What's the difference between this and Stalker Online?

[Salt Engineer]

I loaded up Stalker Online, and these two seem nearly identical with a few differences. Am I missing something?

[Soldier_Daisy]

sZone-Online is the project that started as Stalker Online 5 years ago. In early 2013, due to a conflict between the developers, some of them chose to separate and steal the databases and continue developing them independently. After a series of legal suits, sZone-Online was recognized as the copyright holder and the software owner. The reason for changing the name of the project from Stalker to sZone was a claim made by GSC Game World, the developer of an offline game series S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (note that they have a different spelling, so technically it is a different name).
Currently sZone-Online holds all the trademarks, software licenses and other documents proving that our project is authentic and belongs to us. Stalker Online is a pirate project whose owners do not even have any documented rights to the name “Stalker”. As we were first introduced to Steam, Stalker-Online put out a claim to dispute our authenticity, which is why we were off Steam for a few days. However, as our opponents failed to present any proof of their rights to the game, and sZone presented all the necessary documents, Steam got our game back to their shop. We are grateful for their decision and consider it in itself sufficient proof that our project complies to the high standards of authenticity and legality posed by Steam.

Hope this answers your questions.
Have a good game and choose wisely!

[Salt Engineer]

That makes sense. I remember reading about Stalker Online years back, and at a cursory glance it looked identical in most respects - so I thought it might have just been the same game released under a different name for different user bases.

Thanks for the detailed explanation, that definitely helps to clear things up. I didn't realize there was quite so much going on with the name issues, piracy, etc.

[MaxTunnerX]

That stalker online name is a problem though. If Stalker Online wasnt purely russian, I might have never gone to szone online, which is much better in gameplay BTW. I thought szone online was either a non-russian version of stalker online or some pirated thing. Such irony.

[Soldier_Daisy]

Ironically, such terms as stalker, ZOne, Anomaly, Artifact etc. do not come from a game - they come from a book named Roadside Picnic that was written way back in the 70s. It is a great example of SOviet science fiction, and a deeply philosophical thing. I strongly recommenf you to read it. Also, there is a movie called Stalker, also based on the book, but pretty vaguely.

[Salt Engineer]

That's exactly why I'm surprised it's an issue. I could see how you could say S.T.A.L.K.E.R. exactly like that has copyrights - but considering the term itself predates that series of games by a longshot I don't see how they can get away with trying to enforce variations. Haven't gotten around to reading the book yet (will one of these days) - but the movie was pretty good if you can watch really old ones.

[ौौMajor Kuznetsovौौ]

Necro, the difference is that Szone Online devs will close most if not delete the post of anyone who asks, no matter how nicely the difference. Or status.