Why do we have this violent taming system?

I don't like the way taming works.
I have a weak heart for animals, can't I get one nicely?

The more you hurt an animal, the higher the chances to tame it, get.
Then you put on a collar and force your will on it.

Why isn't there a non-violent way to do it?
Maybe some soothing skills or a magical charm that befriends the animal?

 

when i was a kid my father adopted the horse whisperers thoery on breaking horses and it worked, way better than bronco busting, there was a serious difference in mentality between a horse broken through freindship as opposed to oppression. that being said he still has to bite the occasional horse on the ear to get it to stop biting lol.

 

There's an Animal Charm spell in the Moon magic tree. Does it have any positive affect on taming? I haven't tried.

(Btw this is just like how Pokemon works -- blame Pokemon for the spread of violence against animals! )

 

Ha! That's true.

 

{Angry voice} You are my loyal and trusted friend, darnit! [shoves collar over neck]

I agree with the OP.

 

I know very little about horses. In dog training I use methods like "marker training" and "positive intensifier" (not sure if my translation is right), they have better results than punishing methods. You can do that with rats and other animals as well. There's no need for violence!
Ok, I don't walk around killing things and looting stuff in RL, but in SotA I do. Well, somehow it bothers me.

 

Bothers me too, especially its a blatant copy of other games with no regard to what Ultima/UO was... but rather with regards to how EA made it a EQ clone in their infamous tour de force.

 

Love this thoughts.....

 

Agree with the OP. I liked the UO way of taming and the language they employ in the game.

Is there such thing as a woman whisperer? Because I'm willing to learn.

 

It makes them stop attacking you.

 

In UO you had to beat down blue beetles before they would submit to your will. If my memory serves me right, same with warhorses.

 

Yea it should be an alternate way of making it easy to tame if it isn't already

 

I left UO for an independent server when I saw the blue beetles, so I wouldn't know. But to tame most creatures you'd use the taming skill and you'd say to the creature, "I like you ...." It was just funny, and peaceful.

 

Yah +1 for the option of peaceful taming. There should be both violent subjugation and peaceful alliance-making. That way it can play into the "karma" system. You can gain or lose some love-points or compassion-points or whatever depending on how you treat life around you. Beating up squirrels and dolphins should totally give you "negative karma," and pacifying a nightmare or elder wyrm through treats, funny jokes, and uplifting compliments should totally give you "positive karma."

...and by "karma" Im of course referring to whatever sort of system is finally implemented to represent such things.

 

could taming be tied into the musical instruments? "Peace ing" Or on another note: I am an animal lover too, so I say kill all tamers and cook them.

 

Well, my main in UO had a lute and was a tamer. Peacemaking/Provoking/Taming was my hallmark. (irony is no one messed with me in dungeons because I could sic the whole place on you with provocation.)

It's one reason I want music to have those effects. I get that people don't and even understand why. But taming needs to be less about killing them and more about befriending.

 

Great opening post.

I just finished reading 'Last Chains for Billey', the story of how circus elements were cruely tamed and trained in the 1900s. Notably, many circuses today are ending their use of elephants in shows as these practices have become public. But here we are in SOTA beating our animals to tame them? What will that teach kids playing the game about training animals in real life? Hmmm.... Yet, meanwhile a big part of any online RPG is designed around killing a lot of things. Don't we accept that in our gaming? Skills to destroy stuff are cool, right? So what's the problem with a simple animal beating?

Very interesting philosophical game design and real world topic combined.

Its a game. I get it. But I would vote for a different taming approach too. Tamed creates are not monsters, they are friends. We don't beat our friends. I have a hard time finding one of the eight virtues that I would get a +1 in when beating my trusted animal friend to submit to my will. Or is the game designed to provide vice points for this action?

 

yes. i would also like to buy or make bear treats and give them to her.

 

Well, yeah, I have hacked up a lot of wolves. But I hate those wolves. And I made my gloves out of some of them.

But yeah, I don't want to tame the same way I get dressed (through prolonged, methodical genocide).

 

Precisely the points made.

"No Fido, *I* didn't eradicate all your family, that was some other guy....stop sniffing the odd color patch on my gloves...."