Should Virtual Pets Have a 'Hunger' System?

[uptrendfinancialsignal]

I would like to see a Hunger system implemented on the virtual pets sites. What is hunger system ? It means your pets would need regular feeding to stay happy and healthy all the time. It's just a way to add a new layer of realism and responsibility to the game.

Share your thoughts!

 

[AstrophelChasmata]

Most sites do have a hunger system, however they also make it to where your pets can never die, so there is not really a need on most sites for you to actually feed your pet.
I do like sites where pets can age and eventually pass on but I understand attachment too and for some it's not viable because of custom generation/making, that pet dying eventually would defeat the investment into the custom creation items.

Hunger systems work better when they are required for intensive features such as Colosseum or Explore features. If the pet is not fed and tended too, it can not participate, this won't require them to feed their whole party still buuuut, will keep the food items from becoming pointless besides collection. I wish a few more sites honestly invested in this penalty into their game implements, because it would make users also sink some of the inflated currency on some sites and keep items from becoming a waste of time to buy or collect.

 

[WontByte]

Most sites do have a hunger system, however they also make it to where your pets can never die, so there is not really a need on most sites for you to actually feed your pet.

Dying would mean that your pet is taken out of the population entirely (which means your account profile could have 0 pets).

A more realistic approach to this is for the admin to just keep the pet "dead" until it can be revived.

While it's unrealistic, especially for realistic pets, to starve to death and then make it where other pets couldn't interact with it because it's "dead", deleting it would not be the right path to go or it could anger a lot of players who take time away from the game, that all the sudden their level 20 pet has been deleted because it starved to death.

I had a "food stock" system where a player could hold on to so much food, and when they ran out, it would "die" (or be unable to interact with other players). The stock was easy to keep and maintain for as long as you just logged in, and prolonged game play to around 30 days of inactivity.

 

[Baw$e]

I think it's an essential feature among most pet sites to have a hunger system. However, I think feeding your pets should also increase there level/stats.

 

[AstrophelChasmata]

Dying would mean that your pet is taken out of the population entirely (which means your account profile could have 0 pets).

A more realistic approach to this is for the admin to just keep the pet "dead" until it can be revived.

While it's unrealistic, especially for realistic pets, to starve to death and then make it where other pets couldn't interact with it because it's "dead", deleting it would not be the right path to go or it could anger a lot of players who take time away from the game, that all the sudden their level 20 pet has been deleted because it starved to death.

I had a "food stock" system where a player could hold on to so much food, and when they ran out, it would "die" (or be unable to interact with other players). The stock was easy to keep and maintain for as long as you just logged in, and prolonged game play to around 30 days of inactivity.

So I agree mostly and that’s why I said penalizing not feeding with death means players who invest in the game especially if custom pets or rare pet colors are involved, makes it a pointless game then if you aren’t sure you can be on. PonyIsland is an example of a game with consequence but you can also revive your pets with items, however they take an experience neg unless you have a special revive item that cost their premium currency. It works for their site despite how many ponies people might have. I recently had to work for a solid three weeks on top of my kid really starting to get in her school routine. Both my stables perished. Came back to the game, used my saved up currencies and resurrected them all, took like 3-4 days on contesting the ponies (their pvp essentially), and they were back to tip top shape.

So resurrection systems are great if they can be implemented, but I think most sites and players probably would not thrive with it being a common occurrence on pet sites.

That’s why I also agree a smaller consequence like unable to explore, battle, play a game with the pet till it’s fed is a pretty good reason to feed your pets and something more forgiving. However a lot of sites don’t do that either. I haven’t fed my subeta pets in years, because it doesn’t affect any part of the game I play. Neopets I feed when I remember, same with most of pets. They don’t penalize me in anyway that I notice, so I am not really motivated to collect food items or feed them unless it just a food item I really love the design of.

 

[WontByte]

Both my stables perished. Came back to the game, used my saved up currencies and resurrected them all, took like 3-4 days on contesting the ponies (their pvp essentially), and they were back to tip top shape.

Another thing to take into consideration is an "away" mode, which I also had.

Players could enable this and it would allow their character to just freeze for that duration of time. To prevent abuse, as in players going "away" so that they can't be attacked overnight, I made the away mode a fixed period of 7 or 30 days and they could only use it twice for a period of 30 or 90 days (fuzzy memory there too). This made it so that if a player came back in 4 days, they could still go away for another 7 days, but if they came back the 4th day again, they would be able to freeze it a 3rd time.

They would be unable to freeze a 3rd time without admin/moderator intervention, which was quite clear how to do, so empathy could be a consideration if they could freeze again. This rarely ever happened (I can't even recall a request, but it's been so long). Though, it allows for manual override of the freezing system in the cases where they aren't abusing it to "freeze" to protect their account (animal) from an overnight ambush.

During a frozen period, the food wouldn't be consumed because the character would be in limbo. Doesn't need to eat, sleep, etc., just protected it against attacks where they couldn't come on to revive it for the next battle.

 

[lens]

I do think that a hunger system could be very beneficial to virtual pet sites. The reason is- I've played some games that doesn't prioritise feeding and it makes the game very awful.

 

[uptrendfinancialsignal]

It will make the game more enjoyable, not stressful. I thought of the idea of auto-feeding or snack options especially for the busy players.

 

[Alicia]

It will be great to have a hunger system for virtual pet sites. It will also make the gamers to choose what they want their pets to eat and while choosing the foods makes the games to be more interesting.

 

[cpvr]

View attachment 916
I would like to see a Hunger system implemented on the virtual pets sites. What is hunger system ? It means your pets would need regular feeding to stay happy and healthy all the time. It's just a way to add a new layer of realism and responsibility to the game.

Share your thoughts!

Every pet site should have a hunger system, as it adds a realistic element to the game. If a pet is hungry, the user shouldn’t be able to battle with it. A pet must be fully fed before it can participate in battles. This rule should also apply to questing features—if a user’s pet isn’t fed, it shouldn’t be able to do quests.


It’s also important for pet sites to offer hotel or resort features that care for users’ pets by feeding, playing with, and looking after them for an extended period. This aids in the responsibility side of things and helps users with the care of their pets.


Certain food items should boost pets’ hunger levels more than others. For example, a gourmet food item would increase a pet’s hunger level much more than a regular food item.

I do think that a hunger system could be very beneficial to virtual pet sites. The reason is- I've played some games that doesn't prioritise feeding and it makes the game very awful.

This is true. Taking care of your pet is the basic foundation that made virtual pets popular in the first place.

 

[Nathicana]

No. I do not like pet games (especially breeding games) that require you to feed and water your pets, unless they have an extremely detailed and interesting cooking system involved. Pet sims are meant to be fun, they aren't supposed to be realistic and require responsibility.

 

[Demon_skeith]

Well everything has to eat, and it is best to have it in to teach people that pets need to eat, both virtually and in real life.

 

[cpvr]

It will make the game more enjoyable, not stressful. I thought of the idea of auto-feeding or snack options especially for the busy players.

Auto feeding makes things a lot easier. I like when pet sites offer this feature, especially when you have a lot of food items in your inventory.

It's always quite nice when they have food kitchen(soup fairy on neopets) features where users can go to feed their pets.

 

[Scorpion]

I really like the idea of a hunger system.. It makes caring for pets more realistic and fun. Checking on them often helps you feel more connected. Maybe if pets go hungry, they become tired or can’t join events. It’s a good balance of fun and responsibility.

 

[Alicia]

I will enjoy the idea of a hunger system. I will love to feed my pets, giving them what they desired in each time when I have a lot of food items in my possession.
It will make the game to be more funny and interesting.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Most pet raising games I've played have had some type of hunger system. I had a giga pet when I was a kid that died on me because my mom forgot to feed it for me when I was at school lol. Digimon World also has a hunger system and if you don't properly take care of your partner digimon, he/she would revert back into a egg and you'd end up with a different partner iirc.

 

[Kross]

I think Tamagotchi has a hunger meter that directly affects how happy your virtual pet would be happy. I think having a hunger system in pet games allows for greater responsibility on the path of the player and makes them not to neglect the game and the virtual pet for long.

 

[Zani]

With some pet games like My Angela, it has a hunger system. If you leave your pet for a long time, it will be weak and dirty until you take care of it. Hunger system isn't a bad idea for any virtual pet game.