I would like to suggest that there may be a problem that we as world builders will have to face with the next expansion pack (Pets). Now we have been briefly told about the wild animals such as deer’s, horses and raccoons however haven’t been told about how the they spawn. Now from what EA and The Sims Studio have shown via the trailers is that they simply just appear and run amuck around the world. Now this may look good in the new neighbourhood that we are getting as everything fits in place but say in a city setting things would get quite odd.
To delve deeper into this example think of jay6754’s London world. It’s a densely packed city so obviously having wild horses spawning in this world, just roaming across town would cause issues (although I must say the idea of that happening would be quite funny to see in game I guess). This is why we should be able to set what animals we want to spawn and where we want them to spawn. Now when I say animals I don’t mean like cats or the dogs or even if we could set the critters that were getting as well (that would be nice though so we can set snakes and lizards in a tropical or desert world), I mean like the horses, deer’s and raccoons. The world I’m currently working on is not suited to have deer’s and horses just spawn anywhere, there won’t even be that much room to have a family have a horse. However raccoon’s would at least fit in my little suburbia section so as you can see having the option to set where and what animals that I would like to have spawn would be great for planning the world and its story which The Sims 3 is built upon. I am sorry to use my world as an example but go through the worlds of your own (or EA’s if you want) and you to will be able to see what I mean and can understand why I am posting about this.
Now for the intentions, from what we have been told time and time again is that the developers do come and check the forums to see what the players are saying and with that I intend to get this seen by the developers so that they can have a think about this and consider it in the next update for Create a World. I also intend to have this posted in three different locations (the Create a World section, the Pets section and the Ideas & Feedback section) on the forums so that it not only has a greater chance of being read, but also a greater chance of having different players voice their opinion on the subject and anything else that they may want to add to it.
P.S. I apologise for any grammar errors in this post, I did my best to get rid of most so it might just be the little things I missed.
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I`m in a reasonably no lose situation, my new world is a mountain wilderness town, so deer, racoons etc turning up on your doorstep won`t be an issue for me.
Still, it won`t suit everyone, and that might become a problem?
I guess we`ll just have to wait and see.
My concern, a small one, is that skunks and racoons aren't found here so with a world I'm doing those animals could destroy the environment like the episode in The Simspsons with the American Bullfrogs in Australia! :shock:
Conor, there is much talk here about re-introducing wolves and even possibly Eurasian brown bears back to the Scottish Highlands. I`m all for it. We already have beavers again. I don`t think we ever had racoons, though plenty of deer here already. No bullfrogs, yet?
By God Johnny :shock: I can imagine a lone bear prowling down the side of a steep, rocky hill and wolves howling in the distance. Next, there'll be Asian Snow Leopards at your back door Johnny!
But nevermind them. I'd still keep an eye on them oul' badgers and foxes.
BUT EA has their own ideas. We will just have to wait and see.
As for deer in urban settings - it's happening more and more often here in America. It is not uncommon to see wildlife at the fringes of cities. Coyotes come in further, in fact there are suggestions that there are coyotes that have adapted very well to city life. Racoons are not at ALL unusual in cities - they do very well on garbage left by humans.
God Bless,
mik
It's well-known that in southern California, coyotes make themselves quite at home in urban areas. They just love eating cats and small dogs, which can be fairly easy prey closer to people. Wolves prefer to stay away from urban areas, but cougars sometimes wander in fairly close in some places. Raccoons and skunks are mainly nocturnal and they do scavenge wherever they are.
At this point we can only speculate.
Johnny, wolves were "reintroduced" in our area some years back. The result wasn't pretty. I'm all for saving endangered species, for goodness sake, mankind has been responsible for more than enough extinctions but sometimes the environmentalists get a little carried away too. What happens here is that most of the people making the laws are way back east and have never been out here to know exactly what's going on and they make laws for this part of the country based on little knowledge. It often results in a mess.
Foxes too have become more common in urban areas than rural because of our rubbish. BUT. What about horses? There's said to be wild horses in Pets now, that will run around your world. I seriously can't imagine that in any large-scale city world.
Oh it's not just the West they screw up with their blind law making ... They have been importing coyotes into our area to bump up the population JUST BECAUSE the insurance industry doesn't want to pay out so many claims for deer hits. I live in WV ... this is the LAND of political stupidity - we breed it here like some people breed goats. I've heard tell that they want to bring in timber wolves to help decimate the deer population too and to control the coyotes .... FACE.PALM. Anyone with a modicum of common sense, let alone a tiny bit of knowledge of wildlife management can tell you what an incredibly, atrociously, horrifically bad idea that is.
God Bless,
mik
I was about to mention it too I'm still giggling :')
I'm thinking - just on circumstantial evidence on that extended trailer video - that things like deer, racoons, skunks, rodents, birds - are all going to be spawners and you will be able to collect - at least some of them, maybe not deer, but you never know. NPc Horses, dogs, cats, wolves - may well be like townies that spawn in response to story progression.
For existing neighborhoods - we may have to have a particular lot placed in order to get the pet spawns, and if we want the other animals we either buy them from the pet store or place their spawners on community lots through the buydebug menu.
That is, of course, speculation - but it would make the most sense from what I can see in the video.
God Bless,
mik
Oh, they'll help decimate the deer population all right. They'll chase them until they can't run any longer, get them down, eat out their tongues and move onto the next one. That's what they do. People think wolves are so cool or whatever, and scream about people killing for sport (I'm not in favor of hunting or fishing just for sport, BTW, although have eaten many fine meals of venison, elk, or fish), yet wolves kill for sport. At least some people know when to stop. We have awesome fish and game management here, they know exactly what needs to be done to keep population balances in check and have done it for longer than I can remember, but then the feds come in and mess it all up.
I think this could be said of the entire U.S. but I'll quit with taking this off-topic.
Its a worldwide epidemic not confined to the US!!!
Back to topic..... I really hope we do have control over the spawning. I live in the UK and my worlds are created as close an approximation of English Towns as possible. It will ruin Pets for me if I suddenly have wild animals running amok. Especially things like Raccoons for example. We don't have those here.
The wolves ate them all! Well, before they were hunted to extinction
I just hope wild animal spawning (if that is how it will work out?) doesn`t go the same way as Late Night celebrities or vampires, with nearly an entire town`s population eventually becoming vampires or level one celebrities.
Happy happy joy joy!
The streets will run amok with squirrels and skunks. Maybe squirrels can have their own bar type, like Exclusive Squirrel lounge? :?
I thought you guys just had foxes and you chased them around with dogs and horses :P
See, that's why God made Twallen .... so Twallen could make mods that stopped that foolishness!
You have NO idea how glad I am that I was not drinking something when I first read that LOL!!!
God Bless,
mik
Lol
I think it would end up like that though because 1) the wild animals can interact with the world and the spawners are more or less intractable effects so it might not work and 2) wild animals would have to be controlled from some source and really the main source for all npc behavior is the story progression.
If so, your concern is a non-issue as you can control them.
re the off topic...
They're supposed to have people to advise them on these issues, which isfair enough as no one person can possibly know all things. The problem is the 'advisory' role has turned into a 'gravy train' mechanism with almost no true advisory content save that which is funded by lobbies. That's why I always agree with my friend who noted that we don't live in democracies we live in LobbyGroup-ocracies.
This confirms the point. By the way its happening everywhere. One of the few consistencies between all places in the world. Another example I recall being told about long ago is the reason why Queensland in Australia has a plague of cane toads. They were brought in to cull another unwanted population. I mean, seriously, what do these 'experts' think the animals are going to do once they've finished eating the species they want to get rid of!? They should know enough to know they will adapt. :?
Ha Ha no we dont all do fox hunting only the select few. Fox hunts are technically banned here. You can only hunt foxes if they are a pest on your land. I understand there are plans to scrap the fox hunting ban by the current government. Foxes are becoming a real pest in urban gardens.
Yes thank goodness for Twallans talents (try saying that after a few too many Nectars
Scotland is perceived as a hunting, shooting and fishing place, deer stalking (for the uber wealthy), grouse shooting (also for the uber wealthy) and fishing (Scotland has some of the best salmon fishing rivers in the world). I guess only fishing is popular with "normal folk", most people here find the idea of fox hunting abhorrent, even though they are increasingly becoming a pest in towns. The first time I saw a fox in my street it was crossing the road and entered the garden of one of my neighbours, who just happens to be called Mrs Fox!