the semantics of the word "clone"? That phrase is a colloquialism, and was never intended to be literal.
A WoW clone is any game that uses the essential components of gameplay that were popularized in the mass market by WoW. For the last long while, the majority of MMOs, whether retail or F2P, have followed that formula because they want to replicate WoW's success.
However, I do think the term is bandied about too freely. It has begun to lose a lot of its meaning because pretty much every new MMO receives that label (unless it is clearly different, ex. a sandbox game) even if it is not deserved. The forum dwelling community is often too quick to condemn a game based on its similarities to the WoW archetype.
Exactly. People have been referring to video games that are similar to one that came before as "clones" for a LOOONG time. I remember talking about "Warcraft" clones back in the day.
It's not literal.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
Due to the negative connotations around WOW clone I've taken to referring many post WOW MMO's as following the modern standard theme park model, however it's pretty clear most folks understand exactly what is meant by the former terminology.
"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
The word "clones" in gaming world has been used for years to make a point that some games are very alike.
Once in a while there is always some guy who makes a thread just like this to explain what a clone really is...here is a headsup, we know what a clone is.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
semantics...
and SWTOR is a WoW clone
Remember Old School Ultima Online
WOW. Talk about over-analyzing something. I just think WoW clone is a term of convenience that everyone understands.
I could say...
I don't want to play game X because it emulates many features already present in WoW. Such as quest-grinding, a trinity mechanic, class system, and end game consisting of a raiding gear-grind, Battle ground PvP, etc. And I am a bit tired of features such as this. In addition, game X does not bring anything significantly new to the able. In effect, it attempts to emulate WoW, but ultimately falls short of its predecessor.
Or I could say...
Game X looks like just another WoW clone, not interested.
What is easier?
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
I see your point and agree with it
but just as easy to say Themepark mmo -- as opposed to implying that WOW did it better (w phrase wow clone)
EQ2 fan sites
Actually, I am implying that WoW did it better
.
Also, there are plenty of Themepark MMO's that I wouldn't classify as WoW clones...
Everquest 2, Vanguard, DAoC...
Anyway, in my opinion, WoW is a better game than Aion, WAR, Allods, Rift, etc. I'm not saying this because I'm a "WoW-fanboi," quite the contrary. I liked WoW a lot, but now I'm sick of it. And I feel like WoW gives the best "WoW-experience" of all those games I listed. So after I play them for a while, I inevitably quit them because I realize that WoW was a better "WoW" than they are.
If a game comes out that actually brings something unique and significant to the table (hopefully GW2), OR vastly improves on the WoW formula (hopefully SWTOR) I won't call it a WoW clone.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
Everquest 2 release prior to WoW and paled when compared to the success of WoW which released shortly after. EQ2 then commenced changing a lot about their game so that it would emmulate the features WoW did better. EQ2 may be the first real example of a game who directly emmulated WoW - thus in actuality, the first 'WoW clone'.
Vangaurd borrowed many of WoW's mechanics - the questing mechanic namely; talk to npc with marker, receive quest, kill 10 of x, return for reward. Developers for this game have made statements that they had a hard time convincing Brad McQuaid to put certain features in because he had never even tried WoW. (Funny - if he had put his foot down, it would have been less of a WoW clone).
DAoC was released long before WoW - i'm not sure anyone would call it either a themepark or a WoW clone and I haven't heard anyone call it either. Pretty much everyone acknowledges it borrowed more from EQ than anything else - but to my knowledge, it, like EQ kinda stand on their own - the big 2 that existed before WoW changed everything.
In anycase, EQ2 revamped specifically to be more like WoW and VG dev's stated that they fought to put WoW features into the game, and DAoC is not commonly referred to as either a themepark or WoW clone......
I would have picked some other games for my example there - especially in that 2 games you do not consider WoW clones, did in fact use WoW features purposefully and with full disclosure they were borrowing from WoW and your 3rd example isn't commonly referred to as either a thempark or a WoW clone.
So see how when you start to parse the info, WoW clone in general seems to fall short.
PS: On my mobile so I apologise for any errors
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Your thread is quite pointless
We all know what clone means, but in the case of WoW is used for simplicity and as a dergatory term for all games that take inspiration from the Blizzard MMO or share many features with it.
I could say easily that Rift has lots of similarities with WoW in particular the gameplay which has lots in common and lacks originality, or I could say that Rift is another WoW clone
Although the second statement is technically not a correct definition since there are "some" differences, to me it suits better Rift because has more things in common than not, and at the same time it puts down the developers who were too lazy to try something a bit more original (I take Rift as an example, I could have said WAR, AoC or Aion)
SWTOR is already called by the community the next WoW clone and Bioware is not liking it a bit, they are trying in every way to get away from that by sending their marketing people in forces to explain that SWTOR is not a WoW clone but an original game.
So calling games "WoW clones" works, because developers understand they need to try something different if they don't want their game to be labelled in such a derogatory way.
Everquest was the first successful Themepark MMO, not WoW.
Just putting that out there.
So its Everquest clones
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
When I call a game a wow clone it is because you might as well be playing wow instead of the new game. End of story. There are a lot of clones now days, samw skin/wrapper with very little difference in the combat system. All with the go kill 10 rats, fetch 10 tails, deliver fedx to this location.
Everquest 2 release date: 11/8/2004
WoW release date: 11/23/2004
How did Everquest 2 copy WoW when it wasn't even released yet
?
Also...I think DAoC is a theme park. You pick a class. You level up by fighting monsters. You move to harder areas once you level up. Sure it had RvR PvP, but other than that, it was a complete theme park.
There are theme parks that are WoW clones. Yes, they all came out before or around the same time as WoW. But that's because all of the MMORPG theme park developers after WoW decided to just try to imitate it.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
The term "WoW clone" isn't used properly. To clone means "to make an identical copy of" and we all know what WoW is. So, bassically, by calling a game a WoW clone, your calling it "An indentical copy of World of Warcraft"
If you're going to be pedantic about the use of the word 'clone' maybe you should have looked it up first. Hint, it doesn't mean 'to make an identical copy of'.
It would be nice if in one of these numerous threads whoever created such new what 'clone' meant as I think it is actually quite apt and could make for an interesting discussion.
P.S. stating that wow is just a copy of other games as is also the norm is irrelevant information as the new(er) mmo's aren't trying to emulate them. A clone of a clone is still a clone.
QFT... a lot of the people that toss this phrase around don't even know what a "themepark" game means, and have had WoW as thier first MMO experience, not taking into account that WoW took a LOT of it's mechanics from MMO's that came out before it. When they use this term it seems to me (my opinion) that they are not that experienced, and MMO vets get angry and decide to hate on them for thier ignorance. Personally I laugh everytime i see someone calling every MMO that comes out clones, just makes them look like a noob to me. But I laugh and move on (most of the time) Where theres a forum, there will always be a troll that wants to start a flame war, and it seperates the community, has been for years ever since that MMO came out. I DO laugh my ass off when some troll gets butthurt because someone calls his game a WoW clone tho, and nerdrages on the forums.
guess you never played Everquest then which came out about a million years before WoW. Same quest mechanics, it's standard in themepark MMO's.
You are correct, when people say "WoW Clone", they generally do not mean that a game has copied the DNA of WoW and created a copy via artificial means. When you hear the term, people are using something called a "metaphor". Here is a link to a helpful explanation of what it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor
Like if i were to say "this poster is a dumb ass", I would not mean that they are a donkey lacking sharp angles. Only that that they share some qualities of a donkey, such as being stupid or smelling bad. The same thing with "WoW", it is meant to say that the game has quite a bit in common with WoW, much like a clone has quite a bith in common with the original but is commonly believed to be inferior.
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Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
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This is why I didn't use the accual definition but the one realivant to what people were impling
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Simply stated, a wow clone to me is a game that copies the wow "model". That being quick leveling to max level, a quest-based leveling system, sub-par "easy" crafting commodity market, a "gated" theme-park world that doesn't use the land after you've leveled there, only a few small open world zones to play in when max level that offer few rewards to make you want to play in the open world, and a raid-oriented bind on pickup endgame.
That's a wow clone to me and I'll call it as such every time, and I don't much care what anyone else thinks about it.
swtor will b a wow clone. all mmo's r wow clones.
To clone is to closely resemble. Many games closely resemble the game that you are talking about (or honestly any other game in any other gaming genre), therefore, could be considered 'clones' under federal law or scientific theory. If you're using literals, you should hire an editor to thoroughly inspect your wording and spelling before posting.
I thought I was pretty clear. WoW did so much better than EQ2 and subsequently updates, patches, expansions all aimed at making the game more WoW-like.
Alhough Everquest had quests, most of the character advancement was done via group based camp grinding, capped off with open world grinding of raid dungeons.
Contrast that with WOW's quest oriented character advancement (copied from AC2 actually) totally different UI, faction vs faction design (a la DAOC but simplified down to two) which does eventually lead to raiding, however in self contained instances.
You'll find the similariities between EQ and WOW are far less than say WOW and LotRO or ROM.
So the term clone was seldom used in the former situation and is quite common in the latter.
It's all a matter of degree.
"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
My sarcasm-o-meter can't get a reading on this. It does, however, hope that you are, in fact, being sarcastic.
Also, this isn't a thread about "what games are WoW clones?" or "list some WoW clones!" This is just asking for a flame war
OT, I somewhat disagree. As many others have pointed out, no one means the term in the sense that the game is a genetic copy of WoW. I also believe that some games are actually partially deserving of this title (I can't think of any I would consider a full "clone). By this I simply mean that a large number of features or design choices seem to be C&Ped from WoW. No more, no less.