I am on the fence about this.

I'm a fairly sex-averse ace and I do agree that the artists drawing art of mating animals is extremely bizarre in the first place. It's also not fair to say "don't explore" during February, arguably the most important and busy month in the game. A player forced to avoid Explore would miss out substantially. However, removing these encounters would remove a bulk of encounters in February and perhaps put unexpected pressure on the artists to replace them when they 100% have other things to be working on. Some players also find these encounters amusing— I assume it's not really the art itself as much as the associated text. It's not really promoting bestiality imo—it's art of animals mating while you're playing as a lion, and there's nothing explicit that's hanging out. But is it still pretty weird? I think so. And pretty unfortunate in public.

Still.

The addition of a toggle would help this case, as animals in the process of mating is a fairly cut-and-dry distinction. But it would also likely set the precedent of event toggles in general, and opinions such as acceptable gore and violence for a 16+ game aren't as universal.

I would prefer no new mating encounters be added, and I would like ones like the dwarf one to be tweaked, but it's not as simple a subject as made to be. I think vulturetalon has a point though I don't agree with it all—you get to a point where you don't even process the picture beyond knowing the optimal button to press for it. And that's if you haven't memorized the options even without seeing the picture, since it might not load if the game or your connection is slow.

ETA: oh jesus people went off while i was typing this lol

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I agree with Jenova - the encounters are not encouraging anything, they're meant as a humor/joke. Same as when you kill a serval stuck in a trap during March event, that does NOT encourage you to go finish off suffering animals stuck in traps. Or the kill poachers encounters in March, are they supposed to encourage you go slaughter poachers?? Of course not!
This is a GAME, and nothing in it - absolutely nothing - is encouraging anyone to do anything. Its just a game, with some content being brutal, some content being humorous, and NO content in it to be taken as a course of action for your real life.

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"I think vulturetalon has a point though I don't agree with it all—you get to a point where you don't even process the picture beyond knowing the optimal button to press for it." Hence why I said **personally**

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... yeah? i wasn't trying to jab at you. i was agreeing for the most part, though i don't necessarily agree with the entire comment that i was referencing. sorry if that was unclear?

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I completely get that vulturetalon, and that's all well and good. I understand that the encounters aren't meant to encourage harm upon animals, but when there are encounters where you get the options to help animals mate, watch them mate, and there is art depicting them in the middle of it etc, it gets to the point where it's harmful in my opinion.

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In response to Rosia,

I would counter that the encounter where you help a dwarf lion mate with a lioness is meant to be humorous and whimsical, rather than malicious or harmful. Additionally, the encounter is not presented as being sexual in nature. As you stated, the game is a SIM game and is not meant to be taken as an accurate depiction of real life. It's 16+ for the reason that you need the understanding to distinguish between fiction and reality. The game is not intended to encourage animal abuse in any way.

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ALSO, there's a literal poop encounter in explore.
Where you can Eat the poop left by another lion.
Please DONT tell me this encounter is encouraging you to go eating poop. PLEASE.

Big, fat underline with this encounter. Lioden is just a game, its jokes DO NOT encourage you to do anything. They dont. Please dont get encouraged.

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"i wasn't trying to jab at you." I'm aware, sorry for the misunderstanding, just felt like I had to clarify.

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I would like to note that if you see the encounters as encouragement to harm animals in any ways, including zoophilic, in the real world, you should most likely reflect on yourself and why you are seeing the encounters as such...and potentially consider talking to somebody a bit professional on that.

All users above 16 should have the rationale to see the divide between reality and fiction, whimsy and harm. Not having that rationale may signify that one may have some personal problems that they should focus on now, before they can grow malignant to you as a person in the future.

While it is fine that some users may feel uncomfortable by the various situations for a variety of decent reasons, the rational brain should not jump to 'this content is encouraging myself and others to partake in zoophilic actions offline.' That is unhealthy, and perhaps even a small bit concerning.

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Mad Hyena, there's a big difference between depicting a lion eating poop and animals mating. One is a silly thing, another is depicting feral animals in a NSFW setting. Doesn't really matter if it's supposed to be a joke or not in my opinion, honestly. Fiction affects reality. It always has, it always will.

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"Mad Hyena, there's a big difference between depicting a lion eating poop and animals mating." I'm pretty certain that was an analogy.

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This went off the rails badly didn't it?

I see no context of bestiality anywhere in the February encounters... Yes my brain doesn't process certain insinuations well (thank you autism /s ) , but I don't see the any mentions of a human doing things to animals...

As others have said, we are playing as our lion... and I agree with those who say people who do see it as such, it is very concerning... and disturbing... and you should definitely seek professional help if portraying a lion who is doing stuff to another lion is making a human do those acts on a real animal... *shudders*

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Rosia, absolutely no difference to me, as both are meant as jokes about something a human should not and would not ever do. Both helping a dwarf with his girlfriend or eating a pile of poop in explore, they're just jokes, meant for a moment of silly, impossible occasion. To make you laugh, not to make you feel like doing it.

I agree with others, if this content is SO deeply disturbing to you, you might want to look for professional help, because misunderstanding jokes so badly can be a sign of serious problems.

To stay on topic - I strongly disagree mating encounters in any way encourage zoophilia, so that is not a valid argument to ban those encounters.

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i just want a lil option to censor so i don't get scowled at in public lol

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Jenova, please understand that I'm not saying that the game is encouraging such things on purpose. But I've known people above the age of 16 that think that artwork and themes (joke or not, I understand that they're meant to be goofs) in such a matter is saying that "oh, okay, so this is fine and natural, I shouldn't have to think twice about the sexualization of animals."

That's why proshipping for example is bad and harmful. That's why the old July event was retired. This is of good intent, not to ruin fun.

And I know the poop eating was an analogy, but you can't compare the two. I generally just don't want the game to include these kinds of themes when it's centered around feral animals. I'm not here with a burning stake, I just want to give my two cents as I've seen what themes like this does and how harmful they can be.

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