[chii]

> we're stuck with WoW (and its clones), which was an excellent game in its own right, but it wasn't a true MMO

because most companies didn't realize what they were copying when they copied WoW.

True MMO - aka, a sandbox game. See this very indepth critique, if you want more about this topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvK8fua6O64

[firekvz]

Let me tell you this, but.. WoW was the clone, it tried to copy already existings MMOs, the only reason WoW was sucessfull was because all the advertising it got

Asia (KR/JP) had already huge mmo games before WoW

[nrb]

That’s not completely fair... WoW was successful because it was outstandingly polished (no other game was even close at the time) and fun to play.

[kungtotte]

It also got a massive amount of early hype by being a Blizzard/Warcraft IP and not generic fantasy.

All of the buzz surrounding it prior to launch was about being able to play as characters from the Warcraft universe, not that it was a polished MMO.

The IP got people to sign up, the polish made them stick around.

[andrepd]

I knew which video you were talking about after reading your first sentence hehe :)