I like how this thread immediately deviated into ‘how do we deal with the sex aspect’. Realistically coming from a gameplay perspective, if reproductive choice is included within the game, the system would have to be simple enough for any player to understand. I don’t think a dev is ever going to contribute substantial time into a dedicated ‘customise your genitalia’ editor. Occam’s razor, copy the spore system for applying specific creature parts, model the specific reproductive parts/styles as an object, then when choosing how you reproduce its as simple as placing the part on your creature. Obviously more consideration is needed for the interphase between here and where the game is now, but in creature editor it could be as simple as a part you put on your creature, that’s the full extent. Different types could have different gameplay or traits associated, (e.g. pollen allows long distance reproduction).
Now addressing censorship, default shouldn’t be censored, its biology and we as respectable people shouldn’t inadvertently anthropomorphise/sexualise it. However obviously there are cases (YouTube) where even the depiction of these organs is not allowed, therefore the proposed ‘blob’ approach from above could be used and just replace the part models in the editor. Again any ‘mating’ scene should be skippable and I doubt again any dev wants to dedicate enough time to realistically animate sex.
Finally Rhinobot’s proposition on secondary sexual traits can also fall under the same part system, modelled parts represent types of organs (breasts/udders). Again if censorship is on it just replaces the model with a ‘blob’.
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Deathwake
(i nuked zenzone and will never let him forget it)
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the plan for the organism editor has basically always involved custom organs. If the plan was prebuilt organs then the issue would only have one logical solution, yours, but that’s not the plan
Then the people doing Youtube can just not livestream the aware stage and censor the sex themselves. That is assuming there will be anything too sexual, which I find unlikely if they keep their own creature sufficiently non-obscene
You forget YouTube is super inconsistent on what it considers ok and not ok with nsfw, not to mention they arnt even consistent on punishing on creator while not doing anything to another for the same exact thing
We are not going to do reproduction in the game so that showing it on Youtube gets you age restricted or video banned entirely. That’s the entire discussion, the line we need to avoid crossing with features programmed into Thrive.
I don’t quite understand what you mean? Are you saying all reproduction must be censored, or only that which is possible to run afoul of external censorship guidelines?
Either way, limiting the discussion only to reproduction seems rather foolish. For example, showing creatures like the Kuh of Snaiad hunting replications of human children would clearly be obscene, perhaps even illegal in some nations. There are also lesser examples relating to gore or death which could also catch censorship
If it’s about YouTube rather than the players themselves, then probably the line would be at genitals altogether. YouTube is really weird and gets ticked off even if they’re censored. The mating scenes would probably slide as long as it cut off well before the scene started, and also they’d likely be fine with many forms of sexual reproduction so long as they don’t resemble the way mammals do it. Like how fish just lay the eggs, and then fertilize them externally. YouTube would probably be okay with that. Or cells shooting out gametes. Guarantee YouTube wouldn’t care about that.
That said, I still stand by my opinion that even if it’s not detailed we should have some sort of genitalia system because it would be weird designing a whole creature but then pretending the ‘icky parts’ don’t exist, and would limit possible methods of reproduction too. So at least add a censoring option for YouTubers, and if that doesn’t work, you COULD go a step further and add a mode which foregoes all genitalia at all so YouTubers can play sexually reproducing organisms and still not get banned. But that would require a lot of reprogramming, so that’s a bit far.
If people are too uncomfortable with designing genitalia, it could be as simple as choosing sexual reproduction, then choosing the method. For example you just select internal or external fertilization out of a list of options, that kind of thing. I really wouldn’t prefer this but I can understand why some people would. I just don’t like how limited that would be since reproduction is so much more complex.
As for gore, YouTube often gets at people for even BLOOD showing up in a video. So that will be the most limited part in my opinion, but luckily gore is an easily toggleable option in games- especially if it’s just blood. So that won’t pose a big problem. YouTubers will lose an entire feature, but a small one. It’s just a visual thing most of the time, unless you want to eat blood to live.
I completely agree, tho I don’t remember how strict YouTube is if it’s animated blood (as long as it’s not like CRAZY amounts, in talking like blood splatter, but not decapitation type stuff, tho I have seen that stuff on YouTube so I have no idea.
But yeah YouTube is really weird when it comes to what’s ok or not ok with sexual stuff (twitch too). I’m not saying the game should HEAVILY favor YouTubers/streamers, but I think they should definitely be in consideration like hhyyrylainen said. When we cross that road the devs can probably look up the exact details on what YouTube/twitch whatever does and doesn’t allow and build from there. In all honesty tho a skip button would probably work the best imo (which I don’t see why it would be a big deal to add that option)
I also think that however it’s made, there should at least be a disclaimer at the beginning of the game or just somewhere in the game warning there are sexual scenes (and maybe a note on how to disable/bypass/whatever to not show it), so YouTubers/streamers know about it and not accidentally show something they arnt supposed to cause they weren’t expecting a whole scene.
Edit: just thought about it, probably would be best to put a warning in the tutorial right at the mating scene if there is one tbh
I think this is the approach the “default” or official version of Thrive needs to take. While we aren’t making a game for children (PEGI 3 or 7) the target age rating has basically always been at most PEGI 12. Any other choice is basically a no-go for the primary version of Thrive. Mods (official or otherwise) will be the only way the game would approach designing actual genitals that may look something like mammals would have.
This is probably the approach we need to take, the player is just given a list of options they can spend MP to switch to.
The reason why I can soon work on Thrive fulltime is thanks to Youtubers playing the game. It’s such a huge way to get the word out about Thrive that it is really important to make sure Youtubers don’t get hit with age restriction or anything like that if they play Thrive.
Again, I’ll say that these scenes must be disabled by default. If they are added at all they need to be explicitly enabled, and probably actually a separate download because age rating agencies will rate a game based on the content in it (even if there’s a separate warning to enable that content). So again this content must be locked for example behind downloading a mod (official or otherwise).
This all sounds like a good compromise. It would be great if it were possible to design everything with just as much detail but it seems it just can’t happen. This idea is better than just pretending reproduction is a magical process with no organs required, but it still skips the discomfort some players (and advertisers) may have with crafting it themselves.
The one big thing that could be a problem is that if you want really specific parts for certain strategies it’d be kind of like the microbe stage where you drag and drop instead of making it yourself… And as an example- and I know I’ve mentioned this part a LOT but it’s for good reason- ovipositors wouldn’t be able to be crafted manually, but they’re a structure that can assist in where and how an organism lays eggs, which can change gameplay drastically. This means it’s pretty important to make it and other similar structures an option in the game. So you’d have to give something like an “Ovipositor” option and have the player drag it on.
That said I don’t think it’ll be possible to make every single structure in the game hand-made (Think nervous system, for example) and so it might not actually be that unfortunate to need to use the drag and drop method for the less traditionally inappropriate forms of genitalia. I guess I’ll just wait and see.
This is a rather narrow-minded look at the issue. Censoring genitals isn’t going to help anything when a relative of your quadrupedal crab-like gets a bit too slender, or if the auto-evo decides that the legged flatworms need a proboscis, or even if you encounter an alien whose creator thought they needed a large inguinal snood
Exactly. No method of concealing genitalia will help with obscene structures other than genitals
And given that there are so many more parts that aren’t genitals compared to just genitals, then it’s reasonable to believe these would be the lion’s share of the obscenity, which rather invalidates the reasoning behind the censorship in the first place
Wdym no method? It’s not that difficult to not show them. The integrity of the game is not gonna be broken just because a genitals or a sex scene was skipped or something lol.
Rust allows you to also censor genitalia by just putting underwear on the model.
Something similar could be done by just matching however the skin/fur/scales/ whatever is and have it look “genderless.”
Besides, a lot of animals hide their genitalia out of site (probably for protection), and with the wasp stinger thing, YouTube honestly wouldn’t know what to do there cause it’s not nudity as it regulates (but however its decided is best to deal with that is up for debate ig)
Anyway, you can have the genitals there without visually being there. It’s not gonna make a difference gameplay wise.
Why would those need to be censored? We are talking about normal sex not 1000 kinky sex positions. And if your suggesting that all kinds of different sex types should be added there’s literally 0 reason why thrive needs that, it’s completely and utterly unnecessary for what this game it’s, it’s not a weird sex simulator game
