Topic

Controlling animal overpopulation

@Atlantis74 pointed out that at some point there were 51 chickens on her housing block! Although hilarious (in my eyes), this can also be extremely annoying, so we've had a chat on possible ways to control this sort of problem in the animal kinship group, and this is a paraphrased compilation of what we've come up with so far (please correct me if I'm misrepresenting you):

@Atlantis74 and @roderick ordonez: set a limit on housing blocks and/or other locations for each type of animal (maybe to something like 10).

@Zaphod: Allow the devs to continue to monitor and control animal population, or allow players to poison animals like they can trees (with some immediate reservations as to the ethics of that suggestion).

@shepherdmoon: Allow butterflies and chickens to be captured by players in addition to piggies, so they can be removed from overpopulated areas by players. If the sole method of controlling the population is by player removal of animals, then the hard limit of one piggy hog-tie per area should be lifted. Otherwise, there may also be a "natural selection" element to the game where, when the population of an animal type exceeds the location's ability to support all of its members, then the animals' numbers naturally and slowly dwindle down until they reach equilibrium with their environment. I would also like to add that it would be a cool effect for any "disappearing" animal to explode into a pile of meat, milk, or grain (unless milk is considered too precious, in which case butterflies could just go "poof"!)

@Rascalmom: Added that "netting butterflies" could be used not only to capture them, but also make massaging and milking them easier (for hard to reach ones). Perhaps chickens could be "chicken-tied". Also liked the idea of dwindling numbers for overpopulated animals.

@Phoebe Springback: Add the ability to donate excess chickens (etc.) to the giants, of course with some sort of snarky reply from them...

Posted 20 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I agree that this is potentially hilarious, and think that it should be allowed to happen.

    I vote for just allowing a means for other players to undo it, and the notion of being able to capture chickens and butterflies seems like the best idea to me.
    Posted 20 months ago by clare Subscriber! | Permalink
  • hmm.. donating them would be awesome LOL i was thinking about animal poison... rofl.. yes.. i said it
    Posted 20 months ago by blackwidow Subscriber! | Permalink
  • no need for animal poison. Just a real grill!

    MMM BBQd chicken wings and a pig roasting on a spit!
    Posted 20 months ago by Catari Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LOL!!! ... what about a Pit? maybe a pit in our backyards to do pig roasts?, mmmm pig roast and bbq chicken wings---- yummmm
    Posted 20 months ago by blackwidow Subscriber! | Permalink
  • as long as people dont go overboard with animals in each zone i dont like the idea of limiting what animals are in capacity it would be a "very" boring world if each zone had 10 pigs etc or the same number of animals
    Posted 20 months ago by Hootaholic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I also don't necessarily like the idea of limiting the number of animals in each zone because I feel that if somebody wants 100 piggies inside their house (their own private area), they should be allowed to do so. What if we could introduce some predators into the environment to control the population? Personally, poisoning a virtual animal which is hogging up (heh-heh) the bandwidth in an in-game area doesn't really bother me. I mean, even the trees cry out for help when you poison them, but I just sit by and wait for them to die, so I can chop them down and create a patch or re-plant something else in a place that's filled with nothing but bean trees. I'm heartless. :P
    Posted 20 months ago by Vexia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • yea, no thats true... But we all know there is going to be Someone out there whos going to hatch 700 chickens in an area thinking its funny, and if there is no way to get rid of them, or a cap on how many, i would personally go nuts--- I think if there was a way to get rid of them, then it would be awesome
    Posted 20 months ago by blackwidow Subscriber! | Permalink
  • yea, no thats true... But we all know there is going to be Someone out there whos going to hatch 700 chickens in an area thinking its funny, and if there is no way to get rid of them, or a cap on how many, i would personally go nuts--- I think if there was a way to get rid of them, then it would be awesome
    Posted 20 months ago by blackwidow Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hmm interesting ideas as a whole.
    I think a million animals in one area is incredibly hilarious and I laugh every time I see it... BUT with lag an issue then... yes.. something should be done to bring the population back to a balance for all.
    So far, my "favorite" ideas are the last 3, Shepherdmoon, Rascalmom, and Phoebe Springback

    Somehow I'm under the impression that pigs will "die out" in an area that there isn't enough food.... and if left in an area where there is food on the ground nearby, they will eat it.  Is this true?  How does the current piggy life cycle really work?
    Posted 20 months ago by RainyRain Subscriber! | Permalink
  • on the note of people doing stupid stuff like pinging 700chickens the Gms can take them out in a few secs
    Posted 20 months ago by Hootaholic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yea rainy, i seen a post somewhere that pigs can die-- eventually but they will eat your trees/everything else first. And true on the taking out--- But that kinda sucks having to rely on a dev to take out the animals, Even if the animals had a "life cycle" and die out naturally after turning into a ripe old piggy 
    Posted 20 months ago by blackwidow Subscriber! | Permalink