History YMMV / Evony

* FollowTheLeader:
** A game called ''Caesary'', which is ''Evony'' [-[[RecycledInSpace IN ANCIENT ROME!]]-]
*** It even follows through on the [[BlatantLies Blatant]] [[LadyNotAppearingInThisGame Misleading]] SexSells [[ContemptibleCover Contemptible Ad]] saying "One Click for a [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy Roman Orgy]]! Click Now!"
** There's actually a number of ''Evony'' knock-offs lying around, if you know where to look. ''Caesary'' is just one of the more popular (having shown up on Kongregate until a possible lawsuit), but they're all more-or-less the same...minus the spyware.
*** ''Caesary''[='s=] now advertising on Website/YouTube. Prepare lawsuits!
** ''World of Lordcraft'' is another, even right down to the sexy ad campaign.
** Another popular knockoff is ''War2'', set in World War II. There are several variants: ''The Stratagems'', ''Glory'', and ''Dawn of Nations''. ''The Stratagems'' has the quirk of censoring ''Evony''[='s=] name out of its in-game chat for some reason.
** Several other games, such as ''Glory of Rome'', ''Galaxy Online'', ''Global Warfare'', ''Napoleonic Wars'', ''Wartune'', and ''Samurai Dynasty'' use the same basic engine and game concepts though set in different eras ranging from the Roman Empire to the far future.
** ''Battledawn'' is an interesting entry into the category... It also kind of unintentionally mocks the genre, as you can choose from "fantasy, modern, or futuristic" eras to play in. Virtually nothing changes aside from reskins and resources used to build crap. Each era plays exactly the same despite the fact they should be markedly different: it feels as if one era was made first, then they saw the same-but-different entries mentioned above, and just decided "Aw the hell with it, let's cram them all into a single game engine." The eras are completely separate, but one can play in all three at once if they so wish, which just makes it more obvious nothing is changed. Unlike the rest of this page, it "ends" every month, with the goal being to be the one to research then push the [[NukeEm Big Red Button]] before anyone else.
*** Interestingly, ''Caesary'' does away with a lot of the less respectable elements of ''Evony''[='s=] setup, along with having a pre-calced animated battle after the damage is done, '''which actually reflects how the calc came about'''. No more thousands of hours spading invisible troops and theorizing on attack order, you can see how your unit attacks and in what order, then adjust specifically for that. Yeah, you still need to wait ages for things to build, and they still try to enforce payment, especially with the training time required for higher end troops, but they cut down a lot of the more GUI-unfriendly areas and refined/polished the areas that felt like beta holdovers. Also the time required to go anywhere is never more than an hour, and reinforcements can be sent to your allies once you realize they are under attack. It is the marked difference between a Chinese casino and a Vegas casino. Also it added some extra non-PVP things to do like gladiatorial arena battles. You can either grind up the tickets required by sacking the same NPC area over and over, or you can take the lazy way and buy them. It is, in short, ''Evony'' with playtesting and bonafide community (guild at least) focus.
** ''Wartune'', which you may well see an ad for on this very page, is copying the "false promises of boobs" ad campaign, but ramping it up to full on claiming to be a porn game, including splashing "R18+" and "Adults Only" on its ads. The actual game appears to have nothing more risque than your standard ChainmailBikini. It also used to run ads with the SoBadItsGood tagline "You Deserve An Orgy Today!"
*** But since the ESRB wouldn't allow their ads to display the "Adults Only" rating, they have since decided to claim that it's for "male gamers only".
*** The similar ''League of Angels'' is going the extra mile. Its animated ads feature boob-tastic footage lifted from other games (such as ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'') and even MMD videos (like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub-6KULMnaw this one]]), and on certain sites even outright pornography lifted from various sources. No such graphics ever appear ingame. In addition, piling a misdirection on top of a lie, the name seems to suggest the game is akin to ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. It is not.

*** The similar ''League of Angels'' is going the extra mile. Its animated ads feature boob-tastic footage lifted from other games (such as Franchise/DeadOrAlive) and even MMD videos (like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub-6KULMnaw this one]]), and on certain sites even outright pornography lifted from various sources. No such graphics ever appear ingame. In addition, piling a misdirection on top of a lie, the name seems to suggest the game is akin to ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. It is not.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Could be argued that ''the'' reason this game is known ''at all' is because of its infamous advertising, otherwise it probably wouldn't have a Wiki/TVTropes page either and ended up forgotten as a bad game with nothing that stands out about it.

*** ''Caesary''[='s=] now advertising on YouTube. Prepare lawsuits!

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Could be argued that ''the'' reason this game is known ''at all' is because of its infamous advertising, otherwise it probably wouldn't have a TVTropes page either and ended up forgotten as a bad game with nothing that stands out about it.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity

** ''Website/DKVine'' had one of these with Candy Kong from the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' series standing in for the advertising girls.

* MemeticMutation: Ads featuring an attractive woman entreating "my Lord" are probably a nod to the game's ad campaign. Though given ''Evony''[='s=] bad press, ads tend to spoof their style rather than straight-up imitate it — ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' has an ad with a decaying zombie girl wearing a crown prompting you to "save your queen", while one for ''{{Alteil}}'' features a girl and boasts "She is actually in our game, my Lord!"

* FanDumb: Hoo boy...

----

** Oddly enough, Evony itself might be falling victim to this. While it's still enormously infamous as a source of SnarkBait and parody (just look at all the various things that reference it), in terms of actual gameplay and player base it's not looking good. On top of the "covert spyware" and "lackluster ad campaigning" controversies, it's being massively out-competed by its own copycats, who've not only improved on a lot of Evony's flaws as a game but also have refrained from being spyware.

* {{Hatedom}}: While no one much likes Evony, [[ImageBoards 4Chan]] absolutely ''despises'' it, since Evony spambots were a major cause of 4chan using [[ScrappyMechanic captcha.]]

** Oddly enough, Evony itself might be falling victim to this. While it's still enormously infamous as a source of SnarkBait and parody (just look at all the various things that reference it), in terms of actual gameplay and player base it's not looking good. On top of the "covert spyware" and "lackluster ad campaigning" controversies, it's being massively out-competed by its' own copycats, who've not only improved on a lot of Evony's flaws as a game but also have refrained from being spyware.

** ''AdventureQuestWorlds'': [[http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic625099.jpg Pants, m'lord?]]

* AdaptationDisplacement: Evony is, gameplay-wise, an exact clone of an earlier Chinese browser game known as 'Kingory' (they're even based off the same source code, and may or may not have been made by the same company), which most people have never heard of.

* FetishRetardant: In a shoddy attempt to photoshop bigger cleavage lines onto one ad, they managed to make the woman look like her breasts were pancakes.
* MemeticMutation: Ads featuring an attractive woman entreating "my Lord" are probably a nod to the game's ad campaign.
** Indeed. Though given Evony's bad press, ads tend to spoof their style rather than straight-up imitate it. VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies has an ad out there with a decaying zombie girl wearing a crown prompting you to "save your queen", another ad for ''{{Alteil}}'' features a girl and boasts, "she is actually in our game, my lord!"
* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity

** Indeed. Though given Evony's bad press, adds tend to spoof their style rather than straight-up imitate it. VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies has an ad out there with a decaying zombie girl wearing a crown prompting you to "save your queen", another ad for ''{{Alteil}}'' features a girl and boasts, "she is actually in our game, my lord!"

* FetishRetardant: In a shoddy attempt to photoshop [[BuxomIsBetter bigger cleavage lines]] onto one ad, they managed to make the woman look like her breasts were pancakes.

** Indeed. Though given Evony's bad press, adds tend to spoof their style rather than straight-up imitate it. PlantsVsZombies has an ad out there with a decaying zombie girl wearing a crown prompting you to "save your queen", another ad for ''{{Alteil}}'' features a girl and boasts, "she is actually in our game, my lord!"

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Let's face it, a lot of their players first ''heard'' about the game from the {{Hatedom}}. Which makes their marketing strategy one of the most successful [[XanatosGambit Xanatos Gambits]] in history.

** Indeed. Though given Evony's bad press, adds tend to spoof their style rather than straight-up imitate it. PlantsVsZombies has an ad out there with a decaying zombie girl wearing a crown prompting you to "save your queen", another ad for some game features a girl and boasts, "she is actually in our game, my lord!"

** Indeed. Though given Evony's bad press, adds tend to spoof their style rather than straight-up imitate it. PlantsVsZombies has an add out there with a decaying zombie girl wearing a crown prompting you to "save your queen", another ad for some game features a girl and boasts, "she is actually in our game, my lord!"

** Indeed. Though given Evony's bad press, adds tend to spoof their style rather than straight-up imitate it. PlantsVersusZombies has an add out there with a decaying zombie girl wearing a crown prompting you to "save your queen", another ad for some game features a girl and boasts, "she is actually in our game, my lord!"

* FetishRetardant: In a shoddy attempt to photoshop [[BuxomIsBetter bigger cleavage lines]] onto one ad, they managed to make the woman look like her breasts were pancakes.