Frontier is a games company, with emphasis on the word company, so they'll market their product to whatever market has money to spend. For a variety of reasons completely off topic from the discussion at hand, the fact of the matter is that's the Global North.
DLC20 Discussion (maybe, but why not?)
- Thread starter DarthQuell
- Start date
I mean yes but popular isn't the same as zoo popular, people love foxes but that doesn't necessarily equate to them being especially common in zoos.
I think its also worth bearing in mind that living in the same places as large predators etc isn't the same as seeing them up close, safely and regularly for instance, the zoo in Praetoria, South Africa keeps among other things, giraffe, lions, leopards, hippos and white rhino even though they are all found in the wild in South Africa.
I tend to roughly think of stuff like meerkats and koala as supporting acts - they probably aren't gonna sustain a larger zoo on their own but also are much beloved and can lynchpin tiny zoos.
I think the one major anomaly is probably penguins - people fricking -love- penguins and so my impression is they draw people in disproportionately to them not really meeting the big or scary criteria.
I'd also add pinnipeds. Sea lions and seals are immensely popular and I wouldn't personally consider them ABC animals, although they're in many zoos
It's a mix of big, scary, unique, lively, iconic. Most large animals spend most of their time lounging around, so it's hard to find an animal that ticks all boxes. Maybe Polar Bear? Lions aren't (usually) lively, Meerkats are lively but aren't big or scary, Giraffes probably aren't considered overly lively or scary. Then you have some like Pallas's cat which kind of don't tick any of those boxes and therefore wouldn't be a huge draw to a zoo. I'm guessing just about everyone on this forum would be massive animal nerds, so for us it would still be super interesting to see, but most of the general public would think it's pretty much just a regular house cat.
I'd assume frontier would (consciously or subconsciously) judge potential new inclusions against these, or similar, criteria, as well as some others like ease of programming, popularity amongst players, and perception of "clone" status.
I'd assume frontier would (consciously or subconsciously) judge potential new inclusions against these, or similar, criteria, as well as some others like ease of programming, popularity amongst players, and perception of "clone" status.
I like to go near feeding/food enrichment time. Last time I was at the zoo, the lionesses were "fighting" for the steaks or whatever meat it was
Then the male came and took everything while they were distracted
I mean, realistically I think excluding animals that the average member of the public couldn't either differentiate or recognise anyway from animals already in the game (nile crocodile, different giraffes or zebras etc) I would have said the only big unique super recogniable species I can think of left on the table is walrus at this point?
• Walrus
• Elephant Seal
• Muskox
• Yak (helped in part by it being the ‘Y’ animal in every animal alphabet)
That’s it as far as I can imagine, and even then it’s sort of a stretch
But those are the missing megafauna I can imagine the general public being able to recognise and name.
Mammoth, bring on the extinct animal pack baby
Would genuinely prefer a pack of extinct species over having more extant subspecies/populations
out of curiosity since you dont think frontier should try to appeal to the largest posible number of players what exactly should be the criteria? you say diversity but a pack full of ungulates isnt exactly what i would call diverse
Personally, I don't think it's a good idea. Don't get me wrong, it would be great to see extinct animals, but they'd be a mere handful compared to the vast array of animals that once walked the Earth (and I'm not talking about dinosaurs, specifically). This idea would be better suited to making its own game (although, I don't know how they'd handle the competition from Prehistoric Kingdom).
For zoo games focused on extant species, I restrict myself to species that were alive during the Holocene epoch. Keeps things succinct while still providing tons of options.
Still Is lot of biodiversity, which could end in a hypothetical Extinct Planet
You’re not telling me Sea Otters wouldn’t absolutely go crazy for the normies• Walrus
• Elephant Seal
• Muskox
• Yak (helped in part by it being the ‘Y’ animal in every animal alphabet)
That’s it as far as I can imagine, and even then it’s sort of a stretch
But those are the missing megafauna I can imagine the general public being able to recognise and name.
Sea otters arent exactly mega fauna tho
Probably also the following;• Walrus
• Elephant Seal
• Muskox
• Yak (helped in part by it being the ‘Y’ animal in every animal alphabet)
That’s it as far as I can imagine, and even then it’s sort of a stretch
But those are the missing megafauna I can imagine the general public being able to recognise and name.
• American Black Bear
• Emperor Penguin
• White Stork
• Howler Monkey
• Cold Tolerant Otter
• Pelican
What's a sea otter?
Imma be honest, I think as a community we should cut casual zoo visitors some slack. While many don't know, there are slme.folks that aren't animal nerds but they do know and can recognize several animals.
Part of it is due to social media, but also movies using more unknown animals and shoving them into the spotlight. As I grew up, I don't remember red pandas and capybaras being so we'll known and popular, but now everybody knows exactly what it is
There are still plenty of recognizable animals left (considering most of their consumers are from NA and Europe) that Frontier just refusses to add again and again
Walrus
Musk ox
Northamerican Elk
American black bear
Sea otter
Ducks
Pelicans
Storks
Rockhoppers penguins
Spider monkeys
Rabbits / Lagomorphs}
Squirrels
Martens / minks / weasel type carnivores
Opossums
And most of them would be great additions tbh.
Walrus
Musk ox
Northamerican Elk
American black bear
Sea otter
Ducks
Pelicans
Storks
Rockhoppers penguins
Spider monkeys
Rabbits / Lagomorphs}
Squirrels
Martens / minks / weasel type carnivores
Opossums
And most of them would be great additions tbh.
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