I'm here to say that orcas and dolphins are a must, and that they can transform it into an nice challenge for the player to create large ethical exhibits for them.
I'm going to have to--I hope equally politely--say no on this, personally. I think the thing that I, and other people, are not vibing with this kind of suggestion is that it is not possible (in reality)
to create an ethical exhibit for these creatures. These sentiments are mutually exclusive: if there is an exhibit, it
is harmful for the animal. There's not really a way around that and that's sort of why this suggestion is so contentious.
Games don't have the mirror reality perfectly--or even a little!--
but I'd like to argue that putting cetaceans
in a game that markets itself as educational and as attempting to be realistic does actually, mechanically speaking, present a version of the world where it's okay for these animals to be in captivity. You're suggesting that dolphins and orcas would be beneficial in the game so that players can learn about them ("giving attention to their situation, will help them more in real life than ignoring them completely"), but I'd like to counter that with all the people who
won't learn from what the game
says, but instead look at what the game
does--i.e., has them as animals you can raise "healthily" in captivity. Whether or not people learn or are motivated to help or educate themselves in any way is a hypothetical, not a given, I feel--especially when learning about the animals is ultimately optional re: the gameplay.
I have a feeling everyone asking for these cetaceans would be
very upset if the way Frontier chose to interpret "realism" in this case was that all dolphins and orcas in the game can never get above, say, 25% welfare. No matter what you did. No matter how well researched, or how beautifully designed the habitat, or how many enrichment items or vets assigned or anything. No matter what these animals are always just on the cusp of filling your zoo with protestors--or even just their
presence in your zoo attracts protestors.
That would be educational for players. You would
see how hard it is to care for these animals appropriately, and
that I would agree would be an incredibly powerful educational statement to make using this game.
But that's no fun, is it? Like you said, everyone wants an enjoyable experience. No-one like the protestors, or wants to see their animals suffering. People just want to build pretty habitats and have everything be okay, and I understand that desire, because I
also love that about Planet Zoo: I like being able to briefly live in a world where I can make things okay for these animals. It's nice.
But in this instance, I think that kind of escapism
is actually looking away from the real life situation. If the only "education" available from orcas and dolphins being included in the game is the Zoopedia entry saying "they suffer very badly from captivity, it's important to protest institutions that keep and monetise these animals, they should not be kept and used for entertainment" then I just don't think that's really doing anything at all as far as actually spreading awareness in a meaningful way. If you say one thing but do another, it drastically undermines the message, in my opinion.
I am sorry that my desire (and others') not to see this in the game is felt as a killjoy for you and others, though. If me talking about how deeply uneasy I am with the concept of these marine animals in the game kills your joy, that's unfortunate to hear, but that's just the impasse we are at as a community, I guess.
