This seems to be a common thought among many people. What many people don't remember is that LOTS of games are inspired and modeled on games that were previously successful. Just look at all the real-time strategy games with the same gameplay but different graphics/sounds/names. How about first-person shooters? I don't think anybody has been sued for making Doom or Quake clones.
Personally, I am only inspired to make a game if there is a need for it, not because a previous game was popular. If somebody else already did it, then I'm not going to bother.
But I realized that many people (including me) still want to play M.U.L.E., and how nobody has created another game like it that runs on a modern PC, so I decided to do it. If somebody else had already made a game like Space HoRSE, I would have made something else instead.
There. It's off my chest.
[ 11 April 2002: Message edited by: Gillissie ]