As someone who has been playing zoo games since I could use a computer it's all very exciting that I, and so many others, get to revive their passion for zoo building. With the arrival of ZT2 I also started joining some online forums about these kinds of games and quickly became an active member of the community. These forums (names like Gaia, The Round Table and Northern Skies) had places for people to show off their zoos, join competitions, and mostly gave the players a platform to let their creativity reach beyond the realm of their desk. I was wondering if any of the people that were part of that community are also present among the planet zoo community, and if maybe possibly some new forums would be set up? Or will the frontier forum be the main community hub?
Reviving a certain community?
- Thread starter Mister Imp
- Start date
Joël
Volunteer Moderator
I have personally never been part of any of the Zoo Tycoon 2 communities so I can't answer your question, but I encourage everyone to be part of a community or communities with like-minded and passionate players and fans of Zoos and Zoo simulation games, because I think it's amazing to be able to share that passion. 
The Frontier Forums is place where everyone is welcome as long as they are friendly and respectful. It is by no means the required community hub, although it is the place where most of the official announcements for Planet Zoo are posted. There are several online communities, some dedicated to only Planet Zoo, others dedicated to Planet Zoo as well as other games such as Planet Coaster, games from other developers/publishers and a combination of other various topics.
The Frontier Forums is place where everyone is welcome as long as they are friendly and respectful. It is by no means the required community hub, although it is the place where most of the official announcements for Planet Zoo are posted. There are several online communities, some dedicated to only Planet Zoo, others dedicated to Planet Zoo as well as other games such as Planet Coaster, games from other developers/publishers and a combination of other various topics.
Hi Mister Imp. I remember ZT2 very well, but I was only about 12 years old when it was released, so never went onto forums (I didn't even know they existed back then lol) I was a massive fan, so seeing Planet Zoo coming out, I was jumping for joy! I've only recently come over to the Frontier forums purely for Planet Zoo, and a little bit of Planet Coaster. Everyone seems friendly enough. If this is going to be the main hub, I'm very much looking forward to seeing everyones creations, and sharing hints, tips and ideas!
I too played so much zoo tycoon and zoo tycoon 2 a lot when I could years ago, and at one point in time I did try going online to find stuff to mod my game to make it even more creative friendly, it was fun, I am actually more from the sims community and ark community, I love to spend my time making something be it a intricate building in minecraft out of colorful texture packs or a mansion in the sims or a facility for containing all of the various critters of ark, I also enjoy breeding in games especially if there is reward to it in some way and a sense of getting something hard to obtain through means the game allows, such is one of the reasons I enjoy sims for the pets and ark for the critters because you can breed them and have all sort of fun and unique things from doing so, and so planet zoo kind of just puts everything I enjoy in 1 place, and though i doubt ill be as good as some of the content creators for planet zoo, I derive a lot of my inspiration from the community, and sharing is important to me, being able to talk to others who share similar interests and can get excited together about what ever we get upto in the game, its such a great way to spend time, I absolutely love it this game is everything I could have wanted in 1 place which is wonderful.
I also feel like this forum community is pretty relaxed, everyone shares strong opinions and we have a little bit of unsettle and confusion from time to time, but I feel like once the game is officially available it will bloom this forum into a fun little planet zoo community where everyone will share their creations and plans and we can all get excited about it together.
this game is everything I could have wanted in 1 place which is wonderful.I also feel like this forum community is pretty relaxed, everyone shares strong opinions and we have a little bit of unsettle and confusion from time to time, but I feel like once the game is officially available it will bloom this forum into a fun little planet zoo community where everyone will share their creations and plans and we can all get excited about it together.
I was never very active in those communities, though I was a member of the Round Table and Northern Skies. I mostly posted comments about how cool other's creations are and read through the posts to find interesting downloads for my own zoo. But that certainly was a vibrant community and I am really hoping that as time goes along that something similar will start to flourish for Planet Zoo.
People sharing their creations, offering advice, tips, etc. And if Frontier eventually decides to open things up a bit the way they did with Planet Coaster, I suspect that it would grow even further!
I'm very hopeful that this particular community, as well as several others will really start to ramp up after the game's official release. I'm not sure it will be as de-centralized as it was for ZT2 given the nature of it (i.e., the Steam Workshop centralizes DLC) but I'm sure there will be some specialist groups that pop-up (people who like designing certain types of zoos, groups for people who like designing different exhibits or scenery items).
I'm really, really excited to see where this all goes! I hope the game takes off and the communities around it take off just as strong!
I was a part of that community years ago, known those sites, and many more sites that have sadly gone over time. I used to play ZT2 all the time along with RCT3 and downloaded a ton of custom content for the game. I would be on those forums everyday looking at projects and looking for some new content. Aurora Designs and a couple of others made great custom content for ZT2.
I have never really bothered getting involved in online apart from coming into forums to find out how to do things or to try and help others with problems if i know the answer to them . I have seen a lot of games that are online and i have tended to steer well away from them as i prefer playing at my own pace apart from the odd one like Everquest or Guildwars2
There is already a Facebook group with around 4k members and growing (not a forum but people post a lot of exhibits and ideas on it). People are really friendly there and are passionate about the game. Jonti (Geekism) and DeLadysigner are part of the group. Just look up Planet zoo PC Community
Luckily the Planet communities are kind, inclusive, and passionate - it's been a wonderful thing to be a part of! You're always welcome to use the Frontier Forums - this is where we (the community team and occasionally some developers) are active, as well as our main social media channels. But honestly, the internet is a big place and there's loads of groups around, so hopefully you find a space that works for you <3 take care!