View Poll Results: Is Warcraft a "ripoff" of Warhammer?

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547. This poll is closed
  • Yes

    131 23.95%
  • No

    416 76.05%
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  1. #321
    The Patient Wulfstan's Avatar
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    Ripoff? No. Influenced? Yes.
    The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it.- George Carlin

  2. #322
    WoW has plundered every myth legend and story going to man

    But i dont mind cause they are just standing on the shoulders of giants

    and i genuinely care about the characters they have produced

    i mean so what if they are a rip off so and so everything is a rip off of something but they took a generic humans and orc game and produced a lore that millions of people care about

    so what if that lore was taken from greek, roman, norse, native american and guys like tolkien they put there unique spin on it and made us care

    and at the end of the day thats all thats matters they made us care and the amount of heated lore debate threads that appear on mmo champ tells us they did there job right
    Last edited by yetgdhfgh; 2012-12-26 at 02:59 PM.

  3. #323
    Quote Originally Posted by Deadite View Post
    *pours more petrol*
    Nicely done.
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  4. #324
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    I believe they wanted to work with Warhammer when they started working on Warcraft, but were rejected or something.

  5. #325
    Immortal Frozen Death Knight's Avatar
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    A rip-off is defined as this on the free dictionary website:

    1. A product or service that is overpriced or of poor quality.
    2. Something, such as a film or story, that is clearly imitative of or based on something else.
    3. A theft.
    4. An act of exploitation.

    For WarCraft to be a rip-off of Warhammer with this definition, it would need to steal the identity of Warhammer in a way that you can barely tell them apart from each other. Meaning, being nearly identical to the original product.

    Though, since WarCraft did not exploit Warhammer's reputation as a board game by being a video game, as well as having created one of the most iconic gaming franchises to date without confusing the consumer about the differences between Warhammer and WarCraft, Blizzard have not really ripped-off Games Workshop.

    However, they did get heavily influenced by Warhammer, which is beyond a doubt correct.
    Last edited by Frozen Death Knight; 2013-01-07 at 02:30 PM.

  6. #326
    Over 9000! Golden Yak's Avatar
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    There are plenty of parallels, especially in early Warcraft stuff, but I think it's progressed to the point that they are distinctly separate properties with independent development of their respective universes.

  7. #327
    Legendary! Gothicshark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen Death Knight View Post
    A rip-off is defined as this on the free dictionary website:

    1. A product or service that is overpriced or of poor quality.
    2. Something, such as a film or story, that is clearly imitative of or based on something else.
    3. A theft.
    4. An act of exploitation.

    For WarCraft to be a rip-off of Warhammer with this definition, it would need to steal the identity of Warhammer in a way that you can barely tell them apart from each other. Meaning, being nearly identical to the original product.

    Though, since WarCraft did not exploit Warhammer's reputation as a board game by being a video game, as well as having created one of the most iconic gaming franchises to date without confusing the consumer about the differences between Warhammer and WarCraft, Blizzard have not really ripped-off Games Workshop.

    However, they did get heavily influenced by Warhammer, which is beyond a doubt correct.
    Well said, I love both and it is clear that Warcraft copied as much as the legally could get away with, but because the Guys at blizzard rock hard they were able to make it their own at the same time.

    To the WOW fanboys don't feel that it's a threat to WOW that they copied, think of it as Warcraft is distilled from the best parts of the best Fantasy sources.

  8. #328
    Yes it is a ripoff of Warhammer since it was first developed to be Warhammer but they could not come to an agreement on the game.

  9. #329
    Blizzard were hired to make a Warhammer real time strategy game. After they started the owners of Warhammer said they cancel the project and Blizzard finished the game creating their own franchize.

    Short answer: Yes, Blizzard ripped it off.

  10. #330
    Over 9000! Golden Yak's Avatar
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    Well, here's a question.

    If something starts out as a rip off, can it ever be anything other than a rip off or can it grow beyond that label into an original property in its own right?

    Example - Batman is basically a rip off of Zoro. Batman is arguably more popular nowadays than Zoro, and he is typically not looked down upon as a Zoro rip-off.

  11. #331
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    I don't really think that "ripoff" is the right word, at least not now, nearly two decades later. The Warcraft setting has developed into something completely different from the Warhammer setting. Blizzard really made it their own with Warcraft III, and by now you can barely see the connections to Warhammer beyond art style and a couple of the core concepts behind its races.

    Besides, is it really fair to call it a ripoff if it was originally intended to be a licensed Warhammer game?

  12. #332
    Immortal Frozen Death Knight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cybran View Post
    Blizzard were hired to make a Warhammer real time strategy game. After they started the owners of Warhammer said they cancel the project and Blizzard finished the game creating their own franchize.

    Short answer: Yes, Blizzard ripped it off.
    Ripping-off Warhammer would mean that they would steal the identity of the board game, which they did not. So no, Blizzard did not rip-off Games Workshop, especially since Blizzard created a video game and not a board game.

    It would be easier to argue that WarCraft ripped-off earlier RTS games, but that is not really true, either, since it differentiated itself enough not to be defined as such.

    The only productive thing to state about the relation between Warhammer and WarCraft is that the latter got heavily influenced by the former. Though, that does not really define it as a rip-off.
    Last edited by Frozen Death Knight; 2013-01-07 at 05:15 PM.

  13. #333
    Since it was originally designed with hopes to be an official Warhammer product, no - it was not "ripped-off". It was Games Workshop who didn't have enough of an imagination to accept their bid - a decision I'm sure they're kicking themselves over to this day. :P

    You can only call it a "ripoff" if the intent was there to just carbon-copy the game without permission. Their original intent wasn't to "rip off" the game... their intent was to MAKE a Warhammer game.

    They only went forward with it as a separate product because they believed in what they created and didn't want to waste all that work, and rightfully so! :P

    ---------- Post added 2013-01-07 at 05:11 PM ----------

    Calling Warcraft a ripoff of Warhammer is the same as calling the Original Playstation a ripoff of a Super Nintendo product. Sony originally developed the PS1 as the Super Nintendo CD-ROM, but Nintendo pulled the plug on them after years of development and tons of money they ponied up.

    Sony basically responded: "Hey! Why did you do that Nintendo? We had a unique kick-ass system we dumped a lot of money into, with TONS of disc-memory, new 3D dynamics, easy and cheap to program for! How are we to recover our..." /scratches chin thoughtfully "...costs...Hrmmmmm...."

  14. #334
    Waste of time to have a poll like this on a site that will be obviously biased. Users here will just pick NO without knowing anything about what they're voting for. If you want a real opinion, you have to ask this question somewhere where it will be answered without bias towards warhammer or warcraft.

  15. #335
    Immortal Frozen Death Knight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mvallas View Post
    Calling Warcraft a ripoff of Warhammer is the same as calling the Original Playstation a ripoff of a Super Nintendo product. Sony originally developed the PS1 as the Super Nintendo CD-ROM, but Nintendo pulled the plug on them after years of development and tons of money they ponied up.

    Sony basically responded: "Hey! Why did you do that Nintendo? We had a unique kick-ass system we dumped a lot of money into, with TONS of disc-memory, new 3D dynamics, easy and cheap to program for! How are we to recover our..." /scratches chin thoughtfully "...costs...Hrmmmmm...."
    What a boring gaming world we would have if ideas got killed off simply because it would be deemed as a "rip-off". Good games are built upon the shoulders of other good games, like anything else outside of gaming. It is just counter-productive to define something a rip-off unless it is a really obvious attempt to steal another franchise's identity, which is a way to protect the original creator's work. Outside of that, it is just plain redundant and at times used as an attempt to discredit good work (like in this case).
    Last edited by Frozen Death Knight; 2013-01-07 at 05:41 PM.

  16. #336
    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen Death Knight View Post
    Ripping-off Warhammer would mean that they would steal the identity of the board game, which they did not. So no, Blizzard did not rip-off Games Workshop, especially since Blizzard created a video game and not a board game.


    Warhammer



    Warcraft

    It was based on the Warhammer univese to leech off fame from the original glory. When they were not allowed to use the original lore they conterfitted it.
    Last edited by Cybran; 2013-01-07 at 06:08 PM.

  17. #337
    Immortal Frozen Death Knight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cybran View Post
    -snip-
    Except that no one confuses any WarCraft game with the Warhammer board game franchise. If WarCraft was such an obvious rip-off as you say, Games Workshop would have been able to sue Blizzard for that. Considering the current circumstances and that WarCraft as well as Warhammer are going strong to this very day without being considered two big rival competitors, I do not see how anything you just said make any sense, at all.
    Last edited by Frozen Death Knight; 2013-01-07 at 06:13 PM.

  18. #338
    It took a lot of inspiration from warhammer but i wouldnt call it a ripoff. As someone who knows a lot about both warcraft and warhammer i would say there are a lot of similarities but there are also a lot of differences.

    For example the warhammer world is much much darker then warcraft. In warcraft human kingdoms are kind of fairy tale like with virtuous paladins and brave knights while in warhammer the human empire is a medieval slum filled with crazy religious fanatics, mad wizards and inquisitors. On the other hand Burning Legion in warcraft is evil and all but really doesent seem that bad compared to the demons and warriors of Chaos from warhammer who are completely deranged mutants and adorn themselves with mutilated body part as trophies.

    While warcraft and warhammer orcs are both green they are really nothing alike, in warcraft orcs are honorable, sometimes berserking barbarians while in warhammer they are more like a massive doped up streeet gang.

    Besides all this Warhammer itself borrowed a lot from various Dungeons and dragons settings which were inspired by fantasy novels of which the greates are Tolkiens works who was himself inspired and borrowed a lot from germanic mythology so basically everything has its roots somewhere else its like a massive tree of life when you think about it

  19. #339
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen Death Knight View Post
    Ripping-off Warhammer would mean that they would steal the identity of the board game, which they did not. So no, Blizzard did not rip-off Games Workshop, especially since Blizzard created a video game and not a board game.

    It would be easier to argue that WarCraft ripped-off earlier RTS games, but that is not really true, either, since it differentiated itself enough not to be defined as such.

    The only productive thing to state about the relation between Warhammer and WarCraft is that the latter got heavily influenced by the former. Though, that does not really define it as a rip-off.
    Couple of things, Warhammer is not a 'Board Game' in is a Turn based Table top Strategy Miniature game.



    By rip off the term also refers to the common practice of copying an idea.

    ie...
    Warcraft Ripped Off ->
    Warhammer Ripped Off ->
    Dungeons and Dragons Ripped Off ->
    J. R. R. Tolkien Ripped off ->
    Wagner Ripped off - >
    Nordic, Germanic and British legends and lore.

    StarCraft Ripped Off ->
    Warhammer 40,000 Ripped Off ->
    Warhammer Ripped Off ->
    Dungeons and Dragons Ripped Off ->
    J. R. R. Tolkien Ripped off ->
    Wagner Ripped off - >
    Nordic, Germanic and British legends and lore.

    This doesn't take away from the original or the more modern Ripoff, because a properly done ripoff is also a homage to the original.

  20. #340
    Warcraft started off as a war hammer game. After they lost the rights to war hammer, blizzard made had to hurry and make a new story. It's pretty much a rip-off, but it is legally different.
    "Warriors make you sap, Paladins let you sap."

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