My friends and I all hate the new rabbit traps.

[Wildgrave]

Unless there is some important reason to catch a rabbit and not kill it, I really wish we could revert to the old way the traps worked. The abstraction of checking your trap and getting a "morsel" fit very well with the game's aesthetic, and provided a way to trap for food without, you know, explicitly killing cute things. I know this doesn't bother a lot of players. But I assure you it bothers some players a lot. I play with a group of three other people, and we all find it a very unpleasant change. Throwing a stunned bunny to the ground and hacking it apart with an axe is just nasty. (And not really more or less "realistic" than the previous system, when you get right down to it.)

This isn't about being Tough-Minded or what the hell ever, it's an aesthetic issue. I thought the previous solution was actually very clever in allowing trapping (which is a practical and fun part of a survival game) while glossing over the killing-cute-things part. It's just a huge aesthetic step back and has taken a surprising amount of fun out of the game for me and my friends, since surviving without trapping is, frankly, a pain.

[cptCalavera]

I would guess this is a step forward towards a future update. Where trapped, live bunnies, will actually be used for something. Like the birds are used for the cages.

In the meantime you will just have to settle with the current system.

Also, I like this system when you actually have to kill what you trap. It fits nice with the naught/nice update.

[mobius187]

Unless there is some important reason to catch a rabbit and not kill it, I really wish we could revert to the old way the traps worked.

Well part of the reason is because you can turn birds into "pets" with the bird cage. So they need to be caught alive. The flip side is rabbits are also caught alive... but have no similar purpose. Rather, I believe this has to do with killing rabbits and birds i such a way that shows you're "naughty", as this leads to the Krampus appearing.

The abstraction of checking your trap and getting a "morsel" fit very well with the game's aesthetic, and provided a way to trap for food without, you know, explicitly killing cute things.

Yup, this is where the "you being naughty" part becomes more defined.

I know this doesn't bother a lot of players. But I assure you it bothers some players a lot. I play with a group of three other people, and we all find it a very unpleasant change. Throwing a stunned bunny to the ground and hacking it apart with an axe is just nasty. (And not really more or less "realistic" than the previous system, when you get right down to it.)

I guess I'm one of those people that doesn't mind, as I was running around weeks before all this killing rabbits by the score with just an axe, cutting them off before they could get into their rabbit hole.

This isn't about being Tough-Minded or what the hell ever, it's an aesthetic issue. I thought the previous solution was actually very clever in allowing trapping (which is a practical and fun part of a survival game) while glossing over the killing-cute-things part. It's just a huge aesthetic step back and has taken a surprising amount of fun out of the game for me and my friends, since surviving without trapping is, frankly, a pain.

Well I suggest for now that you want to just see where the Devs are going with this, as they had plans for keeping the birds alive. Maybe the rabbits will also have a purpose... like putting them into some type of running wheel to power a machine... and you feed them carrots to make them run.

Also, I have made suggestions in other threads (after seeing another player's post) that perhaps two new traps could be added that used the same formula, but added hounds teeth... to make it a automatically lethal. And then it would work like the old traps did and just give you meat morsels.

Just a thought.

I would guess this is a step forward towards a future update. Where trapped, live bunnies, will actually be used for something. Like the birds are used for the cages.

Once again, this is what happens when you take too long to answer...

[Lorca]

To the OP: if you are bothered by the "violence" of killing bunnies, then you shouldn't be playing games in the first place. Be glad that they don't spurt with blood, or have their bodies dismembered with the first swing of the axe. If you and your friends don't like this abstraction of death, then you guys must be extreme people that probably have extreme ideas about other things in life.

I don't know what's the rating for this game, but if this game is meant for 4-8 year old children, then killing bunnies might look too violent. Btw, what's aesthetically pleasing to you may not be aesthetically pleasing to someone else.

[3DKnight]

or do a self imposed vegan achievement (only kill in self defense, or run away and let pigs/beefalos do your killing) entirely possible, unless you misclick and eat a spider meat or something only downside is no meat effigy and need to build plots quickly, so be careful

i have made it to 6th day an build farm plots without killing any bunnies... just harvest a lot of berries and carrots and seeds early on

[Xuhybrid]

I imagine they will have a purpose later. Think about the other trap the bug net. You catch a live animal, be it a butterfly, a bee or a killer bee. They changed the way bird traps worked for their new bird cage and each trap except the rabbit now gives a live animal. It only makes sense to change the rabbit trap at the same time. This game is a beta. Everything is work in progress so i would expect some use for live rabbits. Maybe they'd be bait for larger monsters. Maybe even the Spider Queen who knows.

The fact that you dislike the killing of animals tells me this game probably isnt for you. Go back to ur farming and berry picking please if it displeases you so much. Its not like you need rabbit meat.

Edited December 17, 2012 by Xuhybrid

[mobius187]

Wait... birds? Bees? The birds and the bees!?! I think I know how baby beefalo will be added to the game!

[Reshy]

Breeding rabbits? Fattening them up? Keeping them as tamed pets?

[Syd]

I must admit that I attempted putting a bunny into a science machine. It didn't work, but it would have been a wee bit disturbing if it did.

Klei has a tendency to introduce mechanics or items before they truly have a purpose. I'm sure they have something planned for live rabbits in the future.

Also, I believe you can right-click the bunny in your inventory to kill it without having to drop it on the ground and chop it up. It still counts as a "naughty" act though, since you're still killing a rabbit.

[Ora]

I must admit that I attempted putting a bunny into a science machine. It didn't work, but it would have been a wee bit disturbing if it did.

When I first captured a rabbit and examined it, Wilson said "Do you like science?" This immediately made me think about animal testing, and the very next thing I did was try to drop it into the science machine.

Also, I believe you can right-click the bunny in your inventory to kill it without having to drop it on the ground and chop it up. It still counts as a "naughty" act though, since you're still killing a rabbit.

I don't think that's right. As I said above, I was able to examine the rabbit. Pretty sure I did so by right clicking. Which would mean that you can't kill a rabbit in your inventory by right clicking.

[Syd]

I don't think that's right. As I said above, I was able to examine the rabbit. Pretty sure I did so by right clicking. Which would mean that you can't kill a rabbit in your inventory by right clicking.

That's just what I had heard a while back. It might have never been true or it could have been hotfixed out. I'll test it out myself.

Edit: Doesn't seem to work, so whoever said that before was either a liar or the option to kill it like that was removed, but I did find an odd thing: If you hover the rabbit over a crock pot, it appears to give the option to "Cook" the rabbit, but it doesn't seem like you can actually place the rabbit in it.

Edited December 17, 2012 by Syd

[mobius187]

If you hover the rabbit over a crock pot, it appears to give the option to "Cook" the rabbit, but it doesn't seem like you can actually place the rabbit in it.

I wonder why? Certainly there couldn't be anything wrong with placing a live rabbit into a crock pot and then cooking it. Or is there...? I'm sure the Krampus will let us know.

[Enchanter]

Unless there is some important reason to catch a rabbit and not kill it, I really wish we could revert to the old way the traps worked.

Reasons on why rabbits don't die when they get trapped:

The stick is just to hold the trap up. The mechanism to close the trap is activated by a laser, which reacts if sth. interrupts the laser. Then an other mechanism produces a blast wave, which knocks the stick down.

It also USED to incinerate anything that is caught beneath the trap, Which explains why you could find stingers and meat under it.

Obviously the trap contains spikes on the inside, impaling everything getting caught.

Because of the new cost reduction when buiding it, you had to remove some of those spikes. That's why some animals survive.

Of course, these people were being heavily sarcastic in their posts on this: (http://forums.kleientertainment.com/showthread.php?4301-Tom-s-spider-farm!&highlight=tommy) thread, but still, I think it proves my point. Bunny traps don't have these amazing mechanisms in them and that is why they don't kill bunnies!

[Ickorus]

You mean to tell me that not everyone enjoys burying an axe in a rabbits skull and then dancing around flinging their entrails and meaty bits about?

Preposterous.

I wonder why? Certainly there couldn't be anything wrong with placing a live rabbit into a crock pot and then cooking it. Or is there...? I'm sure the Krampus will let us know.

"The screaming is just air escaping"

[mobius187]

"The screaming is just air escaping"

That's lobsters... silly.

[Vectar]

I like the hound tooth option myself. Good idea.

[mobius187]

I like the hound tooth option myself. Good idea.

I wish I could take credit, but another user suggested it. I'm a vault of suggestions... so when you guys come up with good ideas they get locked away and are reposted by me as needed.