I agree. I would like to have something besides a bummed pig, a nervous chicken and an indifferent butterfly to come home to. I think it would also be nice to be able to take your pet to other places or have certain side quests to be done with the pet...like having to get special papers to have your pet paper trained, or if your pet is neglected, it could "break" like a tool or something and you would have to go somewhere to get it "fixed." Just some thoughts.
A familiar could be interesting... send it home to retrieve something for you, or ask it to perform a repetitive task on your behalf, like mining a rock or harvesting/petting/watering all of the trees on the street.
The point of a "pet" is not for it to take on an active skill, but rather to amuse and teach tricks.--think something more like a mobile garden gnome. Mind you, anything more than just an automatic follow and teleport (as if to mimic a leash's actions) would require a *lot* more coding and more graphics to render.
If you're looking for new "special powers" for your glitch, why not just ask the devs for it?
On the other hand, if you want to work out something with another player, such that he or she is your pet, there's an easy way to do this: roleplay it.
perhaps I mean familiar rather than pet then. I certainly don't mean a pet in the usual sense. but yeah it'd be nice to have something around the house that doesn't require the same dynamic as the stuff you are growing to feed yourself. perhaps an animal that reflects the characteristics of your dominant giant in some way.
I like the glum pudding's idea of assigning it tasks - perhaps these could be the "tricks" it is taught?
It will be nice to turn one of the pigs/chicken/butterfly in my backyard into a pet after learning maximum level of Animal Kinship. Or use the current egg seasoner to have a 'dog/cat/whichever egg' that can be hatched by a chicken.
+1 to those that like the idea of a pet of some sort.
just to clarify for the hard of reading I don't mean some lame cutesy animal.
obviously it's a given that a pet would have to be cool in some particular glitchian way and add something worthwhile to the game - if it was just another animal that needed tending then it's not much different to livestock!
Like the idea of a pet that could go with me in the world, but also fetch things back at home for me if I need them...that would provide an interesting twist to the game.
I still think dragons would be the best thing. You could ride them, send them home for things, and (burn down trees) roast pigs when the population got too large!
A caterwaul: best (and loudest) guard-critter ever.
A land shark: glitchen are friends, not food
A pupperoni: also nibble-able for long journeys.
A fraggle: you rarely see your pet, but you get a little story every time you do.
A fairycake: has wings, will travel
A fuzz: keeps order, shows up at neighborhood parties. Owner can't use no-no, though.
A platypus: just a platypus.
I still think the best idea is to be able to send a picture of your pet and have the devs create and in-game version of your pet! I would kill to have my kitty in this game!