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Vanity Pets -- Why do people like them?
d_20
Member RarePosts: 1,878
I've been subbed to ESO since launch. With today's announcement that ESO's subscriber loyalty program will award me with a pet, I felt absolutely nothing. Well, I did feel curious. I like the game enough as it is to keep subscribing and I don't need any pets. I trashed all the pets I got with my pre-order and Imperial edition because they took up inventory space and I don't use them.
I'm not even a cold and heartless min/maxer, but I just don't get it. They are cute and all, but they just don't add to my gameplay experience. I know people even spend real money in some games to buy vanity pets. I never understood that. Also, mount collecting is another one. I understand it a little better than pets, because mounts are at least functional.
Why do people like vanity pets so much?
Comments
I hate vanity pets. I also just buy a single mount that if the fastest type and that's all I buy. I am not the type to do collecting. Then again I think the people that this appeals to are the same people that do a ton of work to just have their "look" a specific way. I just take what is next in line and that is it.
What I do like are games like Rappelz where having a pet inherently does something. Or something like Flyff where having the pet auto collects the loot for you. These are the times I get into the pet systems a bit more. I wish more games would get into pets in a broader aspect than just some pixels on a screen that do a few animations and that's it.
It's an accessory... a way to customize your character. You might as well be asking why MMOs have a character creator as the answer is the same.
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My first vanity pet was a panda cub in WoW Vanilla. It made great conversation till that last slacker would arrive in BWL or Nax40, 10 mins after the raid normally would have started. (somehow I do not recall waiting in MC)
When playing a game, I almost never have a mini pet out. Only when it makes sense (rp wise) to have one out. GW2 had the first mini pet I had out for the most of the time; a puppy. Called him Pancake.
Other than that, I ignore them.
It's a bit of psychological manipulation, isn't it? For example, in WOW any player can get hundreds of pets, no loyalty system required. But players (well, some players) will still pay or play extra for rare pets. And ESO has few pets, so a 'special' pet for loyal customers is even more of a status symbol (and quite a cheap and easy one to implement), for people who respond to that kind of thing.
But it's more than that, is my point. For example, in ESO they could decide to just give everyone a bunch of pets and not limit it to any criteria (e.g. length of time played, etc). It's fairly easy and cheap to do. You'd still get the pet, still have it follow you around, it would still function in exactly the same way if it were given to special customers, or everyone. So why not give it to everyone? It's all about the psychology. It would be devalued in many player's minds, or conversely it would feel more valuable if it were given to fewer people, even if it functioned exactly the same in both cases. So it's not actually about the pet itself, otherwise it would be freely given to everyone. It's about an easy, low cost way to make (honestly, I feel manipulate) people into feeling special.
I think they are kind of cool and great when they are temporary and removed from the game so those that have them can parade them around as status symbols. I think they are also a very appropriate item for the cash shops, they provide no game benefit so avoid the pay to win scenarios.
Hell, they are just fun, and if you don't like them you don't have to use them as they provide no benefit.
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Okay, I now get the customization thing.
But for me, that would be meaningful if you had to earn the pet in some way. If the pet were extremely rare, if you had to complete some quests or rep grinds for it, or best of all, if you had to find, capture and train it.
To get one just for participating in a non-exclusive beta or subbing to a sub-based game is meaningless to me.
However, I will admit the monkey from the ESO beta is rather endearing and it is the only one I haven't tossed. It's on an alt, but I just haven't been able to get rid of it. I got rid of the mudcrabs, though.
They're more non-combat related options for players to participate in. We need more stuff like this.
I'm more of a fashion hound and need to collect as many armor sets as i can.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The game I'm playing has lots of vanity pets that don't do anything. I got tired of feeding my "plant" pet and carrying it around for 50+ levels for nothing so I decided to delete it.
One day while doing an end-game dungeon I noticed a teammate spawning his plant pet prior to fighting the last boss. I had a good laugh until I saw his pet eating all the "Bee adds" the boss was spawning.
Dam I wish I had that pet back.........
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Why do people like to collect stamps?
Why do people like to collect action figures?
May be there is some commonality.
I have never seen the point of vanity pets.
Take Kingsisle as an example of pets done well. Many drop from mobs, they fight for you, you can have pet duels, you can breed them, train them etc etc. Breeding in particular allows you to combine pets to to make a (possibly) stronger offspring and a new skin, if you are careful with the stats you choose to combine. In my view a kids game has managed to turn a bit of a fluff side game into a far more interesting experience than any AAA mmo.
Don't get it either. In both GW2 and SW:TOR many of those most desired pets are selling for huge amounts of in-game currency as well.
Personally I don't even notice they're there most of the time (I only have some of the subscriber reward pets) and generally think they're pointlessly silly. "Oh we have a super big monster in our game, lets shrink it down and color it orange, then sell it for a ton of money", I don't get why people buy into that.
But to each their own I guess. I did manage to make a lot of money off of them when I got a lucky drop, so that's nice.
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The question in OP is one that can never be truly answered. Some like em some don't.
Personaly have nothing against vanity pets but will never buy one from some sort of ingame cashshop.
Now a pet system where you can catch/tame or maybe even bio-engineer a pet that actually needs to grow to either become a mount of sorts or a fightin pet companion would be more my thing as it relates to something I feel should be present in a game with the RPG tag. But only as a option for those (like me) that can enjoy that sort of thing.
You might as well ask why people buy cool t-shirts when they could simply buy a blank boring one at a much lower price. Same with all other sorts of accessories, cars and just about every other thing you can buy.
Some get them because they think they look cool, while for others it's more of a "Look what I have (and you don't)" kind of thing.
There are probably as many different reasons to like them (or not to like them) as there people. :P
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https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I don't like to participate in stuff like pets/achievements, in fact I try to avoid doing them as much as possible.
But I understand that people like to collect stuff. It's not a difficult concept to grasp.
This would work for me.
Doesn't AoC have something like this where you capture a tiger and raise it into your mount? I think ArcheAge has something like that, too, but I don't know the particulars.