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Nature V. Nurture


Lemodile

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What defines our behavior? Our genes or our upbringing?

It's a question that's been the subject of heated debate for a long time, with consensus shifting from time to time to favoring either camp. Niche, in it's present state, clearly takes the "nature" stance. A nicheling's abilities are entirely defined by their genetics.

What I'm suggesting is to introduce a little bit of "nurture" into the game. Sure, sharp claws will help you fish or fight, but so would an older nicheling showing you the ropes of how it's done! This could work by counting up all actions performed by an adult within sight (or directly next to in case of blindness) of a young nicheling. Once reaching adulthood, the action with the highest count (with a treshold of let's say 3 instances) is added as a bonus stat.

Examples:

  • A young nicheling that grew up with elders constantly cracking open coconuts around them could get a +1 cracking bonus.
  • Growing up around nichelings that are hunting / fighting can get a bonus in that direction (e.g. strength, stealth or defence).
  • But no more than one nurture bonus per young.

Since there aren't always enough opportunities for this to happen, it'd be nice to allow (skilled) adults to interact more with their young. Besides obviously being able to protect them, an action geared towards tutoring them on a skillset of your choosing could be a worthwhile action for an adult to take. For example, an adult with 4+ strength could teach fighting.

In short, the idea is meant to give upbringing a bit of meaning. You can easily not spend time on your young and have skilled nichelings based on their genetics alone, but taking the trouble to nurture them could make them invaluable assets to your population.

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Thanks for all your comments.

Based on what I'm reading, perhaps a middle ground can be found in the following:

  • You need to have the skill to get an actual +1 bonus
  • If you don't have the skill, you don't get +1, but an increased chance of success at trying. It's not as good as getting a +1 but it may still be worth the trouble.
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16 hours ago, Sheireen said:

but how would a derpsnouted no-paw nicheling crack open nuts?
just because you have seen how it is done, dosn't mean you have the ability to do it
if you watch the elders use their nimble fingers, how will that help you? when you physically don't have the means to do it the way they showed you?

In general I think nature and nurture work together to form a person, but the jumps in Niche are too big for that
it is not a simple "that person has talent" but otherwise similar enough abilitys (like having hands, even though some are more nimble than others, they are basically the same)
we are not comparing a human with an other more/less talented in one area human; we are comparing cats and bunnies

I feel if you have the ability, only then can you get a boost from it. Like, a nimble fingered nicheling watchs other nimble fingered nichelings do it, then they get +1 cracking or collecting, depending on what the elders were doing.

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4 hours ago, Sheireen said:

but how would a derpsnouted no-paw nicheling crack open nuts?
just because you have seen how it is done, dosn't mean you have the ability to do it
if you watch the elders use their nimble fingers, how will that help you? when you physically don't have the means to do it the way they showed you?

In general I think nature and nurture work together to form a person, but the jumps in Niche are too big for that
it is not a simple "that person has talent" but otherwise similar enough abilitys (like having hands, even though some are more nimble than others, they are basically the same)
we are not comparing a human with an other more/less talented in one area human; we are comparing cats and bunnies

 

3 hours ago, Lemodile said:

Although it's an extreme example, animals tend to come up with unexpected solutions for these kind of issues. You can throw it up high in the air and let gravity do the trick (corvids do this). You can take two nuts and push them together (yes I think you'd be able to hold things with a derp snout as well) until the weaker nut breaks. You may not have much use for finger techniques, but seeing what it takes to break a nut is useful in any case.

Of course, I get your point that there are some major differences between real life and niche, but I think that was abundantly clear in how the game works already.

Also, also we already have a small chance of doing that stuff with any Nicheling that doesn't have the skill. So technically once in a blue moon derpsnouts can crack nuts (as shown by the try button) so why not either up the chance of that happening with your idea, or just leave the original idea

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16 minutes ago, Sheireen said:

how would a derpsnouted no-paw nicheling crack open nuts?

Although it's an extreme example, animals tend to come up with unexpected solutions for these kind of issues. You can throw it up high in the air and let gravity do the trick (corvids do this). You can take two nuts and push them together (yes I think you'd be able to hold things with a derp snout as well) until the weaker nut breaks. You may not have much use for finger techniques, but seeing what it takes to break a nut is useful in any case.

Of course, I get your point that there are some major differences between real life and niche, but I think that was abundantly clear in how the game works already.

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but how would a derpsnouted no-paw nicheling crack open nuts?
just because you have seen how it is done, dosn't mean you have the ability to do it
if you watch the elders use their nimble fingers, how will that help you? when you physically don't have the means to do it the way they showed you?

In general I think nature and nurture work together to form a person, but the jumps in Niche are too big for that
it is not a simple "that person has talent" but otherwise similar enough abilitys (like having hands, even though some are more nimble than others, they are basically the same)
we are not comparing a human with an other more/less talented in one area human; we are comparing cats and bunnies

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