CLOK BBS

Rithiel started everyone talking about pets on OOC today and I started thinking about fishbowls and aquariums. You could pick them up and move them around, but not put them in your backpack or something like that. Buy fish or catch them yourself and add to your aquarium! Sell fish food at pet shops or make crafting recipes for them, or catch food for them.

I figure it would be easier to design than dogs and stuff since the fish wouldn't follow you around from room to room or anything.

I'm not sure how well this meshes with the game's setting, but I'm by no means an expert on this. Either way -- if we implement aquaria, I want one. I'll fill it with Pure Awesome(TM) and lots of widdle fishies.

Aquariums are also pretty complicated ecosystems, and require regular maintenance. Chances are the people that kept aquariums in the 1800s were probably at least moderately wealthy and probably had some minor background in chemistry, if they were successful at least. Without keeping the water properly oxygenated and free of nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia, most fish won't last terribly long in an aquarium.

I'm okay with requiring some maintenance and equipment to keep the aquarium going long term. If specialized euipment is needed, set up a specialized merchant somewhere that sells it. It may be expensive in IC terms but adventurers (player characters) tend to be quite wealthy in IC terms because we're willing to take crazy death-defying risks every day and usually make money from it (dangerous tasks, fighting dangerous creatures). I mean we can afford a house in a few days of consistant work, a horse in a couple hours.

If we want to be picky we can say you need to get your water treated every now and then by an elemancer with aero and hydro, who knows the correct pattern. The pattern could be considered a cantrip and you wouldn't need to spend ability points to get it, maybe it costs recognition points and riln instead. You could also bring barrel of water over to an NPC elemancer to get it treated and then use that barrel to refill your aquarium with the treated water.

Alternatively, maybe there's some kind of aquatic plants or algae in the CLOK world that provide what's necessary to keep the water fit for fishy living. We've got plants and animals and even people in CLOK with all sorts of crazy extraordinary properties, why not have some that cover this? Some kind of aquatic plants and algae that have been found in stagnant pools or something that keep the fish living within alive by processing their waste and byproducts and producing oxygen and whatever else to keep the water livable as a result. Some smart entrepreneur said hey, I'll harvest and grow this stuff, then sell it so people keep pet fish in their very own homes! Boom, the guy makes millions. I'm not a marine biologist but is this believable enough for CLOK that likes realism but still allows a few corners to be cut for the sake of being a game?

I think aquariums would fit with the current balance of realism VS fun that exists in CLOK. Consider the following things that have been simplified:

* we smelt multiple bars of metal, including alloys, by simply putting lumps of ore into a smelter and pulling a bellows.
* we make pies by throwing stuff into a pie tin and putting it into an oven for a few seconds.
* we grow crops in a few hours in any climate as long as there's earth to plant in.
* we don't ever have to drink or sleep, yet we stay in top condition.
* in the case of food we can survive forever on a single type of food
* food never spoils, not even raw meat or fish. We don't need to go through a treating and curing process to make food keep for long periods.

And so on.

Don't give them ideas...

My immersion has been ruined. Thanks Orris!

Kiyaani is getting the fishslap!

Orris needs to eat here: http://www.slapfishrestaurant.com/

[quote=KianTheArcher]...Without keeping the water properly oxygenated and free of nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia, most fish won't last terribly long in an aquarium.[/quote]

Judging from your avatar picture, you've been waiting a long time to say that, haven't you, Mr Kian?