Community Update #2

Thanks for your response @Zeva #16394. I had the same feeling about the alligator/crocodile options since we have both enemies already in different biomes. I voted for the condor cause they're already a natural part of wolf experience, and, they're the closest things we have to feathered pteradactyls flying around!

I'm really liking the discussion in here - I've been reading it as it goes and now that I'm done with all my morning shit~

I thought I'd add my voice in huhu, yeah for some reason, adding humans into Wolvden feels like it would kill some of the magic of the Wolvden world for me. In Wolvden's sister site, Lioden, humans are not shied away from in the game and play a role in disclosing "the brutal truth of human impact". I understand the power of that decision in helping to bring publicity to real-life issues. I could see the implementation of human impact in Wolvden functioning similarly.

But, although I have no qualms about how humans have been handled in the sister site Lioden, I really hate the idea of seeing humans in Wolvden. Maybe it's because so far we haven't had any in the game (although, there are human structures in many of the backgrounds here) and I've enjoyed the prospect of the world thus far without them. As it's been stated before, it's like a "safe-space", more or less, the ideal world for wolves how I feel it should be.

I'd like to add to what others have said above as well about the poll options seeming imbalanced to me. I ended up picking the 'Alligator' option because those shits are fucking badass as hell, but the fact there was both an 'Alligator' option and an 'American Crocodile' option made me seriously falter and feel concerned about the vote being split between the two. They're different, yeah, but I don't think they're different options enough for the vote for them to not be split.

There was something I forgot to add here, now that other players have mentioned similar issues linked to humans.

I have been in so many games where the humans are the evil ones. I have only ever seen one game where humans were *okay*, and that was Minecraft. Although I understand that humans have a harsh reputation and theres so many shitty ones, there's.... almost nothing done in honor of the good ones. I am honestly fed up of the ''Human Bad And Kill For Fun'' trope, after seeing it so many times it gets daunting and exhausting. 

Which brings back the question: *why* are we adding humans? *Why* do we have to fight them? *Why* do they have to be enemy encounters? We have zero context for what humans we are talking about-- Poachers, conservationists, sanctuary managers, tourists, peaceful passersbys... we don't even have a karma system yet (Hopefully never) so it makes zero sense to kill them or fight them anyway. Again, wolves rarely ever attack humans and it feeds into the stereotype of wolves being bloodthirsty snarling monsters and/or of humans being nothing else than defenseless prey, or assholes that want to dominate everything in sight.

TLDR: Really, really not thrilled about humans possibly being added.

@Sinxerely same things I am thinking. Well said! While yes, there are terrible humans in the world, there are lots of great ones as well. Many humans are the reason that so many animals are protected today. 

Edit to add: another aspect I thought of why fighting humans wound suck (for my anyways), the wording when you battle a humans would be a little ick. Like how at the end of a battle it says enemy is too weak and bleeding out. I don't like the thought of humans "bleeding out". I had two separate severe traumas in my life both involving my brothers. One survived and one didn't. So if fighting humans were added, I'd appreciate the wording being changed(maybe human runs away, etc). To me it's just grotesque thinking of wolves attacking humans and being just left there. I know it's just a game, but that's why I play these games as it's just a game to get away from reality for a bit for me. 

You got a very good point @WillowRose.  I have trauma related to animal aggression and I also wouldn't appreciate the thought of humans succumbing to animal wounds, losing a lot of blood, etc, it is something I get in my PTSD nightmares. Of course, ideally I just would completely avoid the battles and not bother, but I really don't like the fact that trauma survivors would still be exposed to a form of their trauma and fears regardless of if they are attacking the humans or not. It's part of why I completely avoid Lioden now. 

Edit again: I also forgot to mention one more thing... again. In LD you can kill humans just because even if they're good people and I absolutely hate the thought of the same thing happening in WD-- Again, we have no karma system, and it's honestly kind of just cruel in general. Wolves in the game have human levels of intelligence, surely they would know the difference between shitty people and those trying to protect them in the first place, killing those people would be pointless and a dick move.

I love update days! <3

Yeah I... really don't want to have humans in at all. I left Lio specifically because the human element made me uncomfortable.

I enjoy wolvden specifically because every character is nonhuman. I love the quest snake, I love the bears. I love this fantasy world completely untouched by humans in the present, and it'll make me very sad to see them added.

Perhaps have a toggle in the settings page to turn off encountering humans? Or have them limited to a specific biome, or certain event? That way, the people who want to avoid them have options to do so.

In response to @finnfinite 's suggestion, i dont think events for humans is a good idea. Just dont make humans an event thing please. Im sure there are a lot of completionists who also are uncomfortable wirh humans who would feel very upset at the idea that they HAVE to fight humans to get event items/currency. If humans have to be added make sure they are NOT tied to anytning unique like an event or trophies so they can be seen as optional for all...

The only reason I suggest that is because of the current system where the first event of a pair's items are all available in the second one. So like, this most recent one has the losna base, but it'll come back next month in addition to markings.

It'll be a little sad to have to wait a month when others get to play with the new base faster, but I'd be willing to take that tradeoff in order to not see any humans.

I have an idea for a new role and ability to win gold cones and custom decors. 

So with the limit of wolves a player can have being so high, it might be fun to add some new roles, one being a warrior role where players can battle each others wolves like we do NPC wolves in Explore. Wolves can gain stats through Explore battles and pup training and then battle other players wolves (which could be randomly assigned or local to them in a new Crossroads Battle Arena) for the chance to win gold cones, custom decors or other rare prizes.