Blizzard producer Shane Dabiri has advised other MMO developers against copying the format of the phenomenally successful “World of Warcraft” game series, saying that what gamers really want is originality, not knock offs. “There are a lot of people trying to emulate “World of Warcraft” – and as flattering as that is at our end it’s definitely not the right move,” Dabiri notes in an interview published in the most recent issue of PC Zone magazine. “I know that “World of Warcraft” is very successful, and so people think if they were to make another game just like it they could somehow capture that audience.
However, I don’t think that’s what players are looking for,” he says. “Players that have invested time in “WOW” don’t want to do the same thing in another game – they want to try something completely new and different… I think the industry needs to move in that direction to come up with some new innovative MMOs that are trying really different things,” Dabiri argues. “Take “City of Heroes” –at least that’s something that’s not a fantasy game.” Dabiri’s comments, although, as some have pointed out, no doubt at least partially motivated by self interest, have generally gone down well with gamers and also seem to be being backed up by sales figures. “Warhammer Online”, a well made game deliberately designed to be as much like the “World of Warcraft” series as possible, is suffering declining popularity these days. As Dabiri suggests, it would seem that originality really is key.
