Hussar
Legend
I think there's a disparity here though, because you're stating that being related to WoW is a bad thing. As I said on the other thread, I've seen numerous posters here comment that new players say 4e reminds them of WoW, but they use it in a positive way. I wasn't here for the D&D vs anime thing, but another poster stated that the discussion taught them how far people would go to deny even the smallest similarities.
The thing is, "WoW-like" isn't a bad thing. WoW makes more money a day then some people will ever see in their lives. As someone who used to play it, it can be insanely fun. And right now, it's popular to the point of breaking though any old cliches about nerds and preps. I've seen football players talk to themselves about their WoW characters. Quite frankly, I'd be surprised if people didn't see something "WoW-like" in a game.
But the crux is, "WoW-like" has been declared both a bad and a good thing at the same time. I've seen the same issue - and very much so - with "the game is more simplified." The funny thing about "The game is more simplified" is that people - the SAME people - will either praise that statement or scowl and put it down all depending on which poster used it. Same statement. But when one poster says "The game is very simplified," what's read is "It's dumbed down." When another poster says "The game is very simplified," what's read is "It's not bloated and overly complex."
So I guess the problem isn't that someone is saying the game is like WoW, the problem is that you're too stuck disagreeing with it to try and see where they're coming from.
The problem is, for 8 years, those of us who liked 3e got to listen to everyone who didn't like 3e compare 3e to video games. Every week. Certainly every month for EIGHT FRIGGIN YEARS 3e=Video gamey.
So, seeing it start again with 4e=WOW is going to hit buttons.
Heck, I'm the one you're talking about with the whole Anime thing. The funny thing was, I didn't deny the anime influence. I welcomed it. But, the only reason to use a comparison to anime for a very large number of posters was as a negative. So, I set out to see how much anime influence there was in D&D WOTC art. And, after a month, we finally got three pieces that had pretty clear influence. Out of thousands of images, we got 3. And not from one person either (which was the point of the game, despite what some might say). So, it's pretty clear that there is no more anime influence in D&D art than there is in western fantasy art in general. And quite possibly less.
And that drove some posters so around the twist, they STILL won't talk to me.

But, to come back to the point, if you look at when people try to use comparisons to WOW as a positive, 100% of the time you will see disclaimers on the post about how it's a positive thing and not meant as a knock against the system. If the comparison was neutral, you wouldn't have to do that. But, it's not. Comparing D&D (in any edition) to a video game is going to be seen as a negative because that's how it's almost universally used.
You can ignore the connotations if you like, but, don't act all wide eyed surprised when people call you on it. In other words, if you post comics featuring 4e players as whiney kindergarteners screaming and crying when they don't get their way, don't be shocked that people might take that as a negative.