Disagree with the Lack of Animal Attacks

[Nicholas LionRider]

Don't get me wrong, I understand Frontier is trying to make a very kid friendly and "realistic" zoo simulation with Planet Zoo. That being said, they are also going for an accurate unofficial sequel to Zoo Tycoon 1 and 2. While they have learned a lot from the backlash from Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection, I still think they are falling into some of the same traps that the game had, notably the lack of animal attacks. Its been confirmed that we will not be able to let our animals loose to terrorize guests. Naturally, the idea of lions mauling guests wouldn't really fit the same message as "Conservation and learning about nature" but I question if this was smart. In a game that is pushing so hard for creative freedom, I wonder why they felt that this wouldn't be a thing people wanted. We can look at two other games Frontier has done to elaborate on why I believe this was a weird choice. The obvious example is Jurassic World Evolution which did allow for the dinosaurs to attack the guests. Similarly, Planet Coaster did allow guests to be derailed. I just wonder why Planet Zoo, a game that takes place in the Planet Coaster universe, is now suddenly "off brand" to attack guests. I don't think people would want gorey or graphic mauling from animals, that is impractical and very bizarre, but some simple chasing mechanic might go a long way. While the majority of players of Zoo Tycoon did play the campaign/build a practical zoo, it was sometimes just fun to make weird Colosseum fights of a small cage with a lion, polar bear, and crocodile in it. It seems like a minor feature and no one wants to think their fanbase are sadists, but the sad truth is, in tycoon games, they are. The Sims, Zoo Tycoon, Roller Coaster Tycoon, you name it, people like to find ways to do evil things in each game just because its fun. As I said at the beginning of this post, the game is great for creating exhibits that are realistic and pretty, but it should also be noted this is a tycoon game, and tycoon games aren't always meant to be realistic simulations. They can be a bit silly or crazy, and those aspects really go a long way to making the game enjoyable. The game will obviously have its fanbase of zoo designers that want to make their piece by piece enclosures, but the game could have a lot more entertainment appeal by allowing those simple things like putting an elephant in an absurdly small cage, or trapping guests behind walls. Dropping a penguin in a tiger enclosure. If its not in the initial plans (which it doesn't appear to) I just hope it could be a consideration for a post launch update.

TL;DR It is a tycoon game, don't limit player options.

 

[EternalAbyss]

Definitely understand your point of view on this.. They might could have an option in main menu, if possible, to turn on or turn off a certain feature that wouldn't be exactly kid friendly.

 

[Remi-aah]

I agree that there should be an option to attack guests. I think they'll add it later in a free update, similar to coaster bowling in PlanCo.

 

[nightcat]

I would be glad if they don’t waste time on this.

There are hundreds of little things I would love to have in a zoo simulation. People getting mauled by animals isn’t one of them.

 

[LN]

I would be glad if they don’t waste time on this.

There are hundreds of little things I would love to have in a zoo simulation. People getting mauled by animals isn’t one of them.

I fully agree.

People also tend to forget the PEGI rating when discussing this. Frontier wants to sell to an as wide audience as possible. A high PEGI age rating won't be helping that either.
It's not happening guys, might as well accept that.

 

[xTo]

regarding your comment: "I wonder why they felt that this wouldn't be a thing people wanted."
I guess you're speculating the majority of players want this. I think it's very bold of you to assume this, noone I know is planning on doing any of the things you've described.
I'm all for people having creative freedom in how they choose to play the game but as @nightcat pointed out. I'd rather have the devs not waste time and resources on this.

Either way, I'm pretty sure you'll still be able to put an elephant in a small enclosure or drop a penguin amongst some tigers or trapping guests behind walls. This will mean however that these entities will be extremely unhappy.

 

[Ramm]

I was very disappointed that guests couldn't die in Planet Coaster like they could in RCT1 and RCT2. It adds to the gameplay fun and freedom. Afteral it's fiction. It's not real. It's a game. But because we live in a world where people are overly sensetive and can't wait to complain about everything this is probably why Frontier isn't adding it.

People also tend to forget the PEGI rating when discussing this. Frontier wants to sell to an as wide audience as possible. A high PEGI age rating won't be helping that either.
It's not happening guys, might as well accept that.

I do not believe that it would affect ratings. They could always implement it in a comic way. In the Sims the characters can die too and kids play that game as well. So there is not any lawful reason to not implement this except for that some people feel the need to complain about anything.

 

[nightcat]

Maybe they just want to focus on their more mature customers.

You don't have to make a game for everyone. In fact, you can't make a game for everyone.
So it seems resonable that they would concentrate their efforts on the customers who want to play a zoo game (and not on the ones who just want to look animals kill their guests in the most cruel ways possible).

 

[LN]

I do not believe that it would affect ratings. They could always implement it in a comic way. In the Sims the characters can die too and kids play that game as well. So there is not any lawful reason to not implement this except for that some people feel the need to complain about anything.

Yes and the Sims 4 has a rating of 12+. Maybe Frontier wants to aim lower.

Besides that, I truly don't understand the disappointment about a lack of death.... But that's me.

Edit: Let me explain this one a bit more. I understand it for any FPS game, I don't understand it for a game like this.

 

[BaconTheDragon]

Im not really disappointed to be honest. Though I cant deny watching my guests run in terror as my army of crocs hunt them down was a hilariously fun time for me. It should also be noted this behavior never translated to who I am in the real world.

Now if this was the official sequel to Zoo Tycoon 2 then I would be disappointed. But its not called Zoo Tycoon 3. Planet Zoo is part of a different brand, heading a different direction, therefore its entirely different expectations for me.

 

[Aero-Bubbles]

This isn’t a zoo tycoon sequel, this is an entirely different game with different motives and goals.

Zoo tycoon was based off solely players enjoyment. It didn’t really have a message behind it, besides maybe learning about animals a bit, and maybe some zoo management. While I’ll always love this game, as it was my childhood, it doesn’t have any higher player goals.

Planet zoo is different. The animals are all individuals, each with different genetic makeup and personalities. They interact with things you place in their environment and have real animal science (behaviors ect) behind it.

I don’t understand people being upset animals don’t attack guests. This is a zoo simulation meant to teach about genetics, conservation, animal and zoo management and animals in general. Not “let’s let a lion loose and see how many guests he can maul in 15 seconds” This isn’t that type of game, and thank god for that.

Not allowing animals to maul guests isn’t taking away anything, with the detail and the amazing graphics and the hours and hours and hours of work making this a realistic ZOO simulator, I fail to see why anyone would be upset because you can’t set your grizzly bear on guests. Sorry. If it really is that big of an issue, I’m sure you can find another game where you can allow animals to attack guests, but it won’t be this one.

 

[Nicholas LionRider]

I understand a lot of the comments in response to this post, saying things like "This isn't an official Zoo Tycoon 3" or "Not everyone would want that" but as I stated, some do. Perhaps it is a bit much for me to assume "a hefty majority" would want this feature, but I can at least say it is a thing some people would have definitely wanted. As I state, it is just weird for me to see how Planet Coaster did include derailing. If terrorizing guests wasn't a part of their vision for the game, why would they have included that option in that game? That is my only rebuttal. As for mentions of how it could affect the rating of the game, etc. I disagree with this claim. Zoo Tycoon 1, 2, were all rated suitable for all ages regardless of the animal attacks. The way they'd present them is the key. I am not asking for realistic animations like Jurassic World Evolutions, but a simple chasing guests around while their arms flail can go a long way. I just personally don't see this as a waste or resources considering it does allow more freedom options, they have the tech for it from Jurassic World Evolutions, and they have allowed ways to harm your guests in Planet Coaster, so I'm not sure why it isn't "on brand". Considering their resources, it is frankly a very low cost addition considering the only animation they'd need to add is the peeps flailing their arms.

This idea all comes back to Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection. Frontier had received a lot of backlash from that game for a lot of reasons. The big issues were the lack of animal variety and lack of customization, but there were a lot of smaller problems people made a point to mention like the lack of charm. Planet Zoo seems to fall into the same trap of this being a simulator first and foremost and not a "game". Watching virtual animals can entertain you for so long but eventually you will see the same zebra eating animation again and again until you become bored. As I stated, no one bought Zoo Tycoon, Wildlife Park, Operation Genesis, Zoo Empire, RC3, etc. and initially went in with the expectation of "Let's kill some people". After a few hours of gameplay though, you start getting a bit bored of making pretty exhibits or adding giftshops. Nearly everyone who played these original games at least opened the fences at least once to watch their guests panic. While I can't argue the blanket statement that everyone wants this as a feature for this game, I can make the blanket statement (using the hundreds of youtube videos of people play ZT2) that everyone has at least terrorized their guests in past games. To anyone who is going to try and say they didn't, I just am gonna call them liars because I think it is just a natural reaction in these types of games. Much like how people save their game in Skyrim then go and start stabbing random townspeople, or play Minecraft and blow up other people's homes. It doesn't matter the game, there is a part in every kind of player that likes to occasionally break the mold of the squeaky clean protagonist. It is a game, let it be a game, don't put rails on a game that preaches about freedom.

 

[Aero-Bubbles]

I’ve personally never gotten bored of building in Zoo tycoon 2, I’ve taken breaks because of builders block. There’s an active ZT2 board with people building amazing zoos. It’s not just placing a Zebra in an exhibit, it’s the building, it’s the creativity and stories you can tell. If you’re not really a builder then maybe this game isn’t for you? I don’t know, I mean... it’s not a reasonable jump from “look at the exhibit I’ve built” to “I’m bored, let’s release the Tigers” these are 2 very different players, ones who are really into zoos and building, breeding, landscaping, story telling and those who built a quick zoo and become bored as a way to pass time. The first group I mentioned, I highly doubt they would destroy a zoo that took maybe weeks or months to built and then sabotage it by saying “I’m bored, let’s let the lions out” that’s more the second group.

Now I’m not trying say that you are that second type of player at all, or that they don’t create nice parks, what I am saying though, is that 90% of people who are really excited for this game aren’t excited to releases animals on unsuspecting guests, they want to let creativity flow and create beautiful zoos. Check out some of the beautiful coaster parks on the coaster forums, or even, there’s this collaboration between geekism and maskedbandit. They are creating this beautiful park Uziri Gardens. Check out all the work that goes into it

In regards of guests, I do believe they do run when an animal gets out, and become unhappy and leave, but the animals aren’t going to attack.

This restriction isn’t conflicting with a free form game, sorry but not allowing animals to attack people has nothing to do with a limit on creativity or freedom.

 

[Ramm]

Maybe they just want to focus on their more mature customers.

You don't have to make a game for everyone. In fact, you can't make a game for everyone.
So it seems resonable that they would concentrate their efforts on the customers who want to play a zoo game (and not on the ones who just want to look animals kill their guests in the most cruel ways possible).

Saying that it's immature when you have some innocent fun with a game is immature.

It can be fun that is all. For nostalgia reasons. "What you don't like the prices of my toilets? Into the lion pit you go!"

It will get rid of the complaining guests, but probably lower the park safety rating. Just like the good old days

 

[Ramm]

I understand a lot of the comments in response to this post, saying things like "This isn't an official Zoo Tycoon 3" or "Not everyone would want that" but as I stated, some do. Perhaps it is a bit much for me to assume "a hefty majority" would want this feature, but I can at least say it is a thing some people would have definitely wanted. As I state, it is just weird for me to see how Planet Coaster did include derailing. If terrorizing guests wasn't a part of their vision for the game, why would they have included that option in that game? That is my only rebuttal. As for mentions of how it could affect the rating of the game, etc. I disagree with this claim. Zoo Tycoon 1, 2, were all rated suitable for all ages regardless of the animal attacks. The way they'd present them is the key. I am not asking for realistic animations like Jurassic World Evolutions, but a simple chasing guests around while their arms flail can go a long way. I just personally don't see this as a waste or resources considering it does allow more freedom options, they have the tech for it from Jurassic World Evolutions, and they have allowed ways to harm your guests in Planet Coaster, so I'm not sure why it isn't "on brand". Considering their resources, it is frankly a very low cost addition considering the only animation they'd need to add is the peeps flailing their arms.

This idea all comes back to Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection. Frontier had received a lot of backlash from that game for a lot of reasons. The big issues were the lack of animal variety and lack of customization, but there were a lot of smaller problems people made a point to mention like the lack of charm. Planet Zoo seems to fall into the same trap of this being a simulator first and foremost and not a "game". Watching virtual animals can entertain you for so long but eventually you will see the same zebra eating animation again and again until you become bored. As I stated, no one bought Zoo Tycoon, Wildlife Park, Operation Genesis, Zoo Empire, RC3, etc. and initially went in with the expectation of "Let's kill some people". After a few hours of gameplay though, you start getting a bit bored of making pretty exhibits or adding giftshops. Nearly everyone who played these original games at least opened the fences at least once to watch their guests panic. While I can't argue the blanket statement that everyone wants this as a feature for this game, I can make the blanket statement (using the hundreds of youtube videos of people play ZT2) that everyone has at least terrorized their guests in past games. To anyone who is going to try and say they didn't, I just am gonna call them liars because I think it is just a natural reaction in these types of games. Much like how people save their game in Skyrim then go and start stabbing random townspeople, or play Minecraft and blow up other people's homes. It doesn't matter the game, there is a part in every kind of player that likes to occasionally break the mold of the squeaky clean protagonist. It is a game, let it be a game, don't put rails on a game that preaches about freedom.

It's no use trying to explain this on these forums tbh as it's exactly the same as with Planet Coaster when it was announced that guests couldn't die. Eventhough it's part of the game and 100% part of the realism that an accident (or something done on purpose) can injure people and actually adds to the gameplay by changing your park's ratings, Everything that is not a safespace bubble is now violent and immature and "omg think of the children!!!". On other gaming forums people still agree that this is part of the fun, but it's no use trying to explain this here or they will call you immature for wanting something we grew up with and a game like this has always had in the past. Now brb, gotta dye my hair pink and be offended about everything.

 

[Aero-Bubbles]

Saying that it's immature when you have some innocent fun with a game is immature.

It can be fun that is all. For nostalgia reasons. "What you don't like the prices of my toilets? Into the lion pit you go!"

It will get rid of the complaining guests, but probably lower the park safety rating. Just like the good old days

It's no use trying to explain this on these forums tbh as it's exactly the same as with Planet Coaster when it was announced that guests couldn't die. Eventhough it's part of the game and 100% part of the realism that an accident (or something done on purpose) can injure people and actually adds to the gameplay by changing your park's ratings, Everything that is not a safespace bubble is now violent and immature and "omg think of the children!!!". On other gaming forums people still agree that this is part of the fun, but it's no use trying to explain this here or they will call you immature for wanting something we grew up with and a game like this has always had in the past. Now brb, gotta dye my hair pink and be offended about everything.

I don’t even know where to begin with all of this, but I’ll try, so here it goes.

This game is not zoo tycoon, nor is it any other zoo game, so comparing it to something made in 2001 doesn’t make any sense, it isn’t even the same developers.

The game developers put so much time and effort into this game, making it as close to running a real zoo as possible, with amazing animal sciences and technologies that haven’t been seen in a zoo game, they didn’t spent 2+ years on a game so people could whine about animals not attacking guests. Again, I can’t wrap my head around it.

Nobody is acting offended? I don’t even know where this is coming from.

I’m case I wasn’t clear in the 3+ times I feel like I’ve mentioned this, Planet Zoo is not zoo tycoon, Planet coaster is not Roller-Coaster tycoon.

I don’t understand why people create such a fuss over something so minor that’s not in the game, and if you don’t like it, play something else?

I’m not trying to be rude or invalidate people’s ideas and thoughts, but my goodness, they just made it so you can’t have animals attack guests, it’s not like they said you can’t build your own exhibits or the animals are literal copy and paste from each other, which they aren’t.

Animals attacking guests isn’t even part of a zoo.

If this was a safari game and you walked around the bush and some animals were not a threat (the big predators) then I would agree, but this isn’t that game.

 

[Ramm]

I don’t even know where to begin with all of this, but I’ll try, so here it goes.

This game is not zoo tycoon, nor is it any other zoo game, so comparing it to something made in 2001 doesn’t make any sense, it isn’t even the same developers.

The game developers put so much time and effort into this game, making it as close to running a real zoo as possible, with amazing animal sciences and technologies that haven’t been seen in a zoo game, they didn’t spent 2+ years on a game so people could whine about animals not attacking guests. Again, I can’t wrap my head around it.

Nobody is acting offended? I don’t even know where this is coming from.

I’m case I wasn’t clear in the 3+ times I feel like I’ve mentioned this, Planet Zoo is not zoo tycoon, Planet coaster is not Roller-Coaster tycoon.

I don’t understand why people create such a fuss over something so minor that’s not in the game, and if you don’t like it, play something else?

I’m not trying to be rude or invalidate people’s ideas and thoughts, but my goodness, they just made it so you can’t have animals attack guests, it’s not like they said you can’t build your own exhibits or the animals are literal copy and paste from each other, which they aren’t.

Animals attacking guests isn’t even part of a zoo.

If this was a safari game and you walked around the bush and some animals were not a threat (the big predators) then I would agree, but this isn’t that game.

Maybe for you, but for alot of people these games are still the same type of games they grew up with.

Frontier made RCT3 after the succes of RCT 1 and RCT 2 so for many including me this still feels like the modern day type of that game, with or without the name.

The same goes with Planet Zoo. Especially when the Zoo Tycoon is no longer getting installments, people will expect this to be the successor.

And it is part of a zoo. just because it doesnt happen every day (luckely) doesn't mean it can't be left out. Same goes for amusement park accidents.

It's like saying: "people dying in a house fire isn't even part of running a house hold" when talking about the Sims.

 

[Aero-Bubbles]

I grew up with ZT and ZT2 so it holds a lot of memories.

That game (RCT3) was made in 2004, things change. Again, they didn’t have any sort of player goals besides plop down a coaster, or make an enclosure and look after animals which really act and behave like carbon copies almost. It was a really fun game, I love it but there wasn’t really any education behind it. This game has that.

Animals who escape zoos are often killed if they cannot be contained in time, for public safety, and they are very rare, so it’s not even relevant?

House fires are actually pretty common. And this isn’t the sims either. House fires and animals escaping isn’t even on the same level, you’re comparing 2 very different things. On average, there is 3-5 animal escapes in the states per year according to one zoo information page, and then “The total number of home fires for 2017 was 357,000. There were also 120,000 nonresidential structure fires in 2017”

 

[LN]

Animals escaping? Yes, great.
Animals threatening guests? Yes, great.
Guests that are scared and unhappy? Yes, great.
Guests dying by animal attacks? Why is this a necessity?
It adds nothing particular. Ratings are still affected. People will leave the park.

Either way, it costs money, rating and lowers visitor ratings. Why do people need to die?

Everything that is not a safespace bubble is now violent and immature and "omg think of the children!!!".

This must be the worst argument I've ever heard.

 

[Ramm]

This must be the worst argument I've ever heard.

Calling people that are asking for simple game mechanics mmature is even worse tbh.

I guess everyone that had some of their guests die in zoo/rollercoaster tycoon was immature then.