Mermaids & Realism: The Sandbox That Doesn’t Segregate

[Muffin]

Blasphemy you say? Now hold on before you burn me at the life simulation stake, just hear me out.

For over 20 years, The Sims has held a monopoly on the life simulation genre. As the only game of its kind, it unilaterally set the rules for how DLC is sold. Because a massive portion of the player base grew up with these methods, they became the unquestioned standard. There was zero pushback from a conditioned community, and zero competitors to force better, fairer monetization.

inZOI is not The Sims. Director Kjun explicitly stated he does not want to monetize players the same predatory way, and that he wants to lean heavily into a realistic game. Yet, when Kjun asks the community to help him build inZOI, the very first things we do are:

1. Demand the exact same fragmented DLC model that ruined The Sims 4.
2. Demand high-fantasy occults that directly contradict his stated artistic vision.

I know habitual normalcy is hard to break. Fears that the studio will struggle financially without paid DLC packs, or that adding certain elements will ruin the realistic experience, are incredibly common. Emotions are high, we are all excited for a new game, and those concerns are completely valid. I am not dismissing anyone’s feelings.

Instead, I am asking us as a community to let go of the “Sims way” of doing things. Let’s strive for true innovation monetarily and creatively, but let’s pitch ideas within the realistic ruleset Kjun gave us.

Mermaids are real. They’re just not what you think.

I want to stay strictly within Kjun’s artistic vision of realism. You can’t get any realer than actual reality, so that is exactly where I looked first.

I would like to introduce you to:

• Weeki Wachee Springs State Park – A historical location hosting live underwater shows since 1947.
• The Dubai Aquarium - High-end professional mermaid shows
• Jinan Sunac Ocean Park - Home of the internet’s favorite viral "Chubby Merman

Now I know you must be thinking: “A professional mermaid career? Pass! It’s just entertainment like the idol career.” And yeah, I agree, it is. I also feel like this specific career is far too niche. It doesn’t offer enough gameplay variety for a sandbox life simulator on its own, plus it fails to satisfy the visual, magical side of mermaids that makes them so fun to play with.

However, the reality of people simply putting on a mermaid tail and swimming is what actually matters here, not the career itself.

In other words, a mermaid in inZOI should technically just be a human, not some new supernatural occult race.

So where is the magic, the fun, and the fantasy?

Real life is filled with magic; it’s just not as flashy as Hollywood makes it. To ground this feature, we have to ask what makes playing a mermaid fun, why people like it, and how a game captures those joys. It boils down to two things:

1. Swimming as a mermaid is incredibly fun.
2. The ocean is beautiful, and mermaids are an extension of that beauty that players can customize to feel at one with the sea.

Kjun is already working on allowing players to dive and swim underwater. This opens the door for the dev team to further expand the realism of the ocean floor. By expanding the ocean depths, the developers can introduce:

• Exploration: Beautiful coral reefs and deep, dark underwater caves scattered across world maps.
• Sunken History: Old human civilizations and ruins that have sunk into the ocean for players to discover.
• Underwater building: Being able to build underwater allows players to create spaces like “The Muraka” in the Maldives, as well as customizable ocean floors (similar to the parks/ city) and houses on docks.
• Wildlife Interaction: Hand-catching fish while actively swimming, just like free-divers do in real life.

The Power of Folklore

Little by little, as the developers expand each world, they can create built-in lore, rumors, and folktales about the many mysteries found in the sea:

• A local fisherman swears he almost caught a Kraken when he was stranded on an island.
• Underwater art installations in different worlds feature unique stories. Dowon’s Ocean Atlas is an art piece donated by the museum. Cahaya’s Ocean Gaia is said to be the Mother of the Ocean, rewarding those who respect it. Blissbay features a romantic tragedy, where a statue commemorates a lover who waited at sea on a stormy night, never to return.

Is the Kraken real? The game doesn’t need to tell you. Is Ocean Gaia a goddess? Much like how the in-game fortune teller works, it is entirely up to you to decide if it is real.

All of this is incredibly magical, yet completely realistic to how real-world human cultures act. You can choose to let your Zoi believe these things, seek out lore, and explore ocean secrets, or you can choose to ignore it all. This approach keeps the game grounded and cohesive, giving fantasy a meaningful and realistic place in the world without feeling like some random out-of-place system that segregates its player base.

So how do we get the mermaid tails in here?

We make them a physical item. With a living, healthy ocean ecosystem, it is completely logical that scuba diving would exist to hunt for deep-sea treasures. The mermaid tail is simply an alternative type of gear.

In the real world, a high-end, realistic professional silicone mermaid tail can easily cost up to $10,000. In inZOI, players could buy standard scuba gear for cheap, or they could save up their Zois’ hard-earned money to buy luxury “mermaid scuba gear,” complete with customizable fins and a tail.

The best part? You can put it on anywhere you like. If you want to lay on the ground with a tail for a funny beach photo, you can. If you click a couch or a bathtub, you can choose to lounge or bathe while wearing it. It is incredible for sandbox storytelling, and you, the player, are always in complete control.

This item-based system also integrates flawlessly with other core game features like the Idol career. If your Zoi has a high-fashion water photoshoot, they can wear the tail strictly as a prop for the camera and take it off afterward.

But I want to customize the tail like clothes! I can’t do that if it’s only a standard item.

I hear you, and there is a realistic way to handle CAZ customization too.

If your Zoi reaches a high swimming level and spends a lot of time exploring the ocean, they will start to hear rumors about the local Fortune Teller. If you visit them, they will notice your deep bond with the sea and ask you: “Are you a child of the ocean?”

• If you say No: You tell them you just like swimming, and the conversation ends normally.
• If you say Yes: You unlock a permanent reward. Just like the salon hair system, this interaction unlocks a variety of mermaid tails, fins, and gills inside CAZ. You can even design your own tail in the create section.

Once unlocked, you can style and customize the textures, colors, and scales as freely as you would any normal piece of clothing. These customized pieces fall under your “Scuba/Aquatic Uniform” category. Your Zoi can wear their custom tail anywhere it realistically fits, you can lounge by the pool or relax on a couch, but you obviously can’t wear it onto a roller coaster.

To make this completely player-friendly, tails are unlocked per household. Only one Zoi needs to complete the journey to unlock the catalog for the whole family. And for pure sandbox players who just want to jump straight into storytelling without the gameplay grind, you can simply type in the cheat “unlockmermaid” to instantly open up the entire CAZ collection.

Distinct Gameplay Features: No Gear vs. Scuba vs. Mermaid

The mermaid tail functions similarly to standard scuba gear, but acts as an enhanced, specialized version. Here is how the gameplay layers split depending on what your Zoi is wearing:

1**. Sea Life Interactions**

• No Gear: Highly vulnerable. Dangerous wildlife like jellyfish and sharks can aggressively harm you.
• Scuba Gear: Standard protection. Wildlife is slightly less likely to bother you unless you actively approach.
• Mermaid Tail: Total camouflage. Wildlife will completely ignore you. Because you have unlocked the CAZ tails via the Fortune Teller, the game system officially labels your Zoi a “Child of the Sea.”

2. Underwater Exploration

• No Gear: For safety reasons, your Zoi is strictly locked to no deep diving.
• Scuba Gear: Full depth access, but you are required to navigate with a flashlight at night.
• Mermaid Tail: Perfect aquatic adaptation. You gain enhanced underwater vision and do not require a flashlight at night.

3**. Deep-Sea Caves & Ancient Civilizations**

• No Gear: Highly dangerous. Anything could go wrong, and you cannot excavate or dive deep enough to retrieve items.
• Scuba Gear: Much safer. You can fully excavate and collect underwater items, but you must constantly watch out for wildlife, and your Zoi cannot read the ancient writings found on sunken ruins.
• Mermaid Tail: Completely safe. You can easily collect all rare items and fluently read the ancient text on sunken structures. This opens up world lore. For example, if you read the text near the Blissbay lover’s statue, it might reveal the identity of their lost partner, allowing you to return a heartfelt gift to the statue to boost your Karma, or keep the gift and drop your Karma.

Sea Monsters and the Unknown

I would approach sea monsters the same way the real world handles the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot: no one has definitive proof, but someone is always swearing they saw something. The game should attach these eerie occurrences strictly to specific atmospheric conditions: Stormy Nights, Nighttime, and Halloween.

Here is how those specific situations alter your gameplay:

Swimming on a Stormy Night

• No Gear: Massive risk. Something unseen will grab your leg, causing your Zoi to almost drown and develop a severe, real-world “Storm-Swimming Sickness” the next day. They will be left terrified of the water.
• Scuba Gear: High danger. Your Zoi risks decompression issues (the bends) and will need a doctor visit. Depending on their traits, the fear or curiosity of “something” moving in the dark storm water will haunt their thoughts.
• Mermaid Tail: Safe, but eerie. You can see small orbs of light, the souls of the drowned(maybe). You can capture them in a jar as decoration (lowering your Karma) or release them at a local temple to boost your Karma.

Swimming at Night on Halloween

• No Gear / Scuba Gear: Functions like a classic fear challenge or psychological trick depending on your Zoi’s traits. Scuba divers might pull up a strangely spooky item but won’t think too deeply about it.
• Mermaid Tail: Absolutely normal. Halloween is a surface-world human holiday and has nothing to do with the deep ocean ecosystem.

Swimming in the Rain on Halloween

• No Gear / Scuba Gear: A very rare chance to fish up or find a blessed or cursed artifact. Keeping it for 24 hours triggers extreme good or bad luck events, forcing you to quickly decide whether to sell it or throw it away.
• Mermaid Tail: A rare chance to find the same artifact. However, instead of just discarding it, you can take it to the Fortune Teller or a local shrine. They will share exclusive historical lore about the item and gift you a 1,000-Year-Old Mermaid’s Tear, an incredibly rare, expensive archeological item that acts as a key to unlock hidden underwater temples and sunken pirate ships.

Family and Sandbox Integration

Because a mermaid is fundamentally a human roleplaying and diving, it creates hilarious, heartwarming, and deeply realistic interactions with the rest of the world:

• Toddlers: Watch a Zoi lounging in a colorful silicone tail with pure, wide-eyed curiosity. (the way they watch t.v)

• Children & Teens: Will run over to wave or ask to take a selfie with you if you are sunbathing with your tail on the beach or by a pool.

• Skeptical Adults: Might find your hobby completely ridiculous, roll their eyes, or openly call you childish for wearing a fake tail in public.

• Imitation: Kids can play in the pool or splash in the bathtub, actively holding their breath and mimicking the “mermaid” swimming style they saw earlier.

• Wants: Kids can want to beg their parents for a mermaid tail. Parents can choose to buy them one or completely deny the request. If the child gets a tail but doesn’t have high enough swimming skills, they can’t swim with it, they are restricted to safely flopping around on the living room floor or splashing in the bathtub.

• Breaking the Rules (Permission vs. Rebellion): Even if a child does have high enough swimming skills, they are strictly required to get permission from a guardian before swimming with a tail. How this plays out depends entirely on your Zois’ traits:

  • The Reckless Child: Going swimming without asking at all will get them caught and severely reprimanded for reckless behavior.
  • The Defiant Child: If they ask and the parent says “No,” but they do it anyway, the parent can ground them and physically confiscate the tail.
  • The Smart Player: As the player, you can choose to hide the confiscated tail in a specific storage closet or chest. A highly rebellious or mischievous child can actively sneak around, steal their tail back, and continue disobeying behind their parents’ backs!

Note: The game should acknowledge that the child is stealing the tail back, that is the goal here, we are not pretending it is happening. The sneaking around should function like the cheating system; you have to get caught to get in trouble.

Expanding into Future Systems: Marine Pets & Pollution

When pets are eventually introduced to inZOI, this realistic aquatic framework can seamlessly expand to include a Marine Mammal Trainer mechanic:

• Standard Zois: Can train, feed, and tame wild sea creatures. You can call them over when you are near the shoreline, swim alongside them, and snap incredible photos like a professional aquarium trainer.
• Children of the Ocean: Your deep connection allows you to go a step further and officially “adopt” them. If a pet customization system exists, these marine companions become fully customizable to the player. Just like land pets, they can occasionally dive down to fetch you unique gifts, and you can chat with them the exact same way any real-world pet owner talks to their dog or cat. If they get sick, you can take them to an aquatic vet specialist (at a realistically higher cost, of course).
• Environmental Realism: If the developers ever add a city pollution mechanic, it would intertwine beautifully here. Oil spills (I doubt it would be this grand an incident) or ocean trash would directly impact scuba divers, swimmers, and the health of your marine pets, requiring the community to work together to clean up the beaches.

The Sandbox the that doesn’t segregate

By treating mermaids as humans who choose to dive into the deep mysteries of the sea, the developers don’t have to waste time building “mermaid-only” isolated code. Instead, they expand the world as a whole for absolutely everyone. It becomes massive baseline content for every single player, just experienced differently depending on your personal taste.

Think of it this way: If a group of friends goes on a vacation to the Bahamas, everyone is experiencing the exact same trip. However, one person chooses to go deep-sea scuba diving, another chooses to sunbathe on the sand, and another prefers fishing from a boat.

We are all on the same journey, within the same realistic world, we just choose to experience it differently. That is what a true, next-generation life simulator should be about. This approach keeps the game grounded and cohesive, giving fantasy a meaningful and realistic place in the world without feeling like some random out-of-place system that segregates its player base.

[Carnel]

To be honest, I don’t quite understand the point of this topic. Maybe it’s due to translation.

No one is begging the studio to release more paid DLC. And no one is asking them to copy “The Sims”. It’s just that when we talk about steady development and ongoing game support, it becomes clear that it’s unlikely possible to sell the game once now and then continuously add new features to it for free for 10-15 years at the same pace as we see now. I wouldn’t mind if that were the case, but I remain fairly realistic. And if particularly large updates come out at a reasonable price — I personally am willing to pay for that. But paying for a “set with five new chairs, three hairstyles, and two cabinets” at the price of half the game’s cost — that’s, of course, absolutely unacceptable.

And another convenient thing is that separating major updates into DLC will allow those players who don’t want to see certain content in their game to simply not purchase it. For example, supernatural creatures, if they ever decide to add them.

And copying mechanics from Sims?.. There are well-functioning mechanics that are hard to replace with anything else. And it would even be unreasonable to do certain things “in any way, just not like the competitor”.

Take the food cooking process: since it exists in Sims, what different could be come up with in InZOI? So that characters start pressing some buttons on a special transmitter, after which aliens arrive and drop them a space ration from a flying saucer? Or so that instead of reading books and using a computer, zois fall into meditation and receive knowledge from the astral plane? It’s clear that there will always be overlap. Any melody is written based on the same 7 notes and 5 semitones. So InZOI’s task is not to be afraid to copy, but simply to take the best, discard the unnecessary, and add something of its own — but not making it worse, and making it even better if possible, that’s all.

[NIck_Olay]

Yes, I agree. But I think there is a foundation - realism. It should be included in the basic version of the game. In the DLC, in everything else. What was the mistake of The Sims 4 - they were selling in DLC what should have been in the basic version of the game. I think the DLC should include something that can be safely removed and it won’t affect the basic version of the game in any way. Something big. For example: these can be separate professions (even with a separate location), the same mermaids and other magical creatures, new cities, etc. The DLC should not include, for example: new cars, furniture, hairstyles, clothes and other small things. This should be added immediately to the basic version of the game.

[Minthyuyu]

I remember that we already discussed our different views on gameplay DLC in the idol-career thread, so I do not want to repeat the whole debate again. I understand that you strongly prefer all gameplay systems to remain part of the base game.

My concern here is the practical limit of that position. This is not only a wearable mermaid tail or an improvement to swimming. The full proposal includes explorable underwater environments, reefs and caves, sunken civilisations, archaeology, folklore, special progression paths, marine-animal adoption, aquatic veterinary care, underwater construction, wildlife systems and environmental gameplay.

That is an extremely large and specialised package. If every similarly detailed niche fantasy must become free baseline content, where should the developers draw the line? The same expectation could then apply to a complete idol industry, airport management, detailed farming, royalty, military systems, equestrian gameplay, resorts, supernatural themes and many other specialised playstyles.

I agree that broadly useful foundations should be improved for everyone—for example, swimming, diving, beaches, fishing, ocean wildlife and underwater photography. But I think a very deep mermaid- or ocean-fantasy progression system would be reasonable as an optional expansion built on those shared foundations.

Gameplay DLC does not automatically have to mean the fragmented Sims 4 model. It can also mean one substantial, integrated and optional expansion for players who specifically want that niche.

I respect that we view DLC differently, and I do not expect us to agree on that point. I only think the scope and development cost should be acknowledged, because the alternative may not be receiving all of this for free—the alternative may simply be that such a specialised system is never developed at this depth.

[Muffin]

@Carnel

No one is begging the studio to release more paid DLC. And no one is asking them to copy “The Sims”. It’s just that when we talk about steady development and ongoing game support, it becomes clear that it’s unlikely possible to sell the game once now and then continuously add new features to it for free for 10-15 years at the same pace as we see now. I wouldn’t mind if that were the case, but I remain fairly realistic. And if particularly large updates come out at a reasonable price — I personally am willing to pay for that. But paying for a “set with five new chairs, three hairstyles, and two cabinets” at the price of half the game’s cost — that’s, of course, absolutely unacceptable.

I appreciate your realistic perspective on game support! You make a great point about ongoing funding, continuous development absolutely requires financial sustainability. However, I think you might have misunderstood my point on monetization. I never said the developers shouldn’t make DLC or that they should provide free updates for 15 years.

My topic is strictly about how systems are integrated into the core game engine, and ensuring monetization isn’t designed with community segregation at its core.

EA often used the excuse: “We are putting this feature into a separate pack to protect the players who don’t want it.” Even players say it too, myself included: “I know not everyone wants this, so it can just be a DLC.” But the idea that a DLC is created simply because players don’t want something is not how a DLC should be designed.

The Standalone DLC Alternative (The Renaissance Fair)

Take a popular request like a Medieval DLC. There is nothing wrong with creating a paid Medieval pack featuring kings, queens, sword fighting, and castles. To keep it cohesive with a realistic world, you simply design it as a massive, immersive Renaissance/Medieval Roleplaying Fair that your Zois can live in or visit.

It becomes a standalone experience. Realism players can still enjoy it because it is realistically framed as a festival. If a player chooses not to buy it, it’s not because they are angry about fantasy breaking their game; it’s simply because they don’t want to visit a Renaissance fair. The DLC is selling a unique standalone experience, which is exactly what a good expansion pack should do.

The Base-Game Integration Problem

“Mermaiding,” on the other hand, shouldn’t be isolated into a standalone vacuum as it is a lifestyle that should continue to be updated. When you cordon off standard world features into separate DLC silos (like an “Occult Pack” or a “Maternity Pack”), the code gets trapped in a permanent vacuum. Because the developers can’t guarantee every player owns that specific pack, those features are rarely ever updated or integrated into future content. They are effectively abandoned.

My pitch is about smart, unified game architecture.

By building a connected base-game framework, where ‘mermaiding’ is simply a high-skill human hobby tied to swimming, expensive equipment props, and cultural folklore, we avoid the isolated vacuum problem entirely. It integrates seamlessly into the core ocean mechanics, ensuring the system stays updated alongside future game expansions.

And to your point about players who don’t want supernatural content: this system already solves that. Because a mermaid in this framework is just a human in a custom diving suit, a realism purist can completely ignore the hobby. You will never see a magical creature ruining your immersion because it is entirely player-directed. It gives the fantasy crowd their storytelling props without breaking the realistic simulation for everyone else, regardless of how Krafton eventually chooses to package or price their content.

[Muffin]

I completely agree with you on “the Sims 4” Slicing basic necessities out of the base game just to resell them later was a terrible, anti-consumer practice, and I am glad we agree that inZOI should put core features directly into the base version.

My goal with this concept is to look at things through a true sandbox lens.

We should aim to sell the experience, not the lifestyle.

A lifestyle (like a mermaid) should be integrated into the base version of the game. That way, as the base game naturally receives updates over time, that lifestyle naturally evolves alongside every other regular Zoi.

If the developers later decide to release a massive, paid Marine Biologist DLC featuring deep-sea creatures, extensive underwater trenches, and advanced laboratory research equipment, that is a massive experience pack. The developers shouldn’t lock the mermaid lifestyle into that pack. They should sell the new ocean world itself.

• The Realism Player buys that expansion because they love marine biology and want to explore deep-sea trenches realistically.
• The Fantasy Player buys that exact same expansion because they want a larger ocean depth to enhance their mermaid storytelling.

Both explore the DLC, just differently because of their lifestyle differences. Nobody has to say, ‘I didn’t buy the Marine DLC because it ruins the realism for me,’ because the DLC wasn’t designed around segregating realism from fantasy. It is just an environmental expansion. By keeping the lifestyles integrated into the core engine and selling massive, standalone environmental experiences, Krafton can fund the game for 15 years without ever isolating the code of alternative lifestyles or splitting the community.

[Muffin]

I completely respect our different views, and I really appreciate how well-reasoned your response is! You hit the nail on the head regarding development costs, creating deep caves, ancient ruins, and fully editable underwater construction requires an immense amount of studio time and budget.

However, you are still assuming that I want all of that specialized environment to be free baseline content. I don’t.

That massive, specialized ocean package, the reefs, the trenches, the archaeology, the ruins, is exactly what should be a paid, substantial expansion. An expansion devoted entirely to expanding the ocean depths is a premium expansion pack idea. That is the exact ‘experience’ I support being sold.

The core of my argument is simply that Krafton doesn’t need to lock the mermaid lifestyle code behind that pack.

• The Realism Player will gladly pay for that massive deep ocean expansion because they want to build underwater research labs, perform archaeology, and explore the deep ocean realistically.
• The Fantasy Player will gladly pay for that exact same expansion because they want to explore those same deep caves in a customized tail.

Both groups are funding that massive development cost by buying the exact same environmental DLC. By keeping alternative lifestyles integrated into the core engine as a human hobby, Krafton makes maximum profit from both communities on a single world expansion.

The DLC stops being about “protecting” realism from fantasy, and instead becomes about making a cohesive world that expands gameplay for everyone. It ensures the content gets made at maximum depth, while allowing players to explore and experience the content differently based on their chosen lifestyle.

[Minthyuyu]

I read this part of your original post:

@Muffin

Instead, they expand the world as a whole for absolutely everyone. It becomes massive baseline content for every single player, just experienced differently depending on your personal taste.

I understood that to mean the wider ocean framework would be available to everyone as base-game content rather than being part of a DLC. It seems I may have misunderstood your intended distinction.

So, just to make sure I understand correctly:

Base game: the mermaid/merman lifestyle, including the wearable tail and its basic related gameplay.

Potential DLC: explorable underwater environments, reefs and caves, sunken civilisations, archaeology, folklore, specialised progression paths, marine-animal adoption, aquatic veterinary care, underwater construction, wildlife systems and environmental gameplay, because those would deepen the ocean content as a whole.

I can understand how that model could work.

My remaining concern is where the boundary would be drawn if specialised lifestyles are expected to remain in the base game.

You used a Medieval expansion as an example:

@Muffin

Take a popular request like a Medieval DLC. There is nothing wrong with creating a paid Medieval pack featuring kings, queens, sword fighting, and castles. To keep it cohesive with a realistic world, you simply design it as a massive, immersive Renaissance/Medieval Roleplaying Fair that your Zois can live in or visit.

It becomes a standalone experience. Realism players can still enjoy it because it is realistically framed as a festival. If a player chooses not to buy it, it’s not because they are angry about fantasy breaking their game; it’s simply because they don’t want to visit a Renaissance fair. The DLC is selling a unique standalone experience, which is exactly what a good expansion pack should do.

However, people interested in LARP—Live Action Role-Playing—could make a similar argument. For them, Medieval fairs, costuming, role-playing as kings and queens, sword fighting and living within that community can also be a lifestyle rather than merely a standalone destination.

Why, then, should the mermaid/merman lifestyle be treated as base-game content while a similarly niche LARP lifestyle would be treated as paid expansion content?

I am not opposed to mermaid or merman gameplay itself. I am trying to understand what objective distinction determines which specialised lifestyles belong in the base game and which are considered suitable for DLC.

I also of course respect your reasoning and opinion. And this point, I just want to understand​

[Muffin]

@Minthyuyu

Base game: the mermaid/merman lifestyle, including the wearable tail and its basic related gameplay.

Potential DLC: explorable underwater environments, reefs and caves, sunken civilisations, archaeology, folklore, specialised progression paths, marine-animal adoption, aquatic veterinary care, underwater construction, wildlife systems and environmental gameplay, because those would deepen the ocean content as a whole.

Correct.

@Minthyuyu

Why, then, should the mermaid/merman lifestyle be treated as base-game content while a similarly niche LARP lifestyle would be treated as paid expansion content?

I want to thank you for your thoughtful response! I spent a lot of time considering how these features function, so I really appreciate how deeply you are engaging with this design philosophy.

It is a great question: what is the objective boundary for DLC?

To answer that, we have to look at the structural difference between base game mechanics and downloadable content modules.

Base Game Mechanics (total of 6 used as examples)

The foundation of the core engine should strictly contain features that exist globally, govern everyday sandbox life, and have the innate capacity to interact with future updates.

• Core Life Simulation:
  • Day-to-Day Life: Going to school, building a career, and transitioning through realistic life stages.
  • Relationships & Drama: Falling in love, arguments, or navigating relationship friction.
  • Family & Growth: Pregnancy, raising children, and expanding the household.
• Foundation Mechanics (Global Standalone Systems Designed to Expand):
  • Businesses: Allows any creative skill introduced in a DLC or future update to be transformed into a functional business.
  • Mermaids: Expands the water gameplay of any body of water introduced in any DLC or future updates.
  • Veterinarians: Grows with updates and any DLC that may feature any type of animal.

Downloadable Content (DLC)

DLC is often structured in a way to capture specialized sales, with little to no intention of future system expansion. At their heart, they are very similar to a single packaged treat you buy, you consume it, and that’s it. Because of this static nature, it is important that DLC modules do not introduce global “Base Game Mechanics” as their core features.

• Thematic Overhauls: A Medieval DLC fits this concept perfectly. There is no modern core life progression attached to it, and its features cannot function as a singular, global standalone system the way Foundation Mechanics do.

The Medieval concept essentially needs to be a self-contained DLC to function properly. When breaking down what makes “mermaiding” fun, the core features are simply swimming and customizable tails, which easily translate into alternative base-game scuba gear. But if you ask what makes a Medieval concept fun, the answer is a massive combination of features working together.

It requires hyper-specific systems that do not naturally fit a modern simulation: guard training, castles, and historical social roles so that royalty, guards, and citizens all act their roles. It is an immersive LARP where Zois shouldn’t even pull out modern mobile devices. It requires almost as many “new” specialized mechanics as deep-ocean diving would, and it requires its own dedicated world to ensure NPC Zois don’t break immersion.

Lastly, a Medieval concept doesn’t suffer from the isolated, “one-time drop” abandonment problem that global lifestyles would. By its very nature, it is an isolated experience, not a global lifestyle that continuously needs to evolve and change how you interact with future updates. In fact, this specialized DLC acting as a strictly controlled environment is the only thing that makes a concept like this possible in the first place.

• Environmental Expansions (Too Large to Fit - TLTF): These are systems and worlds that are simply too large to fit into a standard, free base-game update, i.e., a deep ocean DLC.

The idea of creating a large, explorable underwater world with abandoned architecture that hints at tiny pieces of inZOI’s lore, complete with dark trenches, sea life, treasure, and caves to explore as a scuba diver, is massive. This DLC isn’t trying to justify its existence by locking a lifestyle away; it’s selling you a brand-new playground. The DLC builds directly off of the mermaid/scuba foundation mechanics to enhance them further.

The Boundary

By drawing the line across these two distinct categories, the base engine retains the global systems that have the innate capacity to naturally grow with future updates.

Meanwhile, massive thematic overhauls that function better in isolation, and environmental overhauls that are simply too large to fit in the base game, become justly funded premium expansions.

[Muffin]

This forum flagging system is killing me

Also thanks to anyone taking the time to read this, sorry its so long, I tried to keep it all as short as I can make it, but b.c I am trying to explain how things work, it can get a bit wordy. Sorry about that.

[Minthyuyu]

I understand your intended distinction better now, but I still think the comparison treats the two lifestyles at very different levels of scope.

You reduce the core of mermaiding to swimming and customisable tails, while defining Medieval/LARP gameplay through castles, guards, royalty, historical social roles and an entire dedicated world.

Using the same standard, the core LARP lifestyle could simply include costumes, go to the market at the park, sparring with the boxing dummy (which is also already in the game. This would require a different animation, but so would the mermaid tail).

A larger Medieval expansion could then add castles, royal courts, guards and a dedicated historical environment—just as basic mermaid tails could exist separately from a paid deep-ocean expansion.

Both lifestyles can also interact with future updates. Mermaid gameplay can use future bodies of water, while LARP gameplay can use future parks, cities, festivals, costumes and event venues. So the ability to expand later does not seem to create an objective distinction between them.

I understand your preferred model, but the boundary still feels subjective: mermaiding is classified by its smallest basic form, while LARP is classified by its largest possible implementation.

I hope you still know I am not trying to call you out on anything. But maybe this would also help the devs to see, what could be a DLC and what should be part of the base game. So they can see what people like to see and are willing to buy as a content pack. Thank you for engaging in this conversation

[Carnel]

[quote=“Muffin, post:5, topic:15123”]
My idea concerns a smart, unified game architecture.

By building an interconnected foundational game structure where „mermaiding

[Minthyuyu]

I think your message got cut off @Carnel

[Carnel]

No, it’s just that the translation there turned out to be not quite correct, apparently.

I’m just suggesting that @Muffin try to describe in detail the functionality of the game in which there are mermaids and in which there aren’t: how will this be implemented? What will appear in the base game in this case so that it creates a “unified foundation for mechanics”? Will all the mermaids just become scuba divers? Or will a piece of sea be added, but it will be empty, and for those who bought the DLC, there will be some kind of “underwater settlement” there, or what? It just looks like double work for the developers, not like a “common foundation”, since they’ll have to think twice about how it should look with the expansion and how without it.

[Minthyuyu]

[quote=“Carnel, post:12, topic:15123, full:true”]
[quote=

[Carnel]

Then yes, there’s definitely a problem. For some reason, this happens on the forum sometimes — even Kjun’s message was cut off in all language versions except Korean and English.

Unfortunately, I can only suggest one workaround for now: switch the forum language to Russian, where the message is displayed in full, and use a translator built into your browser for your native language (for example, Firefox has this feature, or you can copy the text and translate it somewhere like Google Translate)

[Carnel]

By the way, look how I see your message when I switch the forum to English:

[Minthyuyu]

Oof… that’s good to know. They really need to fix that

[Minthyuyu]

So I switched the forum to Russian because I was interested in your response and I think we have a similar view. I mentioned this:

@Minthyuyu

My remaining concern is where the boundary would be drawn if specialised lifestyles are expected to remain in the base game.

Not sure if you can read the quote because of the forum’s witchcraft, but I basically questioned where the border would be for lifestyles, since Muffin suggested that wearing the mermaid/merman tail is a lifestyle and lifestyles should be part of the base game. It would be endless at this point until everyone is satisfied with every lifestyle.

@Minthyuyu

Why, then, should the mermaid/merman lifestyle be treated as base-game content while a similarly niche LARP lifestyle would be treated as paid expansion content?

I brought up Live Action Roleplay because a Medieval scenario has been mentioned that should be DLC, but people could consider this a lifestyle as well. Even if it is “just dressing up”.

To make a long story short, inZOI cannot put every niche lifestyle into the base game or the development would be endless.

[Carnel]

Yes, that’s right. I’ll try to avoid quotes and even quotation marks so that messages don’t get cut off, but we’re talking about the same thing.

It’s hard to separate what should be considered a necessary way of life for all players from what are innovations for DLC. So it’s difficult to demand that developers avoid segmentation. They’re already giving us what another studio now considers impossible — a practically open world.