I really included this on the survey for fun just because I know a few players in particular request it on every single survey, haha. What I did not anticipate is the overwhelming number of responses that did wants cats and also went back to the comments section to reiternate to me how much they wanted cats.

Soo, I kind of feel like we should talk about it, so I'm making this thread so that we can discuss it. Although, truly, no promises, this is not a decision anyone on the staff wants to take lightly and we didn't actually think the suggestion would be so popular. But, let's talk about it!

It would be a lot of work to add cats, but less work than you probably think. So it IS possible, buuttt.

My concerns are the following:

#1 it would be more information for the server to handle, and it would be more things happening internally. Our server should be able to handle this, but it's worth noting anyway. I think it would have to come with a massive clean up of old accounts and old horses/dogs (which should happen anyway, but it's a lot of work for a small organizational payoff right now, but if we were to add cats, it would be more necessary).

#2 it would be a pretty major deviation from the genre. Although, to be fair, I think only the old HL-style games have horses AND dogs. Most of the them these days are one or the other. So really, there's nothing stopping us from doing whatever we want. But we did just get new art that does not involve cats (although, yes, this could be fixed) and since our name is HORSE Phenomena, I think we're already at a marketing disadvantage because we don't have an inclusive name, haha.

#3 I don't know a goddamn thing about cat genetics, so if we all collectively decide that we want genetics and cats, that might be a problem.

#4 is kind of an expansion on #2, but HP is meant to be a specific type of old-school game, and I don't want to lose touch with that. That's our whole schtick. And I don't want to add things that would alienate players who really do want an old school horse and dog SIM game experience. But we are our own game, we're not HL despite the similarities, and we've been our own game for a whole decade, so I don't think we should be beholden to old industry standards just for the hell of it. So if truly you all want this, then YOU are HP's playerbase and you should get to decide how you want to play, you know?

Soo, tell me this:

Do you want cats? Why or why not?

I get the it’s “horse” phenomena but in that instance we shouldnt even have dogs then. Also ap was more than just having different animals. It was a more complex game instead of just click 80times and your done 

I’m ok with even limited breeds  

like we poll it out and choose like 10 or something  keep it small so the people are encouraged more player interaction 

#teamcats

i like Maharet idea only haveing 10 to 15 or so breeds then theres cats but not too many that overload or cause too many problems

Going on what Sat suggested about cleaning up old store animals with no points/aren't active/have no lines: I like the (maaany) animals I have that come under those categories. They're part of my "history" of playing HP. If I didn't, I'd have deleted them myself, long ago. If such a cleanup were to happen, owners should be consulted first, to ask whether or not they want their animals to be deleted.

Back in the day when we talked about cleaning up, it was only gonna be from accounts that havent been logged into for 6months.

Oh goodness, going on the cleaning, please dont delete my ferrets or no breeds.  

I'm sure my two-cents means nothing in this conversation, but here is my overall thoughts on the situation:

While I agree of imagining Horse Phenomena like a equestriam centre/barn, I disagree with this whole "Animal Phenomena vs. Horse Phenomena" debate. If we were to market the game based on its name then dogs should just be ultimately deleted from the game. Equestrian centres do not breed dogs either. They are just a pet. That being said, that is not the case. It was based on the old days of Horseland that re-united older players and newer players into a neighboring community. With that out of the way, let's get down to the nitty gritty. 

Should cats be in the game? Realistically speaking, cats are shown and bred just like dogs are. If we are to ignore the points I made above for the moment, and look at this as an actual breeding SIMS game, they have a chance. Also, let us remember we have a barnyard club. But, setting that aside, let us look at the lines themselves. Is it nessecary? Not at all, as technically we all have cats right now as our avatars for the most part.

I do agree that we have too many breeds on here as it is, many of them inactive. And cat breeds expands as big as dogs, so the problem would only increase, not to mention server strain. But I also agree with Kuwait that the clean-ups should be optional. While I do agree its unique, I still think qe can hit that mark in a different way.

I don't view cats and dogs as equal in this game simply because it was already an established thing from HL. Is is fair or right? Nope but it is what it is

no cats please.

I would breed cats, for sure. :)

I love cats w/all my heart - but cats in general are hard for sim games.  I know at least one that tried to add them and just ended up giving up all together. The problem lies in cats and how we classify them in general. While there are cat breeds, most cats are classified by colour. ‘But tuma we classify horses by colour too’ but colour are defined enough to actually have standards to mark them as their own identifiable group. 

It has been estimated that 65-85% of cats in the general public (using USA as reference here) are American short/long hair... or essentially glorified ‘mutts’ there is no real standard for this pseudobreed. Body shape/coloration etc. vary to widely to put a classification into effect.   cat colour genetics are an absolute mess if we are going to try to factor in genetics on the site. 

I dont know of this makes sense to anybody else (it’s real late) 

 but i’d have to vote no. 

I vote no, since its HORSE phenomena, Btw what happened to animal phenomena?
I like the Barn cat idea from Vow. I don't think, if it would be added, it should be a permanent thing on the game itself. I can see why people want it though, since some people are more cat people than dog people.

Whatever is being done; I love the game none the less, It wont change.

Thanks for liking my idea Gothika! :D

Tumaran: 

hence my suggestion of certain breeds.
and actually an american short hair IS a breed

I believe the term your looking for is domestic short or long hair :)
yes i might be a slight cat nut and might drag my family ever year for the 2 day straight tica cat show in town XD

and yes they might be a mess but they are still mapable (i feel like i spelt that wrong)
https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/coatcolorcat.php

#teamcats

i personally wouldn't breed cats, however i also don't breed dogs? so adding them in wouldn't affect my game play at all. it's be amazing to see what kind of arts players would create for cats 🤷‍♀️ 
i for sure have no idea what all the different cat breeds are so would be completely lost on that. i owned a few cats irl before and all i can tell you is that they were all "domestic short hairs" lmaoo
i think adding maybe 10-15 would be a good start on what some of the most voted on breeds would be. i just wouldn't include big cats ex: tigers, lions, cheetahs ectt...

If I had to pick 15..

1. Domestic Short Haired. 

2. Domestic Long Haired. 

3. Bombay. 

4. Siamese. 

5. Himalayan (spelled wrong, but oh well). 

6. Russian Blue. 

7. Munchkin.

8. Uhhhhh I think I'm outta breeds already. 

8) Bengals

9) Tabby's

10) Calco (or is this more a color?)

11) Barn cat (though barn cat can be any breed lol)

I think Calicos and Tabbys are colors and not breeds. I cannot believe I forgot Bengals . I do think that Barn Cat would be a good way to add in 'mutt cats'

bengal, ocicat, egyptian mau, toyger, birman, savannah, siberian, norwegian forest cat, ragdoll, abyssinian, maine coon.....

I got the Cat Fancy magazine for yeaaaaaars guys. While y'all were drooling over ponies I was tacking cat breed posters all over my room. xD

I was doing that with dog fancy 🤣🤣

:) barn cats.... as tabby's and calico if there colors can fall under them so Barn cats can work for a lot of cats :)