Alright folks, I've just been noticing a lot of things in so-called "realistic" roleplays that don't make much sense, and really ought to downgrade them to "semi-realistic." This is just something I decided to make, because I know a lot of my friends are annoyed by these sorts of things. So, here goes- it's just a rant now, but here's to hoping people learn something from it.
One of the primary things I've been noticing is in the lion RPs, they advertise it as realistic when a realistic pride has 8~25 members, only 2~6 being males depending on size. There is not an even gender ratio in a pride, and the lions that run the pride usually just mate with all the lionesses. If the pride is taken over by a new pair of males, the cubs are killed to make room for the new ones. Cubs two years old leave the pride in bachelor prides or groups of related lionesses to prevent inbreeding, and prides don't accept loners into their ranks- they chase them off.
Realistic lion prides do NOT accept in ligers or leopons, or tigons or anything like that because they aren't lions. Lions and tigers typically don't meet in the wild anymore anyways, because they no longer share similar habitats. The species that used to went extinct long ago, so hybrids do not occur in the wild.
I don't mind so much about this one- realistic colors. If we were going for realistic colors, there would be tan (not brown) lionesses and lions would have a mane anywhere from a blond coloring to black- no red, no gray. There are natural cases of black or white lions, but those are extremely rare. I haven't met many people who really heed this, much. In my opinion, realistic lion RPs can have whatever colors they want as long as they're neutral, earthier tones like browns, grays, tans, blacks, whites- just no blues, greens or purples. That gives more room for creativity.
Wolves and lions don't meet in the wild- the closest thing wolves get to are pumas and wildcats, and lions get hyenas and African wild dogs. Lions compete with leopards and cheetahs, and their prey animals are zebras, gazelles (though much more seldom seeing as lions aren't fast enough to catch those), wildebeest, hippo calves and even the occasional giraffe. There are no white-tailed deer, elk or moose in Africa. On the topic of hunting, adult male lions don't hunt; their manes are too thick and bulky, and will cause them to overheat in a chase as well as make them clumsier. Lions fight off enemies, lionesses hunt. Adolescent males will help the lionesses though, before they have a large mane to hamper them.
Done with my little lion spiel for now- now onto fighting, something that usually happens more than once a day in territorial disputes, fending off thieves and cub-eaters, and other such things.
I see this a lot; one animal, any species, fighting a pack/pride/etc. of another. The group may or may not be power-playing, but it doesn't matter. The one animal usually takes a long time to kill/chase off, even though it's severely outnumbered and frequently smaller than at least a couple of the members of the group. I've seen it as bad as up to a dozen people trying to fend off one SINGLE animal for fifteen minutes, of whom has hardly a scratch on it and isn't exhausted though it's a 12 to 1 fight.
A battle like that should be finished in a couple of minutes, not half an hour. Even if it were a one-on-one match, it wouldn't last that long; in the wild, animals will slap each other around a bit, then someone will take off because they're aware they're outmatched and would prefer to live. When there's a whole group, the "offender" will flee regardless, because they know they can't take on that many opponents no matter how big or strong they are in comparison. The only reason they would really fight is if they were cornered and had no choice; in that case, they would most likely die or be fatally wounded within moments. If they're lucky, they would just be chased off the territory.
I've recently seen several people playing half-starved, exhausted loner characters and when they're faced with a group of bigger, stronger and healthy predators, choose to fight in a realistic RP. The predators may not even want to fight- just get the intruder off their territory or out of their den (not talking about someone just OOC hanging out. Doesn't count, leave those ones alone because chances are, you'll make a fool of yourself trying to get rid of them). Suddenly, this feeble animal can pull ninja moves out of its bum and somehow, it has the talent and just enough strength to defend itself and KILL their foe.
What.
There are also a bunch of people running around playing cubs, both canine and cat that think they can attack an adult something that's four times their size and win without getting their butt spanked, or even catch it though at their age they shouldn't even be able to catch their own tails. They're little pups, but they're spewing obscenities and making threats when they're too young to know what they're even talking about.
Next! My version of a... I don't know what to call it. Just read. :U
I hate it when one species thinks it's automatically better than another for whatever reason- size, population, etc.
First of all, wolves are NOT generally faster than coyotes. Sure, it can happen, but typically a coyote is faster than a wolf and more agile because they're smaller. Granted, wolves are bigger and stronger, but speed and agility are how coyotes make up for it.
Lions won't be able to catch a cheetah who's at full health. A weak cheetah or cheetah cub, maybe. But otherwise, they'll put on the brief burst of speed and a lion won't even bother with trying to catch them because they're not built to travel at those speeds for that long. They're built to be able to take down sturdier prey than cheetahs (who mainly hunt gazelles, since they can catch them and they don't need to be too large to take them down) that can't go as fast.
Dogs and wolves- they're pretty much even, no matter if dogs were domesticated. They can be equally as strong and fast and smart. However, a Chihuahua can't do much when faced with a bigger canine other than book and hope there's a tiny burrow or cave they can squeeze into for protection. They may be vicious little dogs, but they are not ninjas and nor can they yap the wolf to death, though it might deafen them and will probably tick them off.
Coyotes are mostly scavengers, though they will hunt if they're in a pack or the prey is small enough (ex. a fawn, rabbit, mice, other rodents). They tend to linger around wolf packs so they can scavenge the kills. (Aside from that, they usually ignore the wolves and their pups.)
That's all I can think of for now. I may add things later- if I have the attention span- in replies to this topic.
Edit: I would just like to remind you guys to keep it civil. Feel free to discuss this issue as you please, but don't start pointing fingers at anyone! ~arsenicCatnip
