Bad Parents?

[Lady_Alizarin]

This may seem like an odd topic, but it's based on some experiences I've recently encountered in the game. So here we go.

Have you, or someone you know, has been accused of being a bad parent for a silly reason? I have. I've had it said to me, and I've seen it said to other people OOC. I wish I would have taken a screenshot of some of these ridiculous accusations, especially considering that this is all just part of a game, and not reality.

Story one: I was sitting and talking with a friend, and there were dragon characters all around us. A dragon egg was laying by itself in a shrub nearby. An adult dragon came along and wanted to investigate the egg, and the mother dragon of the egg warned him not to get too close OOC. If he got too close, the mother dragon would become protective, so she said it was best to stay away. He said OOC that he meant no harm, but just wanted to investigate the egg. Suddenly, another dragoness said OOC "You're a bad mother for leaving the egg all alone like that. No offense."  So then a huge argument began over what that dragoness said. Things were said like,
"It's MY egg, it's my responsibility!"
"You're still a bad mom."
"She can leave me in the shrub if she wants to."
"That's right. I designed this dragon species. So don't tell me how my species needs to raise their young."
The argument went on and on over a pretend mother-offspring relationship, until some people began to block each other. It's not even a real life situation, yet some got all bent out of shape over it. It was just a roleplay. No child was in danger.
 

Same thing happened to me and a friend when we were roleplaying our dragons, deer, foxes. or unicorns. There would be times when me, playing the role of the mother,  would leave her offspring unattended to forage for food. There would be times a random player would say that my character was a bad parent for leaving the child alone so my character could go hunting/foraging.
 

I was just sitting there astounded. I guess some don't realize that it's normal for some animals to leave their babies unattended. In nature, mother deer leave their fawns alone while they go out to graze. Mothers will leave their young alone in the den while they go out to hunt for food. Does that make mother deer, wolves, bobcats, bears, birds, foxes, etc bad mothers for doing something that is pretty much NORMAL to them? It's just their way of surviving. Animal mothers are not like human mothers.

Has this ever happened to you? Or have you seen something like this happen in the game.

[ArcticGalaxy]

I have never had it happen to me, but I may have seen this once or twice. And it is rather ridiculous, that people get worked up over such matters and end up blocking others or even getting in trouble.

[Kynvuu]

Quite an interesting topic ya got here! c: I've only been a parent to a pup once or twice in my early years of playing the game, but I don't think I've ever been called a "bad parent" xD. I do remember though, my first experience role-playing a "mother" wolf, that I was a pretty darn good parent, even if my character wasn't that responsible of a wolfie. Like said above though, it ain't anything to get worked up over though, plenty of people have plenty of different characters that go about parenting in their own ways. There's nothing wrong with role-playing an irresponsible parent if that's the way your character is.

[Reaper]

I think its normal, and people shouldn't get mad if they see someones offspring by themselves. Its all part of role play, not real life.

[Wyldercat]

Well first off, as stated numerous times above, it's a game.
Secondly, it might be part of the character's personality to be neglectful or a "bad parent," and people shouldn't hate eachother OOC because of it.

[Edolicious]

Used to happen to me quite a lot a while ago. It can be just as frustrating as it is exhausting trying to prove your point to said person who 'called the parent out'.

Sometimes it's better to calmly talk things over with the user privately, but who knows how that may end up. Overall, I do agree it can be irritating to have someone say it to you, but I'd say it'd be easier to just shrug it off rather than argue about it.

[Hakumi]

I've seen this happen a lot & I don't even think I had it ever happen to me.
Usually when things like this happen, I guess the people that 'called the parent out' gets caught up in the moment or something and then everything just breaks loose, chaos , blocking and what have you.

Every time I see these sort of things go down, I wonder if the people were involved in the situation looked back and questioned everything that happened and realized how crazy / ridiculous the argument was...~

[Rostova]

I have personally only seen this once, and since I'm not big on becoming a parent, it hasn't happened to me.

I personally don't like it, it isn't really their business to criticize how you "raise children".

Especially if they have nothing to do with you and your child.

But i must say, there is no need for them to argue and block each other. The parent should just ignore them, not aggravate the person who started the whole thing.

[RenegadeRaptor]

I agree, the parent should just ignore the person and not add fuel to the fires. I have been a parent about once but I usually ignore people who tell me im doin a bad job.

[G4RG0YLE]

Honestly it's why I don't really ever let people looking for parents assume that I'll be willing to raise their character, haha. Not only do I not feel like any of my characters would make a great parent, but I also just dislike the idea of having that sort of in-game responsibility, especially since the offspring usually demand high activity and "grow up" within a day.