Do you care about the "abuse" of virtual pets ?

@luciferarevalo

Wow players like talking about doing that stuff to sims pets like that?? :#

@RavenSpit

It never actually occurred to me that digital pet representations in game could lead to RL abuse of animals even unconsciously as maybe (mistakenly) on my part I would never have dreamt anyone would either gain their knowledge about pets from a game or even worse apply those standards in RL. I cannot really blame the game developers for this either as it's just a game and I believe any normal minded person would see it as such. I have always believed in a sims sandbox game as I am (mostly) in control of how I want to play my own game and while I might find some aspects of the way other players theme their playstyle distasteful it is still their right to play the game however they want to. I think if any so called RL pet owner ever takes their pet responsibilities based on a game (any game) they need some serious RL rehabilitation and tested thoroughly prior to ownership of any animal small or large. The other iterations of the game were better in my opinion as @haisin points out small animals could die if not looked after properly and the whole process of looking after smaller animals was definitely more hands on..(so to speak-)

@haisin

I defo miss all the smaller animals from the other series of the game in the 4 series but I am lucky as I still play 2&3 where I have families dedicated to all things animal including all the smaller ones :)

"Simpatsyann;c-17829735" wrote:

"StrawberryYogurt;c-17829657" wrote:
Idc unless its like a bludgeon your dog to death simulator

I don't know why but this made me laugh harder than anything has in weeks.

Omg, thanks for the belly laugh! :D :D :D

"SPARKY1922;c-17831079" wrote:

@RavenSpit

It never actually occurred to me that digital pet representations in game could lead to RL abuse of animals even unconsciously as maybe (mistakenly) on my part I would never have dreamt anyone would either gain their knowledge about pets from a game or even worse apply those standards in RL. I cannot really blame the game developers for this either as it's just a game and I believe any normal minded person would see it as such. I have always believed in a sims sandbox game as I am (mostly) in control of how I want to play my own game and while I might find some aspects of the way other players theme their playstyle distasteful it is still their right to play the game however they want to. I think if any so called RL pet owner ever takes their pet responsibilities based on a game (any game) they need some serious RL rehabilitation and tested thoroughly prior to ownership of any animal small or large. The other iterations of the game were better in my opinion as @haisin points out small animals could die if not looked after properly and the whole process of looking after smaller animals was definitely more hands on..(so to speak-)

I am not talking about what the player does deliberately, but how the pets and their needs/the way they are kept are depicted by the developers.
Like if they already come with (too small) cages and the like.
As I said, imagine if they gave us cats and dogs in cages only....
for cats and dogs most (if not all) people would of course know that would be wrong, but in the case of small animals a lot of people wouldnt notice if a cage is too small or shouldnt be there in the first place.
When it comes to small animals alot of misinformation is already out there and alot (if not most) of them are already suffering irl due to this.

I own two pet rabbits and am rather active on a forum for rabbit owners, and most new owners who join the forum suffer from extreme misinformation regarding pretty much every aspect of what a rabbit needs (how much space, the right food and so on) and how they behave.
This misinformation has been spread for ages, and is still being spread by petshops and sometimes even vets (at least here in Germany not all vets are qualified to thoroughly know about small animals but many people dont know that either).
It is already considered "normal and right", to keep rabbits in waaay too small cages, alone and feed them petshop food that is almost always bad for them.
So a wrong depiction alone in a video game wouldnt do much, but since the misinformation is already heavily there, it would contribute to it and therefore contribute to the further mistreadment irl.

Umm..I hope this clears it up, sorry for the rather long text.

It’s a game. And most people I know who have had rats and hamsters and things don’t let them run around the house. I mean if you want to talk about abuse think of the babies in the sims 4. They don’t even have the freedom that cats and dogs do. So, no this is a game and some people like fantasy play mostly, with things like vampires. The sims is not real life and in this iteration they have a zillion types of deaths, you can even die of laughter. Worrying about not real pets being in cages does not bother me, those sims that have pets on my game spend a good deal of time with them, and treat them lovingly. If anything I feel sorry for the stray cats snd dogs that run around sick all of the time in the game. I want animals like snakes, lizards, birds, bunnies, turtles, and tarantulas, and I would like most of them in small terrariums because this is a game and you can’t fit more than 2 little things on a dresser without using MOO, Now when it comes to chickens and cows I would love to see them be able to roam within a fence than a cage, because of the aesthetics of it. I would prefer to be able to hold all animals and carry them around, but, this is a game. Of course, this is coming from someone who keeps aging off most of the time because I can’t stand to lose my sims.....

"eternalrainn;c-17829791" wrote:
I refuse to buy Cats & Dogs because I can't stand the idea of a pet dying, or the animations for it. I've lost two cats over the course of my life and it traumatized me both times, especially with my mental health issues. It would just remind me constantly about that if I had pets in the game and just make me anxious and sad anytime I'd turn the game on. I use The Sims to escape, not remind me how cruel life is sometimes, especially for animals. I can appreciate the realism in the pack though.

Actually, you can keep your carts and dogs alive forever if you want to, by feeding them treats! But, I know how you feel, I keep aging off most of the time because I can’t stand to lose my sims.

"SheriSim57;c-17831696" wrote:
And most people I know who have had rats and hamsters and things don’t let them run around the house.

Because you know people who don't do it doesn't mean it's not abuse, though.

Same can be argued with household cats. I know a lot of cat owners who let their cats run unchecked outside who think they're doing the right thing, doesn't mean it's not harmful to the enviroment (all research data supports this, and the vast damage house cats have on the biodiversity of whatever area they live in)

Rats are highly intelligent & social animals, so they should be provided with a lot of mental stimulus. Life all day in a cage, no matter how fancy or big, does not offer that.

@RavenSpit

I don't disagree with your RL animal ownership/observations and commend you for taking the time to assist other pet owners but how far do we expect teaching to go in a game (on any topic really not just this) as most of us just want to play our games to get away from RL in the first place. I was astounded by your comment about vets not even been clued up on smaller animals as when I was little (going back years now-) I had every small and large animal my parents would allow me to and remember taking most of them to the vets at one time or another in confidence in the UK. I think people should be vetted before they are allowed pets if only to ensure they know what they are doing but I hardly dare mention this in company as I get such negative feedback for it..I consider it my duty as a RL pet owner to do everything in my power to both understand my pets needs and provide plenty of security and love and if I don't know something or am unsure about anything at all i go find out from legitimate sources such as a vet and I would expect every reasonably minded human being to do the same but clearly some people don't and it's that I truly don't understand as it's totally irresponsible of them..

@SheriSim57

I am not good at letting my pixels go either sims or pets lol I cannot stand the thought of pets dying because I am looking after my 19 year old RL cat at the moment with renal and inflammatory bowel disease so as you can probably imagine that if pets were dying in my game right now my emotions would be off the charts. I have a few pet families in game but not loads and they all have the immortal trait from using the MCCC mod. I also use other mods so there are no strays around my worlds for me to start blubbering about..I wish I didn't care sometimes but I do and always have so not much i can do to change now..

I never thought about it ingame, but I think I do care. I rarely play with pets in the game, and then it is a cat which get the best treatment you can imagine. In rl I don't own a pet, because I move houses every 4 years, and I don't want that a beloved family member stucks in quarantine for 4 - 8 weeks, the administration part is pure horrific.


Unfortunately I saw what happened to pets when pet become unwanted. I had found 3 times an abandoned dog on days with degrees below of -20°C. I'm so done with these people. :'(

Oh yes it bothers me a lot! That's the reasonI didn't buy the my first pet stuff pack. I don't agree with how the animals are kept there. Altough I'd love to have guinea pigs and bunnys in Sims 4. :(
I also can't stand the tiny fishbowl in which you can put a single fish in.

I would only care if the animal felt tortured. In the case you presented, the pet didn't feel tortured, so it's all good. The same can be said for human Sims---they can be made to live in ridiculous living situations, yet oftentimes they're fine with it