Well, you could read Celebriton's post as advocating polygamy/polyandry in the sims, rather than critiquing gay marriage s/he has a point, that is also a widespread human practice (and widespread in the animal world as well, at least as regards mating, since marriage isn't relevant there).

In much of contemporary Western society, gay marriage is considered more acceptable than polygamy... but the reverse is true in much of the rest of the world, and this was the case in many parts of the Western world as well until relatively recently (particularly if you include systems of "concubinage" among the aristocracy as well as plural marriages per se).

So, yeah... there's more than one alternative to the whole "one male/one female" model that has been prevalent in both human and animal societies. Let me add that in the human context I'm completely in favor of the legalization of gay marriage here and now... and a bit conflicted about polygamy, since though in theory I think individuals should be able to make their own decisions about such matters, in practice it tends to lead to bad outcomes for both women and children.

Which leads to the question: do pets have romantic reputation and/or other barriers to polyamorous behavior in Pets?

I think EA wouldn't bother to add pet-to-pet relationships. Too much work

Hmm? There are pet-to-pet relationships, you can see em in the previews, and in the unlocked demo.

And, since pets are basically sims... from a programming point of view... it is probably harder to REMOVE them than to add them. Anything a Sim does that a pet DOESN'T do requires extra programming.

Ohhhhhhh, can someone PLEASE just make a mod for this?!? I'd do it myself if I knew how to mod anything! >_< Unless it's already in the game! =D

I'll be so fed up if it's not... !

No. They list a pet as their "Mate" after woohoo but if they woohoo with a different pet, the label just moves over to them (with as far as I can tell, no jealousy mechanism). You can't have more than one listed as a mate at once, and there's no "romantic interest" beyond that, but it's not like the game actively fights you on it the way it would for sims.

I can see how animals can be homosexual, but the idea of them having romantic relationships is a bit too weird for me.

Yup. There's no lovey-dovey pet relationships in sims. And no sexual urges for pets (neither opposite gendered or same gendered). So, there technically aren't even opposite sex relationships. Just a categorization system to remind a simmer who their pet last mated with. Or, a system to make the simmer feel like the two have a special bond, when really they are just like friends.

Eh ... what? *blinks confusedly*

Pets? Romance? Relationships? Let's face it, this is little more than an EAxian attempt of keeping "The Sims" series a cuddly cutesy teenage thing or something.
Therefore, wondering about same sex relationships and pets is brain busting.
Who cares? Who cares about pet romance? I mean, seriously - who does? 0_o





I agree. And I agree. Pets don't have romantic relationships, period. The game might claim so for gameplay reasons (namely the family tree) but that's just that. I don't expect a mare to be in love with a stallion simply because he's the father of her foal. You know how these things work irl, right? There's no mating involved whatsoever. So, yeah. This is bogus, all of it. :P

I don't think it's anything like that clear.

You can certainly argue about what qualifies as "romance"... and if you like, you can define the word in such a way that it's nonsensical for any animal to experience it, by insisting that it involve species-specific cognitive or cultural elements. I think any such definition would be purely arbitrary, though.

Animals do treat other individual animals differently... so there are definitely different kinds of relationships. A cat or dog does not treat every other cat or dog exactly the same way. My two cats cuddle with each other but hiss at outsiders, to take a completely commonplace example.

Sometimes, in some species, animals form lifelong attachments to an individual that are associated with mating behavior. I don't know why you wouldn't call that romance.

Personally, I think human "romantic" behavior is a lot more biological and rooted in our status as a species of animals than most people like to admit.

Not saying you're WRONG, but you treat as obvious something that I think (and that animal ethologists think) is a really complicated question.

I think they meant pet SIMS don't have romantic relationships.

Well, there is one "romantic" option, and that is "try for puppies/kittens/foals"

So, in the Sim sense, they DO, even if it's rather simple!

(Celebriton's post) Isn't it funny how we are all supposed to be real modern and tolerant and whatnot, and everytime, EVERY time, a subject like gay relationships or the likes pops up in the forum, there's bound to be some discussion on it in real life? I mean seriously, it makes me sick sometimes. Can't we just all finally accept the fact that it's not up to YOU to decide the kind of life your neighbour wants to lead? Well, unless his idea of a life consists in piling corpses in his cellar at least ...

Phew, after I got that off my chest: I don't know about romance in animals, but I do second that they have more than just "pragmatic" relationships. They can be friends and enemies, at least cats, birds and rabbits can (which is about all the animals I've had so far). When my tomcat still went outside for example (can't let him anymore now since we've moved), he used to meet up with his pal, another tomcat, and you could watch the two of them chilling together in a hidden spot somewhere - close, but not too close, and really enjoying each other's company. Also, many animals groom each other to show affection. My little rabbit even tried to groom me (disorderly person I am!) by licking my hands which was very cute (though rather useless ;-)).

So, how exactly do you propose to discuss gay relationships without mentioning real life gay relationships?

Well, it turns out that "mated" animals are regarded by EA as a "romantic' relationship. My horse woohooed with my adopted unicorn once, and got the mate link. I thought, just as many here, that it didn't really indicate any romantic bond. However, when my horse ran into GooGoo Marshall (I think), and offered to try for foal at the horse park, the sim owner/parent (not sure what the real relationship between sim and animal really is), became upset.

Afterwards, in every sim conversation the option to "feel sorry for Star" (the unicorn) came up. Now, they never actually tried for a foal (routing error?), but somehow, the mere attempt prompted a jealous reaction and sympathy for the "wronged" unicorn. The unicorn didn't seem upset, and they're relationship bars didn't take a hit, but my sim (who has about 8 active relationships going on right now herself) took offense, which, given her own history, hardly seems warranted.

I thought we're here to discuss features we want or do not want to have in the Sims, not whether gay relationships are an acceptable way of life in reality. That's what I meant, sorry if I didn't make myself clear enough.