Trolling the WoW Clone meme
 

This article is in connection with: “The Art and Science of Trolling.”

The phrase “WoW clone” has been a rampant comment or reply to numerous articles from gaming websites, like MMOsite.com. It has been a running discussion in many BBS / forum sites ever since World of Warcraft went online a few years ago. Despite the numerous rebuttals from WoW fans, newbies and veteran gamers alike, people trolling the “WoW clone” meme does not show any signs of dying down. Thus, this article is to answer, or scratch the surface, of the popular meme known as “WoW clone.” We might not be able to completely stop it, but we can at least shed some light into this topic.

This article shall discuss the meme by answering the following questions:
What, When, Where, Why, Who, and How.

What are the terms concerned with this article?
First of all, let us define the following concerned words.
Troll: According to Dictionary.com, a troll is “to utter a posting [on Usenet] designed to attract predictable responses or flames.” See the article on trolling in conjunction with this article.
Meme: Wikipedia defines a meme as “a neologism used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, much like an inside joke.”
Clone: Dictionary.com defines a clone as “one that copies or closely resembles another, as in appearance or function.”

What is World of Warcraft?
World of Warcraft is a massively-multiplayer online RPG created by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released last November 2004 and currently having 2 expansions: Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King.

What are other variants of this meme?
In many other discussions, other well-known MMORPGs have also been used with this meme. Such examples are: “Ultima clone,” “EverQuest clone,” “Runescape clone,” and “Final Fantasy clone.” Other games such as Diablo and Baldur’s Gate were also used in conjuction with the clone meme.

When did the WoW clone meme appear?
No exact date can be specified. But, there is justifiable reason that the WoW clone meme appeared when the influx of new MMORPGs came to the market, circa 2005 onwards. Many of the MMORPGs “in development” during this time were automatically being compared to World of Warcraft as well. It has also been revealed that World of Warcraft was accused of being an EverQuest / Ultima clone during its development and release days.

Where did the WoW clone meme appear?
This is an easy question. Any and all memes originate from discussion boards, forums, imageboards, anonymous comments like those found in MMOsite. Search for a discussion about console or online games and you’ll find this meme or its other similar variants in the replies.

Who started the “WoW clone” meme?
Another easy question… The meme started when gamers voiced out their opinions about new MMOGs after World of Warcraft’s release. Gamers might have noticed striking similarities in the content or appearance of a certain MMOG with World of Warcraft, and thus branded it as a “WoW clone.” Trolls took this opportunity to meme the famous phrase to the other upcoming games as well.

Why “WoW clone?”
The facts speak for themselves here. Blizzard has been, and still is, indulging happily in the success of World of Warcraft ever since it went online 4 years ago. MMOG Charts from April 2008 indicate that World of Warcraft holds around 62% of the MMO market. World of Warcraft leans its popularity on the long-running series of Warcraft PC RTS games that started 10 years before the development of this popular MMORPG. World of Warcraft’s popularity also took off from the viral information sent through different media, such as television, the internet and through word-of-mouth. Suffice to say, WoW holds the title for “World’s most popular MMORPG” in Guinness World Records. This game would also spin off into comics, graphic novels, board games and toy collections, making it a mass-produced novelty.
Having numerous media influences, World of Warcraft instantly gained a cult following among newbie and veteran Warcraft gamers alike. Many interested people (both gamers and non-gamers alike) have been converted to avid WoW players also. However, there’s truth to the saying “you cannot please everybody,” and World of Warcraft is no exception. There are as many WoW haters as there are fans. This group, though unorganized, foresaw the string of MMORPGs that might possibly be developed as a spiritual successor (one that is similar in terms of features and systems) to World of Warcraft. Many other players agreed to this prediction, and thus kept a keen eye on the other upcoming games after WoW’s release. Any similarities in the MMORPGs post-WoW release (from 2004 onwards), however minute it may be, was then deemed a “WoW clone.”
 

Why not say “[insert game here] clone” instead?
There are two reasons for rare occurrence of a different game being cloned, instead of World of Warcraft:
First (and the most obvious reason), trolls don’t actually mind about the details of a game. Whether it copies a lot of Runescape features or the Ultima plot, it’s still easy enough to comment or copypasta the phrase “WoW clone.” It makes you think that trolls run on reflex and instinct at times like these. Remember that trolls see your gullibility and anger as a form of entertainment, a source of humor (see “The Art and Science of Trolling” article). Also take note that with WoW’s largest player and subscriber base, it is still more popular than other MMOGs in the market. The chances of finding a gamer with no knowledge of World of Warcraft are perhaps one in a million. And with that probability, trolling the WoW clone meme is sure to garner a pageload of reactions from everybody else.
Second (and the more serious reason), though many gamers have keen eyes and are good critics of a game, MMOGs rarely take or “copy” from seemingly “less popular” games compared to World of Warcraft.

How does something qualify to be a “WoW clone?”
For trolls, there are actually no parameters to declaring something as a “WoW clone.” The word “something” is used because even articles, events or media completely unrelated to MMOGs are stapled the meme too. A good example of which is the Dragonball movie article found on MMOsite. Trolls will post the meme anywhere for no reason at all (or maybe just to get a few laughs at everyone else’s reaction).
On a serious note, any game that is actually World of Warcraft’s spiritual successor can be declared a WoW clone. A spiritual successor is something that shares its features, genre, styles and/or themes from a specific predecessor. A good example of such is Bandai Namco’s Xenosaga series, taking much of the features from Square Enix’s Xenogears. For MMOGs, we can say that 4Story is the spiritual successor of World of Warcraft.
 

How can we stop the “WoW clone” troll?
As previously said in the article “The Art and Science of Trolling,” do not feed the trolls. Your replies to their troll means you’ve just lost and they’re going “ROFLMAO” over your gullibility and impulsivity. The best option is to ignore any and all troll baits. In reiteration from the article about trolls, this method isn’t actually 100% effective since there will always be someone else replying to the troll bait no matter how big or small the community is. The good news is, if you didn’t reply, you aren’t the one the troll’s laughing at.

How will this cycle end?
It won’t. As long as there’s a game at the top or swimming in popularity points, all that come after it will be accused of being a “clone.” As long as World of Warcraft maintains its status, expect to see more of the meme around. And in theory, even if WoW’s popularity dies down, many would still troll around the meme until something better actually comes to take the top spot. In truth, MMOGs are like stories. No matter how unique it is, there will still be an aspect that has been used in the past. With that in mind, you can’t avoid the fact that someone somewhere at some point in time will say “hey… it’s a _________ clone!”  

Your best bet is to ignore the trolls completely. You’re better off without them anyway. And please, for those who haven’t tried the meme, think twice before posting (or better yet, don't post at all). It helps. We need more of the healthy discussions rather than TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) on the comments.

This article is NOT a WoW clone.

 

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clone
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/troll
http://www.mmosite.com
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart7.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_warcraft


 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Only MMOsite has permission to redistribute or give minor edits to this article.