[foo_barrio]

I don't like this take at all. Copying is always easier than creating no? A lot of times the things that make or break or game are fine tuning the mechanics in order to balance difficulty/reward etc. Once this is done it's trivial to copy.

Games are more like music than food IMO. It's trivial to copy a song once you hear it. That doesn't somehow mean it's not a worthy song.

[nkrisc]

Agreed. It’sa lot of work and it’s easy to copy, so if finely-tuned game mechanics is your only hook for your game, it’ll be hard to compete in the genre since it’s so easily copied. If you’re interested in commercial success for your game, you need value that can’t be so easily copied. Sometimes it’s as basic as having a good community around the game.