Keeping gameplay interesting as a domesticated animal

I've been reading some of the recent threads targeted towards specific parts of being a domesticated animal, and there's some good stuff there. However, if you go for the big picture, being a domesticated animal is very boring compared to a wild one. Sure, creatures domesticated as pets like dogs and cats will still have enough freedom to keep the game interesting, but then there's livestock.

If the creature that domesticated you is primitive enough, you'll still have enough freedom that it'll still feel like you're a wild animal that's just in symbiosis with another species, but we get in trouble once the domesticator starts getting more advanced.

Unlike in ancient times when livestock still had to deal with predators and were often herded across the landscape, livestock of today on Earth are basically just stuck in fenced areas to be fattened up and killed. They usually don't have to worry about predators, and food is almost always given to them. How will we keep the player engaged enough that they're content to stay in the stockyards instead of trying to escape back into the wild out of sheer boredom?

Hrm... I will have to think hard about this one and get back to you. It would indeed be very boring to be kept as livestock in a modern day scenario. More importantly, you'll have a whole lot less control over how your evolution happens. I'll try to keep this in the back of my mind for a while and wait for an epiphany.

US_of_Alaska wrote:

Hrm... I will have to think hard about this one and get back to you. It would indeed be very boring to be kept as livestock in a modern day scenario. More importantly, you'll have a whole lot less control over how your evolution happens. I'll try to keep this in the back of my mind for a while and wait for an epiphany.

There's always the 'Chicken Run' option. Finding ways to escape being livestock might be interesting. However, that would probably result in the player's species then escaping and so not being livestock, which defeats the point of interesting domesticated gameplay...
We could always leave livestock-type domestication as the easy way out, for people wanting to do so for whatever reason, even though it means boring gameplay (possibly just until they later escape?) (For example, when at risk of going extinct (ensured survival option) or for research on a sentient species (livestock conspiracy ).
Doing this to survive would result in this option being a kind of success (ensured survival) yet failure (no control of species) route which could result in domestication not being a kind of gameplay, but a gameplay element. Domestication would be a short-term safe haven, but with the additional risk of not being able to escape again later...

The Uteen wrote:

US_of_Alaska wrote:

Hrm... I will have to think hard about this one and get back to you. It would indeed be very boring to be kept as livestock in a modern day scenario. More importantly, you'll have a whole lot less control over how your evolution happens. I'll try to keep this in the back of my mind for a while and wait for an epiphany.

There's always the 'Chicken Run' option. Finding ways to escape being livestock might be interesting. However, that would probably result in the player's species then escaping and so not being livestock, which defeats the point of interesting domesticated gameplay...
We could always leave livestock-type domestication as the easy way out, for people wanting to do so for whatever reason, even though it means boring gameplay (possibly just until they later escape?) (For example, when at risk of going extinct (ensured survival option) or for research on a sentient species (livestock conspiracy ).
Doing this to survive would result in this option being a kind of success (ensured survival) yet failure (no control of species) route which could result in domestication not being a kind of gameplay, but a gameplay element. Domestication would be a short-term safe haven, but with the additional risk of not being able to escape again later...

I don't think having the prime goal be to escape is a very good idea. It should definitely be an option, but limiting yourself to just escaping means you'll go wild very quickly, which is not very realistic and gives pretty much no incentive to WANT to become domesticated besides, as you mentioned, as an escape from extinction. We may have to go with gameplay radically different than wild gameplay, but what type, I haven't figured out yet.

US_of_Alaska wrote:

Hrm... I will have to think hard about this one and get back to you. It would indeed be very boring to be kept as livestock in a modern day scenario. More importantly, you'll have a whole lot less control over how your evolution happens. I'll try to keep this in the back of my mind for a while and wait for an epiphany.

I think this may be a real problem for the player, but it could be a real benefit as well. Your evolution could be sped up if you are domesticated, so if at any point you decide to try to go back to the wild and become feral, you would be more highly evolved and may have traits that drastically affect your gameplay.

~sciocont wrote:

I think this may be a real problem for the player, but it could be a real benefit as well. Your evolution could be sped up if you are domesticated, so if at any point you decide to try to go back to the wild and become feral, you would be more highly evolved and may have traits that drastically affect your gameplay.

But isn't the reason for sped up evolution selective breeding by the domesticator, meaning the player wouldn't really have control over it? And domesticated animals that go feral tend to devolve back into their ancestral form since it's rare for domesticated traits to be advantageous in the wild. Some have been bred so far that it would be extremely hard to survive back in the wild.

For example, look at the differences in breeds in dogs and how they look compared to wolves.. Dogs like pugs are bred mainly to look cute, but that's horrible for a wild animal. If a population of them was released into the wild, they would probably not survive long enough to devolve back to their ancestral form. Dogs like German shepherds, on the other hand, are bred for roles more similar to what their ancestors had to deal with, meaning their body stayed close enough that they could probably survive. We should take instances like this into account.

Back to the first point, being bred means loss of control for the players. Is there any way we can give the player more control in other areas?

Loss of control should be a consequence of the safety of domestication. While it is true that domesticated animals revert back to feral roots quickly (pigs revert to their roots in just months), domestication allows you to dramatically expand your range. You can essentially become an invasive species, brought to new places by your domesticators. As much as we see that as a bad thing, it's great for you if you want your species to succeed.

Okay, we've established that domestication will limit the controls that wild animals have, but will have the added benefits of domestication such as protection and sped up evolution. Is there any features we could add that are unique to domesticated animals that will make the gameplay enjoyable? Because in my opinion, those benefits, while handy, aren't really enough to make the player want to stay domesticated for extended periods of time. If I were playing this, I'd only become domesticated as a quick fix in case my species is doing badly so I could evolve and reproduce rapidly, then go back into the wild to see how well I do, almost like I was domesticating the domesticator just to advance my own species (not very realistic).

When you are domesticated, you must have some sort of job. Gameplay would consist of doing that job. You could be a hunting animal, a pack animal, a herder, a guard. All of those jobs are things that you could do. Domestication is simply a specific case of mutualism.

~sciocont wrote:

When you are domesticated, you must have some sort of job. Gameplay would consist of doing that job. You could be a hunting animal, a pack animal, a herder, a guard. All of those jobs are things that you could do. Domestication is simply a specific case of mutualism.

That works for some animals, but again, what about livestock? Their job is to get fat and be killed, not exactly what I call fun. And what about pets similar to hamsters or goldfish? There is really no job that fits with them.

In any case, I think the job idea is a step in the right direction.

tklarenb wrote:

~sciocont wrote:

When you are domesticated, you must have some sort of job. Gameplay would consist of doing that job. You could be a hunting animal, a pack animal, a herder, a guard. All of those jobs are things that you could do. Domestication is simply a specific case of mutualism.

That works for some animals, but again, what about livestock? Their job is to get fat and be killed, not exactly what I call fun. And what about pets similar to hamsters or goldfish? There is really no job that fits with them.

In any case, I think the job idea is a step in the right direction.

I guess if you're livestock, you're pretty much screwed gameplay-wise until you can escape. You'll still have the benefits of domestication, just no job.

I concider this a low priority. I want to make sure we have a good pseudo-terran model down before we move on to weirder possibilities.

Tenebrarum wrote:

I concider this a low priority. I want to make sure we have a good pseudo-terran model down before we move on to weirder possibilities.

Yeah, but we may as well discuss it now, since there isn't much else that seems to be going on.

Here is an idea. Animals kept like hamsters/goldfish (in this game) sort of live their life with interaction from the domesticator and have a sort of needs bar, like the sims, but better. You are held in a sort of shelter with (maybe) other similar pets that you can interact with and perhaps, if you feel so inclined, pull a Nemo and escape,(naturally being harder due to size and domestic traits) if you choose not to escape..... have fun being domestic by enjoying the company of your owner(unless you are a fish, in which case you can eat other fish for combat or form symbiotic realations).

What about urban animals like racoons and pigeons?

Not only is this thread old, the entire concept of playing as a domesticated animal is ridiculous.

roadkillguy wrote:

Not only is this thread old, the entire concept of playing as a domesticated animal is ridiculous.

That's why people like you and I allow others to waste their time on it.

~sciocont wrote:

roadkillguy wrote:

Not only is this thread old, the entire concept of playing as a domesticated animal is ridiculous.

That's why people like you and I allow others to waste their time on it.

Maybe some of us want to play as a domestic animal,no disrespect but it's true

Rorsten594 wrote:

~sciocont wrote:

roadkillguy wrote:

Not only is this thread old, the entire concept of playing as a domesticated animal is ridiculous.

That's why people like you and I allow others to waste their time on it.

Maybe some of us want to play as a domestic animal,no disrespect but it's true

This is true as i would LOVE to play as some kind of a snake and escape

i know this is probably answered somewhere but will it be possible to have to be beaten in the race to sapience?
what i mean is what happens if your a rat like creature and then some other spieces reachs sapience before you do is there any way to still become sapient or a urban animal perhaps?