Yes, it’s an art because we can’t say that adding multiplayer or even online feature to a stand alone video game will guarantee the game to be a success hit.  It is not an exact science that can be formulated as:

Video Game Title + Online Feature = Great MMOG

This is WRONG!!!

Is it possible to adopt a video game to be a successful MMOG?  Yes it’s possible, but it will depend on many factors!  The stand alone game and video game will still find it ways to survive EVEN WITHOUT online feature.  Many people believe that the future of game will be the online one.  That may be true.  However, if we take a look at game (not just video game) history, each new genre of game is growing into culture and not just trend.  A trend would kill the last category, but a culture will give birth to a new category.  Confused?

Let me give an example:

Before we know any video games in this world, people already play games using card.  Before we play any MMORPGs, people already play RPGs based on physical rule.  Can we still find card game and non electronic RPGs today?  Yes we can still find them.  In fact, some of

First of all, I will say this:

“LET THERE BE CLONE!”

Why?

Because I have seen too much in my life that the act of copying (or borrowing the idea) lead to many great products in their future.  I’ll give an example later.

Another reason is, it will promote the genre heavily.

Some will say: “BUT CLONING IS NOT THE SAME AS COPYING”

Exactly!  Clone in terms of genetic biology science refers to a word of identical EXACT replica.  So if you really never find a game that EXACTLY the same, why do all people keep using this term as a word to represent someone who copy some aspect of game to develop a new one?  They are not doing the real cloning in this term.  Splices point of view explain it, so I won’t cover it anymore in here.  Go read it here.

Yes, I understand there are so many terms out there for clone’s meanings.  In this case, from this point onward, I will use this terms as the ‘usual’ meaning tendency, that a game is similar to other in many many ways.

Genre Promotion

Before I explain my first reason to support the clone, I will go to the second: clone war will promote the genre heavily.  If the genre become alive, it will attract many people or companies to consider penetrating the gen