There's a difference between Inspiration vs. Imitation.

I think that explains why "original" games nowadays are as rare as dodo birds. Because "stealing" (creative or not) of game design is considered something normal. The correct approach is simple: draw insipration from life, not from other games. Too bad this is too difficult for many to pull out.

I disagree. The so called "original" games are almost always unplayable and at least weird (exceptions). Besides, people who think they invented something new simply have not done enough research. Sure, there are some rare genius designers who invent completely new things like Tetris, but it's so extremely rare we won't have any games to play if we were to relay on this.

People who actually play games don't want original games. We want more of what we like.

Most of the new things I have tried end up being because I eventually got to them by finding new things that were close to what I already liked. This happens with everything. Games, movies, music, books, etc. I end up at new places by taking steps outward from something.

I like side scrolling beat-em-ups. I have purchased all of them on PSN, my android tablet, and bought the Genesis collection disc to get my hands on a bunch of them. So naturally, I bought the new Double Dragon NEON that was just released. I do not like ANYTHING new added to this genre. I do not want platforming, 6DOF, or anything else borrowed from another genre. The only thing new I want is content, so I can keep walking to the right and beating things up.

I like RPGs. I know which kind I like. I know which kind I don't. A game that steers too far away from the things I know I like in an RPG can expect me not to play it. Which is fine. Something for everyone! Pokémon was a lot of people's introduction to RPGs, so those people will have a biased towards pet training or monster hunting style games. Zelda fans want more Zelda, not a new concept Zelda. They tried it once, and it was highly dismissed.

My discovery of new things usually involves that new thing having 1 degree of separation from something I already like. Ask a band what happens when their new album is more than 1 degree separated from their last! Film directors have the same problem. We want their movies to look and feel like one of their movies, regardless of what it's about.

I now have a shelf full of Western Blu-rays because I played Red Dead Redemption, because it was Grand Theft Auto 4 in the Old West, because I like GTA 4, because I liked GTA: SA, GTA: VC, and GTA3. And I liked GTA3 originally because it was a combination of other things I enjoyed.

I own season 1 of Game Of Thrones because I like The Lord Of The Rings movies, because I like fantasy and RPG games. I also bought a movie called Black Death, because it stars Sean Bean, whose performances I enjoyed in Lord Of The Rings and Game Of Thrones, in a similar role and setting. All these things I would have never touched otherwise.

So the "new" things I am looking forward to end up being

Grand Theft Auto 5
Season 2 of Game Of Thrones on Blu
The Hobbit
Django Unchained (2x since it's a new, high budget, western, and a Tarantino movie)

My ideal 'new' is things I already like mixed together, and executed well.

And if you want to go deeper than that, I'll even fork off the things I like and start to get very specific.

I like Westerns, BUT, I like revisionist style westerns (no good/bad guy, natives aren't faceless bad guys). I'm very dismissive of traditional westerns about obvious good guys vs bad guys. I like the drifter with a very gray morality coming to town and getting into some situation, and not John Wayne style stuff.

I like Fantasy, BUT, I'm very dismissive of high fantasy stuff. I strongly prefer low fantasy and heroic fantasy. I like humans only, rare almost non-existent magic, and simple stories that don't require me to learn tons of needless lore and back story. Conan style stuff. Which actually isn't very different from the types of westerns I like. Drifter with a sword instead of a gun.

I like Batman, BUT, I prefer stories where he and Jim Gordon were fighting off the mob and corrupt police force. Batman was a detective doing things that Jim Gordon couldn't do himself do to his corrupt force, red tape, or the limits of the law. I dislike robin, mentions of the DC Universe, or over the top, super powered villians. I'd rather see Batman hunting for clues and stalking leads then fighting a 50 foot robot with gadgets. So I'm very selective of which stories I consume.

So you always need a target market. Something completely new doesn't have an audience, and is very hard to establish one. IMO, best to start as something with one degree of separation from something established, and then take continually take small steps away from it, and become that 'new' thing over time. Make something entirely unique and someone on Kotaku can write an article about it for me not to read!