Rock, Paper, Shotgun discovers that WoW is a "dirty word"

by Samuel Axon on Sep 7th 2008 11:00AM

World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, New titles, Warhammer Online

Today we return to a debate that simply will not die. Gaming blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun -- a very smart blog that is a combination of progressive and traditionalist, if that makes any sense at all -- felt the need to defend itself after it previewed Warhammer Online and made numerous comparisons to World of Warcraft. It even inserted a WoW screenshot as a joke.

If you've been following this debate (which already reached a raging napalmic inferno of internet vitriol when Richard Bartle compared the games in an interview with us) then you know that RPS was just asking for trouble. And trouble it got, in the order of more than 200 comments.

The latest development: RPS blogger Alec Meer wrote a personal, diplomatic, and even impassioned post in which he attempted both to defend the comparison and to defend WAR in the face of said comparison. He also tried to explain why the connection infuriates WAR fans so much. The money quote: "Telling a WAR player that his game is similar to WoW is like telling a goth that he's emo." Needless to say, it's worth a read.

Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

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Tags: argument, blizzard, blog, comments, comparison, debate, ea, ea-mythic, mythic, mythic-entertainment, richard-bartle, rock-paper-shotgun, warhammer-online, world-of-warcraft

Reader Comments (3)

I mentioned in some other post that for me it's almost just a tired discussion point. It's not rampant WoW fanboyism -- I never really got into that game and I gave my copy away months ago. I think it's one thing to make direct comparisons of how this or that works and really make strong points, but a lot of posts of that nature are very lacking in any real substance and almost go out of their way to ignore the differences that are there.

There was some response then that a lot of these just feel like WoW with some differences... and it's like WoW felt like other MMORPGs with some differences too. And a lot of people know that, particularly those that read sites that cover the genre. It's not compelling enough of an argument anymore. There needs to be more of it than that to really have it go anywhere, at least for me.

Instead, most of these just feel like we have to be reminded that "Oh, WoW did that before! Don't forget! This reminds me of WoW! That goblin looks like one in WoW!". It feels like less of a discussion than being told we're naive for enjoying it or liking the "small" differences".

I don't think this mindset covers everyone. I mean, I can't really explain some of the console arguments people have... I guess people just get attached to things they spend time with, whether they're tangible or not.

So I get the comparisons. I just don't think anyone has done it in an interesting way and at this point reading about that 10 times on each MMORPG site has worn out its welcome 6 months ago. People were writing the same points about this before they were even playing it that they were writing after the NDA lifted.

Either way, a game's a game. I have Warhammer pre-ordered because it seems fun. Sometimes something new doesn't have to be a major revelation in the history of gaming to be enough to hold people's interest lol.

Better than telling a goth they are emo (doubt either have hate against the other, both limp wrist slitters) it should be "If you like Radiohead, then you like Coldplay, cause they are the same band".

So many _(insert Radiohead or Coldplay) fans get PISSED at this statement....angry cause they know it's true.

All MMO's share things in common. MMO's, like most things in this world, evolve. They share common things. It's just a given fact.

What about the races? Well, Warhammer has been around 25 years and Warcraft is based off of Warhammer. So don't blame Warhammer for this similarity, blame Blizzard for it.

What about the game? Not alike any more than AoC, EQ2, LotRO are like WoW. It's just the fact they are MMO's that they will have similarities.

One thing that is a major differences, WAR is new, it's fun, it has a ton of PvP (RvR), and a lot of great new concepts. It has also a lot of bugs and problems, but that's expected for every new MMO.

Here's the simple breakdown:
Do you like raiding? Play WoW.
Do you like PvP and small group dungeons? Play WAR.