Shrug. I think it's like saying 'n*gger' or 'white trash', sure, people know what you mean when you use it, but it doesn't mean that there isn't a negative aura attached to it, and prone to evoke heated debates.
Is there a term that can be used that roughly means the same?
Sure. Themepark MMO.
By definition it describes better, since 'clone' implies 'perfect copy' while in 95% of the cases there are a lot of differences. It'd be like saying 'Christina Aguilera is a clone of Britney Spears,' because they're both blond, have good tits and body and both sing. Or 'Vampire Diaries is a clone of Buffy the Vampire Slayer', because both shows have vampires as main occurring theme and they're directed to a teen audience.
So yes, themepark MMO is a better, more truthful term to use. It fits better for MMO's that fall into that subgenre and is more neutral.
Then again, just like 'n*gger' or 'ch*nk' or 'fag' is sometimes used instead of more neutral names, the same applies with 'WoW clone': it doesn't just describe things but also expresses scorn and disgust, and therefore 'WoW clone' is a more powerful term to use than 'themepark MMO', a term that suits people better who want to express their dislikes.
So according to you using the term WoW clone is just as ignorant as using racial slurs, I think your example may be a little strong, to say the least.
But it's just that, WoW clone is a sloppy term and I'm really just tired of hearing it. Every FPS can be considered a Call of Duty clone because of its similar elements. Every RTS can be called a Civilization clone because of it's similar elements. Take any game of any genre and call them all clones because of the genre specific similarities that must exist. However, doing so is just plain stupid and it baffles me when people try to justify it. I've yet to hear a good reason for calling any game a WoW clone.
No, you're being so intentionally obtuse it borders on trolling. I pointed you to a thread that contained many examples, there are dozens more like it.
We know what a WOW clone is (and isn't) even if you refuse to accept the common wisdom.
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
Can we stop saying WoW clones and just start saying non-innovative MMORPGs or something? Seriously it's getting old. To me it's like saying every rock band copies Pink Floyd because they all use a guitar a bass guitar and some drums. Well every MMORPG uses a guitar a bass guitar and some drums for their band as well. However, their not WoW clones because despite the fact that they all use the MMORPG instruments none of them play the same melody.
That's how I feel if you have a legit reason to call every modern MMO a WoW clone please throw it my way because this concept still baffles me.
The internet as a whole is pretty devoid of originality. Someone hears WoW-clone and that is it. Kind of like all the crappy fish-eye glittery outfitted rap videos of the late '90s, early 2000s...
But then again most people on forums are basically sheepish anyway, a whole lot of "Follow the leader" mindsets.
Baaaa....
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
WoW clone has become a term gamers use to describe a game they don't like. They don't like WoW so any game that comes along and they find boring or not "innovative", it's a WoW clone.
I call WoW an EQ clone >>when<< people call other games "wow clones". I share their context, but inside, I'm laughing.
WoW is EQ1's big retarded cousin. Where in EQ you had socially deficient people, in wow you have people so socially deficient, they can't even socialize properly in game to accomplish tasks and whine for more "solo content". Where in EQ it was much easier for a determined player to "grind", wow has spoon-fed clumps of quests around level-applicable harvesting nodes and occasional nifty "bonus chests". Where in EQ, if you died, you lost some xp and had to run "alive" to your corpse to reclaim your stuff, wow has next to no penalty, you run in ghost form, and hey, if you died in an instance all you need to do is zone in.
So, to me, when you say a game is a "wow clone", you're saying it appeals to that which you've been familiar... a spoon-fed, relatively easy game with little risk, and the best possible return for your spent online-time. It's funny and tragic at the same time, the concept of, "for me to find like-minded individuals, they need to, in the equivalent, eat at McDonalds every damn day"...
... then complain how every burger joint is a McDonalds clone ...
... and think if they buy a Big Mac they somehow own stock in the company... but I digress. I'll save that for another thread.
Yes, in your context, "game "X" is a "wow clone"", also, "wow is an eq clone", but not a great one; a cartoony one for simplistic thinking and addiction to the "drive-thru industry". But hey, it sells, and I know it will continue to sell, because there will continue to be people who say, "wow clone".
Seriously, the only derogatory inference anyone is finding is, like I've already stated, purely internal. If it bothers you, ask yourself why you're letting individuals who you're never going to meet influence how you feel about something (on the internet)? Why is something so trivial and pointless being discussed so often?
I can tell you that it's for one good reason, and that's because people take personal offence when they believe something they cherish is being down-played, or ridiculed. "WoW Clone" is a term you can make as neutral or as emotionally loaded as you allow yourself, and as I've mentioned before, it has nothing to do with the people using the term or how they mean to use it, even if they do intend for its use to be derogatory, but rather the meaning or inference you yourself are placing upon the vernacular.
So, are you speaking for everyone who uses the term 'WoW clone'? Because there have been quite a lot of people using it who admitted that they use 'WoW clone' to express a dislike/disgust/criticising of the game they used that term for. So that already debunks that claim of yours that the term 'WoW clone' is never used to express a negative viewpoint of a mentioned MMO.
In fact, in more than 95% of the cases that the term 'WoW clone' is used first, it's being done by haters/critics of a certain game, so that makes the term far from neutral already.
I have no problem with the term myself, but I'm merely saying how things are, not how people pretend they are: and that is that 'WoW clone' is a term as good as always used by haters or critics of some MMORPG, when they're talking about an MMO that they have a dislike or aversion for.
Me, I find it handy when the term is used, without knowing anything about the poster using it, it already tells me what sort of mindset and viewpoints he very likely holds when it comes to MMO's and on what level of discussion he debates them. So, pretty useful actually
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Also, Themepark does not equal WoW clone. I agree with you here and whoever thinks WoW Clone = Themepark is a compelte ignorant. Because WoW clone is more about copying WoW's Major and Minor features and WoW is not ALL themeparks. Aion for instance is a Themepark but not a WoW clone because there are alot of core features of WoW that's not available in Aion. Unlike Rift which is a clear WoW clone and of course a themepark.
I think that peope who're saying that WoW clone =/= Themepark are the ones acting as complete ignorants. You don't have to look far on these forums to find enough people saying that Aion is a 'WoW clone' so who's right, eh? Those people or you? Bottomline is that peope mix the terms themepark MMO and WoW clone together as some other posters have already said, only they use the term 'WoW clone' when they dislike an MMO and want to mention and scorn its heritage.
There are levels of extremes going both ways. I think WoW resides in the EXTREME thempark side while A Tale in the Desert or Second Life are an EXTREME sandbox.
Second Life isn't an MMORPG, mate, it's a virtual world simulation.
I Hate both worlds. The best MMORPG in my opinion is an MMORPG who takes the best of both worlds and combines them together to create that magic sandwich. EverQuest was the closest to achieve that magic because it wasn't set on rails yet it wasn't an empty world with nothing but sandbox tools.
EQ was an oldschool MMO, it didn't have a lot of sandbox features if at all, and it didn't have a directed gameplay experience as themepark MMO's have. Progenitor or predecessor to the subgenres that arose, yes, but not part of both sandbox or themepark subgenre.
People can argue all the want that Elephants can fly, doesn't make the fact true. Just go back to the definition of flying and form your own conclusion. WoW is not the only form of Themepark MMORPGs just like EVE is not the only form of Sandbox MMORPGs. Saying that Themepark = WoW clone is not true even if you believe that everything that is not sandbox = WoW Clone.
WoW clone definition should be declared on a game that mimics WoW compeltely. Rift is a WoW clone and that's the only game that I can remember that fits the term "WoW Clone" but I haven't tried every MMORPG out there. Aion in the other hand is a Themepark MMORPG but not a WoW clone even though it is Borderline just because the faction 2 faction, Quest Driven, Somehow Itemization and Traveling System (Flight Paths)..etc. It's just borderline but not WoW Clone but definitely a Themepark.
Comments
No, you're being so intentionally obtuse it borders on trolling. I pointed you to a thread that contained many examples, there are dozens more like it.
We know what a WOW clone is (and isn't) even if you refuse to accept the common wisdom.
"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 internet as a whole is pretty devoid of originality. Someone hears WoW-clone and that is it. Kind of like all the crappy fish-eye glittery outfitted rap videos of the late '90s, early 2000s...
But then again most people on forums are basically sheepish anyway, a whole lot of "Follow the leader" mindsets.
Baaaa....
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
WoW clone has become a term gamers use to describe a game they don't like. They don't like WoW so any game that comes along and they find boring or not "innovative", it's a WoW clone.
I call WoW an EQ clone >>when<< people call other games "wow clones". I share their context, but inside, I'm laughing.
WoW is EQ1's big retarded cousin. Where in EQ you had socially deficient people, in wow you have people so socially deficient, they can't even socialize properly in game to accomplish tasks and whine for more "solo content". Where in EQ it was much easier for a determined player to "grind", wow has spoon-fed clumps of quests around level-applicable harvesting nodes and occasional nifty "bonus chests". Where in EQ, if you died, you lost some xp and had to run "alive" to your corpse to reclaim your stuff, wow has next to no penalty, you run in ghost form, and hey, if you died in an instance all you need to do is zone in.
So, to me, when you say a game is a "wow clone", you're saying it appeals to that which you've been familiar... a spoon-fed, relatively easy game with little risk, and the best possible return for your spent online-time. It's funny and tragic at the same time, the concept of, "for me to find like-minded individuals, they need to, in the equivalent, eat at McDonalds every damn day"...
... then complain how every burger joint is a McDonalds clone ...
... and think if they buy a Big Mac they somehow own stock in the company... but I digress. I'll save that for another thread.
Yes, in your context, "game "X" is a "wow clone"", also, "wow is an eq clone", but not a great one; a cartoony one for simplistic thinking and addiction to the "drive-thru industry". But hey, it sells, and I know it will continue to sell, because there will continue to be people who say, "wow clone".
So, are you speaking for everyone who uses the term 'WoW clone'? Because there have been quite a lot of people using it who admitted that they use 'WoW clone' to express a dislike/disgust/criticising of the game they used that term for. So that already debunks that claim of yours that the term 'WoW clone' is never used to express a negative viewpoint of a mentioned MMO.
In fact, in more than 95% of the cases that the term 'WoW clone' is used first, it's being done by haters/critics of a certain game, so that makes the term far from neutral already.
I have no problem with the term myself, but I'm merely saying how things are, not how people pretend they are: and that is that 'WoW clone' is a term as good as always used by haters or critics of some MMORPG, when they're talking about an MMO that they have a dislike or aversion for.
Me, I find it handy when the term is used, without knowing anything about the poster using it, it already tells me what sort of mindset and viewpoints he very likely holds when it comes to MMO's and on what level of discussion he debates them. So, pretty useful actually
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
People can argue all the want that Elephants can fly, doesn't make the fact true. Just go back to the definition of flying and form your own conclusion. WoW is not the only form of Themepark MMORPGs just like EVE is not the only form of Sandbox MMORPGs. Saying that Themepark = WoW clone is not true even if you believe that everything that is not sandbox = WoW Clone.
WoW clone definition should be declared on a game that mimics WoW compeltely. Rift is a WoW clone and that's the only game that I can remember that fits the term "WoW Clone" but I haven't tried every MMORPG out there. Aion in the other hand is a Themepark MMORPG but not a WoW clone even though it is Borderline just because the faction 2 faction, Quest Driven, Somehow Itemization and Traveling System (Flight Paths)..etc. It's just borderline but not WoW Clone but definitely a Themepark.
MMO's are all based on the same basic concept, so in essence you could make the argument that all mmos are clones of those that came before them.