Truth of the Matter: Why Research May Come in Handy 4 an RP!

[Lady_Alizarin]

Research Can Help You Understand Animals Better

Do you really know what kind of animal you're playing? Do you really understand it's strengths and weaknesses, it's pros and cons, it's abilities, it's inabilities. Do you really know the truth of the matter? Are you being for real... or not?

Why am I asking all of these questions? Reason being is because some people in the game don't really know the characteristics of some of the animals they play, especially if they are playing them in a realistic roleplay. Have you ever seen a fox take down an elk as it's prey? Have you ever seen a domestic house cat hunt down a deer? Have you ever seen a kitten or a puppy attack and kill an animal that was much bigger than they are? Not in reality I haven't! But out in this game, that kind of stuff is all too real. O_O Some of it is all powerplay, while others do it and don't realize that it isn't the normal behaviour of the animal they are playing.
If I spot someone doing something unrealistically in one of my RPs, like taking down prey that they can't really hunt, some of them say to me...
"Well I didn't know that."
"No need to be mad."
"I don't know about this animal"
Well, silly goose, would it kill you to do a little bit of research before you play?   Sometimes, if I play an animal that is not commonly seen on the game, I will write a bit of info about that animal in the character bio. It might as well be a waste of time since some people don't read it... but it's helpful to the ones who do.

>>True RP story:

The Elk Hunting Fox
I was once roleplaying in my fox group in Flourite Plains. One of the new members had volunteered to go hunting for the fox family, so I let them take charge of bringing the food. A few seconds later he comes back saying, (-He walked up the hill and drug a big elk behind him- "Look what I caught?") I told the guy that there was no way a common red fox could hunt down an elk, because they are way too small to do such a thing. I told him the only way a fox could eat an elk was if the fox found an elk carcass that was left by wolves or bears. He started complaining and saying, (Well those foxes over there were hunting and killing elk! Why can't I?) -Facepalm- I told him that they were not playing realistically and that my fox RP was REALISTC, in other words... no hunting down BIG game animals. He got really upset and left.

>>Another True RP story:

The Badger and the Wolverine
Once upon a time... me and a friend were playing as a badger and a wolverine; I was the wolverine, she was the badger. We would go around the Plains doing what badgers and wolverines do best... hunting and scavenging. ((From the research that I've done on wolverines, I found out that they are opportunists. They will eat anything they find suitable to eat; berries, a carcass, rodents, rabbits, smaller animals, and sometimes they can take down animals a bit bigger than they are. If they find a deer or a carribou that is sick or weak, they will take it.)) Anywho... me and my badger friend found ourselves fighting some warrior cats. For those who know wolverines, a domestic house cat is no match for a wolverine... NO WAY. But to be fair and give them a bit of a chance, I went along with the attacks they threw at me. After some time, one cat blurted out that I was powerplaying all because I swiped her face with a paw full of claws. What do you expect a wolverine to do? Just sit there and not defend itself? Attacking with those claws it what wolverines DO!!! They use those long sharp claws more than they use their bone-crushing teeth to fight. It's not powerplaying, it's REALITY!!! Say it with me, Re-al-it-eeeeeeee!!!

Behold! Example videos that shows the nature of a wolverine. Think I'm lying now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ4tyowlVUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1_3NHO5U6o

>>Guess what?... ANOTER RP Story!:

The Tree Fox
I was out in Flourite Plains playing as Abigail Grey Fox. It was night time in the Plains, so I would run around and search for food (Grey foxes are nocturnal animals, and do most of their hunting and scavenging at night) Well, along come two warrior cats... oh how I love it when they get all fired up over a fox being close -__- The started screaming in caps "FOX!!!! FOX!!" Suddenly the sun started coming up, so I posted the following... -Seeing that dawn was coming, the grey vixen knew that her time of searching for food was up. She approached a nearby tree and climbed up its trunk to sleep during the day.- Suddenly, one of the warrior cats starts saying "You can't do that! FOXES CAN"T CLIMB TREES!!" I informed them that grey foxes were the only species of fox that had the ability to climb trees. But then they were all, "NUH UHHHH! You BIG liar!!! NOW GET DOWN FROM THERE!!!"    -Facepalm-  I KNOW grey foxes can climb trees because I've seen it for myself. I used to live in a place that had a good population of grey foxes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHrSW4lBdl0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNxvp-oqT1Y

-Le gasp!- Would you look at that! It's grey foxes.... in TREES!

 

>>Is it Powerplaying/Godmodding, or just being REAL?!:

Sometimes realistic fighting attacks can get confused with powerplaying/godmodding. With the example I showed you up above, the attack moves the wolverine did, (swipes face with his paw full of claws) are just things that wolverines do in reality. In the wild, wolves and bears often times leave wolverines alone due to their feirce fighting and nasty temper. Another example would be... a mule deer mother will attack anything that she feels is a threat to her fawn. I've seen videos of mule deer does attack dogs, wolves, coyotes, and even people, because they got too close to the fawn. I've seen RPs where people playing as mule deer would do the same, yet they would be accused of powerplaying. "Deer don't attack wolves, you powerplayer!" Oooooh yes they do, Jr. Truth of the matter is.... mule deer does WILL attack to defend their young, unlike their white-tail cousins. It's also a true fact that bucks will act more aggressive and attack other animals during the rut season. Any other time of the year, they are shy and elusive. But come rut season, they won't be their shy cute little Bambi selves. I would show you some example videos, but the ones I found are a bit too graphic to show on here. You can find some on YouTube.
 

>>It's a good idea to research an animal you aren't too familiar with:

Before I ever play as an animal on this game, I often take the time to do some research on Google to find out the true facts about the animals behaviour. I will look into what they eat, where they live, their social behaviours, hunting abilities, their common enemies and how they deal with them. Often times I will go on YouTube and look up any videos featuring that particular animal. Since I get involved in roleplays that are more realistic, I research the animal to make sure I'm playing the animal realisticlly. Before I started playing as a fox, bobcat, wolverine, owl, etc, I did research on them. I looked at different sites and read through different books just to study their behaviours.

>>Things you can do to research a particular animal:
>> Search engiune= Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Ask, etc
>> Online videos= YouTube can help!
>> TV documentaries= We've got Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel for that.
>> Books= It's old fashioned in today's modern world, but it works.
>> Magaizines= National Geographic Magazine will have some stories about animals in there, especially National Geographic For Kids.
>> Go out there and do some animal watching!... Just don't get bitten. I would recommend visiting a zoo.

So what are you waiting for? Go out and have fun. Class dismissed.  

[kiaz1st]

Thank you for stateing the truth! I once played as a stag, I said that people could hunt me, but that I would defend myself. well, this wolf comes up to me and attacks me, quite fairly, no power playing, no godmodding, but then when I attack back, I say -charges at the wolf, slowed down by the bite wound, launches my antlers in its direction- which, if any one knew any thing about full grown stags, would know that that is what it would do, but instead this wolf blurts out "YOU CANT DO THAT, THATS POWERPLAYING! " and he stormed off -.- but there was another wolf that was there at the time, who had been hunting me verry well and obviously knew what was going on stook up for me

[WhiteLightHeart]

*Applauds* I like dis. It's too often needed to be stated among people who claim to be realistic roleplayers.

And yes, I do the exact same thing that you do. I find myself even researching the common weight and height and bite pressure, etc., of my characters before I play them. It's just a good idea, if your character ever encounters a situation where they have to fight, but it also gets you a little more in-tune with the animal you're playing.
Going off of the video research, as well, one advantage that it gives you is exactly how your animal moves. Does it walk gracefully? Or does it lumber around?
Do its paws move in one plane of motion like a horse, or do its forelegs tilt inward to trip their prey, or grasp at something?
How about when it attacks? Is it more likely to run head-first, diving under to go for a bite at its' enemy's throat? Or does it lie in wait, waiting for the opportune time to leap down and deliver a crushing bite to its prey's skull like a jaguar?
Does it use its hooves or paws to fight the most? Or does it dominantly use its antlers or teeth?
Is it mostly offensive or defensive?
How does it look when it's curious? Happy to see someone or something? Frightened? Alert?
Thatstuff. xD So, yes, you brought out some wonderful points here, Lady. c:
Thank you for posting!

[SteampunkWolfdog]

Exactly! I even made a tutorial on how to make realistic characters and roleplay realisticly, here: tutorial. Just to help people a bit.

What I don't like when you're trying to educate people is that they can't seem to accept that what they were doing wasn't correct and won't listen to a short animal behaviour lesson. They just brush it aside and have a caps rage at us. Dude, we're just trying to help you roleplay better.
I tend to roleplay realisticly and sometimes find myself correcting people and teaching them some knowledge that I picked up from whatever source I got it from. I do a lot of reading on the Internet and in books and like to watch David Attenborough wildlife documentaries, and having a nosy at some wildlife species I don't often see when I get the chance.

I just think if people don't want to have others try to teach them then don't roleplay realisticly; stick to semi-realistic. Or, do some research and learn for yourself. People should be more open minded when it comes to others offering them a bit of education. It's not just teachers and parents that give you an education you know.

[Lady_Alizarin]

Exactly! I even made a tutorial on how to make realistic characters and roleplay realisticly, here: tutorial. Just to help people a bit.

What I don't like when you're trying to educate people is that they can't seem to accept that what they were doing wasn't correct and won't listen to a short animal behaviour lesson. They just brush it aside and have a caps rage at us. Dude, we're just trying to help you roleplay better.
I tend to roleplay realisticly and sometimes find myself correcting people and teaching them some knowledge that I picked up from whatever source I got it from. I do a lot of reading on the Internet and in books and like to watch David Attenborough wildlife documentaries, and having a nosy at some wildlife species I don't often see when I get the chance.

I just think if people don't want to have others try to teach them then don't roleplay realisticly; stick to semi-realistic. Or, do some research and learn for yourself. People should be more open minded when it comes to others offering them a bit of education. It's not just teachers and parents that give you an education you know.

Great link. You are so right, Doctor. It seems some people, especially the younger ones, just don't know the true facts about the animal kingdom and all it's harsh realities. Often times they create characters that seem so Mary Sue and Gary Stue-like. They want their characters to be baddest of the bad and invincible... "You can't hurt me! I'm more powerful than YOU!" or "I'm a wolf! The strongest animal in all the land!" They don't want to hear the true facts of animal nature, or they just don't care. They are more focused on being the biggest, strongest, baddest, or the smartest, animal in all the forest/jungle/desert.
I admit that I have some "tough" characters in my character vault. Whenever I roleplay as one, I don't have them win every fight they get into. They win some and then they lose some, and can get badly injured or even killed... if I allow it. Just because they lose some battles, it doesn't mean they're weak. Some people I've RP fought with would say "I CANT LOSE! I'M NOT WEAK!" or "If I lose a fight, my pack/pride/clan/group will think I'm a weakling and kick me out!" 

Let's face it, an animal out in the wild does not win EVERY fight it gets into... that's a true fact of nature. Even the king of the beasts, the lion, will lose some battles in his lifetime. It's not a bad thing, it's just normal! Try explaining that to some of these people who want to be the big bad boss of the forest. You're pretty much waisting your time trying to educate someone who doesn't want to hear the facts.

[Sibb]

Hahahaha!

This is a very interesting topic and funny that you've posted it.
Recently i've created an African Wild Hunting Dogs pack, it is MOSTLY based upon research.
I've seen younger kids who have not read the website that i've used to host the research if they were ever to get stuck. Even when they say they are confused with what and how to do the RP I tell them that there is help on the website that i've made.

Some people don;t even know what they look like, some think they are just walking brown puddles. I have no problems helping new people to Feral Heart but when it comes to the extent of it taking all day and the person getting ridiculously angry over nothing..

[SilverTW]

You. You have earned an award for doing this.

[WhiteLightHeart]

Hahahaha!

This is a very interesting topic and funny that you've posted it.
Recently i've created an African Wild Hunting Dogs pack, it is MOSTLY based upon research.
I've seen younger kids who have not read the website that i've used to host the research if they were ever to get stuck. Even when they say they are confused with what and how to do the RP I tell them that there is help on the website that i've made.

Some people don;t even know what they look like, some think they are just walking brown puddles. I have no problems helping new people to Feral Heart but when it comes to the extent of it taking all day and the person getting ridiculously angry over nothing..

I feel for ya, Sibb. Especially when you're running an RP about animals that are a bit less common here in FH, I can imagine you'd run into that issue...
But, I commend you for putting your research up on the RP's site. Even with its frustrations, I guarantee you a bunch of floofs that actually do read it, have learned a good deal from it. Hang in there. c;

[KibaWolf73]

You deserve a nuzzle.

I remember one time I was on with my silver fox character and a bunch of people were telling me "DUDE AMG FOXES ARE RED" and such. I replied "Allow me to introduce you to the silver fox, a melanistic form of Vulpes Vulpes, aka common red fox.". They freaked out lol.

An example of how people mock users who play as an uncommon animal just because they have never ever heard of it.

[Lady_Alizarin]

You deserve a nuzzle.

I remember one time I was on with my silver fox character and a bunch of people were telling me "DUDE AMG FOXES ARE RED" and such. I replied "Allow me to introduce you to the silver fox, a melanistic form of Vulpes Vulpes, aka common red fox.". They freaked out lol.

An example of how people mock users who play as an uncommon animal just because they have never ever heard of it.

O_O Seriously. That... is... a total... FAIL! Foxes don't just come in red. There are more species of foxes than just the common red fox alone; grey foxes, cape foxes, fennec foxes, arctic foxes, etc... and they come in all kinds of colors. They don't all come in RED!    But hey, whoever said that probably didn't think about that... or they just didn't know. Nevertheless -facepalm-
As for the silver fox, I know for sure that that's a red fox with a genetic fur mutation. There are plenty more genetic fur mutations where that came from.
I think I may have run into your silver fox once... I don't know if it was you or not that I met in the plains one time.