Religions?

[CottageCow]

Just wondering if anyone else has thought about religion integration for Inzoi as well? I love that Inzoi still has a cute aspect to it without being derpy like TS4. Inzoi does a great job at not straying too far one way– Making the game cute but also making it realistic.

Changes to Karma System, Maybe Not?

I’ve seen some complaints about the Karma system and although I don’t see developers going back on Karma/Souls (and I don’t totally dislike it) I wonder how/if we could fit different religions in? Even just renaming the “Karma” system to more of an “Honor” or “Social Standing” system would make religious integration easier as not every religion believes in karma, it already works like an honor system. Developers could just keep it as “Karma” but maybe with a toggle to turn souls on or off?

Inzoi seems to be a game that cares about different culture and values. We see this in the way they describe cities, how culturally immersive their cities are, and having values like “traditional” where its important for your zoi to hold to culture and tradition. I could definitely see religion fitting easily into this as typically religion is a big part of culture/values. I know we have the guardian cat in Cahaya and the karma system but I’m wondering if there is a possibility for more religious options as the game is developed more? I don’t want to be confined to my only choice being to worship the guardian cat, this could open the door to so much story telling.

Integration and Gameplay

I think this could be done one of two ways.. 1) Real Religions because the game is already pretty realistic in many ways. 2) Made up religions, vague enough multiple irl religions could fall into a made up in game religion, but players could still choose… You could pick your religion, you have how well you abide by/practice said religion, and its displayed on your Zoi card as part of your zoi’s info.

Either way for both of these options I could see game additions being: Religion being a topic of conversation/compatibility, being able to/trying to convert other zois, Arranged dates/marriage (parents are setting the couple up, but not forcing them), religious attire, differing marriage/death ceremonies, rituals, important rules they follow based on their religion (no pork, no sexual immorality, nature/spiritual well being), places of worship, non-believers, accidentally joining a cult.

Holidays/celebrations

(Or lack their of) for each religion would be a pretty big part of the game. The same way your job immediately is set on your schedule, there would be different dates for when a religious holiday is to occur based on what religion the zoi is practicing. You would chose your religion and get the holidays that coincide with said religion or even have the option of basic “American culture” holidays regardless of religion (You don’t want a Christian Christmas but still want presents and festivities, you get Santa)… Obviously the calendar would have to have a month/year option for this.

Occult Zois… DLC?

Kind of trailing off into DLC territory…I know some really like occult gameplay in TS3/TS4, I personally view it as oddly out of place, not fleshed out, and there being no real point/objective to playing an occult. I think that by adding religions/culture to occults this could be a way to merge them into the game a bit better if developers ever wanted to bring them in. I will only bring up a couple as an example– Think back to the lore/research Bella did in Twilight.. it makes sense to have Vampires be a kind of cult/clan, maybe have them seen like “demons/monsters”. Do they try to hunt animals and be good to society, or are they eating zois? Do we need vampire hunters to protect the zois? Playing as a vampire means you have to be diligent in not being caught as one. Mermaids could have something like Ponyo going on where there is a “Mother Ocean” with cute aspects similar to “Pudge the Fish” (Lilo and Stitch) where they give offering to the fish to control the weather. Maybe the island NEEDS mermaids to conserve/protect the islands.. maybe the islanders have heard the rumors of mermaids and now mermaids are part of island culture/religion and they make offerings to “Mother Ocean” and respect mermaids for protecting them from storms and bringing in bountiful fishing trips. Things like this feel like they are more necessary to gameplay than randomly being there with powers.

I think any occult sim/zoi should be added by DLC and it should be something similar to TS4’s Strangerville where its integral someone intervenes for the safety of the town/city, an actual storyline. They have their own culture/religion and there is a purpose to having them there, a fun story with lore.. not just having them to have them. Occults feel very derpy in TS4 and I get that seems to be the style for TS4.. but I really think Inzoi could do a good job of making occults more playable and less derpy.

[woodcrawler]

The dev team should go for fictional religions. Real-life religions come with complex practices that are hard to emulate in games, as well as sociopolitical issues that can come from representing them incorrectly. Fictional stand-ins for major religions, ideally cat-themed, however, are generally accepted as okay, and are easier to implement without the intense research.

Maybe Zoi faiths are all different interpretations of Psychcat, Cupid, Nyx, etc. Like, a monotheistic religion may treat them as composite, while heno- or polytheistic ones will see them as separate, and pantheistic see the universe as one great cat. Holidays will resemble real-life ones, but with a cat theme (like Santa Claws).

To add a darker side to this idea, particularly greedy or power-hungry Zois might want to design a cult and drain their karma to horrible in the process. If the dev team is feeling really brave, Zois can lose their money to “Catology”.

[itsmechiie7]

I believe fictional religions will work best. Theres too much injustice and pain around real world religions, and most of them have a very bad history. I am indeed working on a Religion DLC idea that I’m very excited about^^

[GDfromRivendell]

I would also like to see subtle, modern reinterpretations of certain beliefs, phenomena, and essences — works like those of Makoto Shinkai, for example. Or take Kumiho, Dokkaebi. But that requires stepping away from overused themes and actually creating.

[LennyOgg]

That would be awesome! All the main characters in our story are entities from Korean Mythology (Dokkaebi, Gumiho, Bulgae, Bonghwang, the Moon Rabbit, Imugi…), but of course they have to use glamour potions to hide their true identity from the timid mortals

At least the Gumiho can turn into her fox form in the parks

[GDfromRivendell]

@LennyOgg

At least the Gumiho can turn into her fox form in the parks

I’d like the developers to notice this first and foremost. On one hand, it’s subtle and not immediately obvious — but on the other, it holds so much unexplored potential.

Although K-pop Demon Hunters included the Dokkaebi among the inhabitants of their underworld realm (Netherzone)… and that Derpy the Cat. Especially since InZOI already collaborated with the franchise on X.

[StarryMountain]

They have already included real religions, and I think people should be less scared of it, it’s okay. Just keep everything about it very superficial and the rest is up to the player’s imagination. For example including religious books to study, ability to choose to pray/meditate in the style of that religion that the zoi is, just the most basic functions. For Islam just having the ability to make wudu, dua, and to pull out a rug and pray, (plus obviously a mosque and the Quran), would be enough. The things in religions that few argue about and those who do are used to accepting that most feel differently, and to make it all voluntary, it’s just when your zoi is set to follow a certain religion it means they have the options to do those things, then it’s up to the player how they do it and to imagine anything else. Leave holidays out, any dogma or quotes out, and stay away from anything that is argued about in different branches of the religions, would I think not upset anyone.

Anyway just my thoughts. I am SO happy they have not ignored religion and have included what they have in it. I really hope they continue that direction.

[woodcrawler]

You have a point that they added real-life religions that work well. A big issue is that InZoi has an established cosmology with Psychcat and the AR Company, and faiths with a closed pantheon/monotheon(?) and closed cosmology (for example, Christianity’s humanoid patriarch) would fit awkwardly in the Zoi world and come with the implication that these Zois see their world “wrong”. I don’t know if players in those faiths would accept it, as I’m not one of them, so I lean towards stand-ins.

Though, as you mentioned Islam specifically, it’d actually work well for the theming of the game considering Muhammed’s well-documented love of cats and cats being allowed into mosques. Also, cat prayer rugs would be cute.

The issue with leaving out parts that people argue over is that some religions by design encourage debate and argument over beliefs and practices and that there are some religions that have a lot of different sects and variations, so trying to leave appease everyone within the religion is futile. Making fictional stand-ins makes it clear that Zoi religions are simplified versions and do not reflect reality. I do want to keep holidays because I like my Zois having events to do.

An alternative is to allow the player to design the religions themselves, so they can choose how realistic or fictional they are and please everyone, except people who don’t want to work to set it up (and in that case, you’d have defaults).

[StarryMountain]

I see what you are saying.
Except with “Christianity’s humanoid patriarch”, i haven’t heard of that. But i don’t understand what physics and cosmology have to do with religion, but maybe I haven’t seen enough of what you are referring to. If you could elaborate, that would be great, but don’t feel like I’m demanding it.
Yeah, that would be cool to have that.
In religions that encourage religious debate, they could maybe have an option to “debate religious ideologies” or “discuss differences in religious sects” or something, to add the feel of that, and it’s up to the player to imagine what sects they are a part of.
The personal player-designed religions is a cool idea, I think would go well alongside the established irl religions, and would allow players to sort of include either their own fictional religion that they want or to include more obscure religions that are unlikely to be added officially.
Thanks for the response, you have really good points

[woodcrawler]

By “Christianity’s “humanoid patriarch”, i was being a bit too wordy (I’m autistic and tend to speak that way because it’s what feels accurate to what I’m thinking). But, what I meant was that, in Christianity, God is often depicted as human-like in appearance and is treated as a father figure or patriarch. There are some branches that are more liberal with their depictions, but the vast majority of Christian art depicts God as a man.

Edit: I used that specific wording because I myself a pantheist and don’t associate the divine with any specific form or gender, and I believe calling God a “man” oversimplifies the divine.

Edit 2: As for cosmology, I’m referring to it in the philosophical/metaphysical context, which distinct from physics. Philosophical cosmology deals with the “why” of the universe and its possible origins.

[StarryMountain]

Oh, no worries, I didn’t think it was wordy, and I’m autistic too btw lol and often run into the same or similar issue.
Oh, I see. I wasn’t raised Christian so don’t know a lot about it, besides research I’ve done and reading some of the Bible (along with research on many other religions as well) but it can still miss nuiances. I know the Christian god is often depicted as a man but I’ve read that he isn’t actually supposed to be one and has no gender and that comparing or depicting him as a human or a father-figure is all a metaphor because God is too vast to comprehend, or along those lines. I didn’t realize there were branches that believed God is a humanoid being with a gender, but I’m also not exactly surprised.

Oh, I think that’s so cool, you used the term “divine” because I also refer to the ultimate creator or originof creation as “the Divine”, as it feels less personifying than the term “god” to me, as I associate that term with beings (like in pagan/polytheistic religions). I see what you’re saying and your reasoning in wording, and happen to agree with you, I just didn’t know any modern Christians perceived their God that way but did know they imagine God as more of a being than what I personally bellieve in (though I believe in many gods that the Divine created and also that everything is a part of the Divine). However I actually believe the Christian god is indeed a being or a god created by the Divine but is one of many but I think each person probably is not always worshipping the same thing and many might be imagining the Divine, but I thought they did not consciously believe they were praying to a humanoid. though I did think they believe they are praying to a being of some kind.Not meaning to like, debate religion or anything, I just find the similarities interesting and trying to explain my thought-process. (Also, for anyone else reading this, no shade on Christianity or whatever beliefs you have, I believe theres truth in all of them and I respect all religions including Christianity and research them because i love them)

oh, i call that “religion” or similar terms, i was thinking cosmology as in the cosmos. ive only seen hints at things in the game, I’m guessing I haven’t found yet the parts that talk about that. However I also feel like whatever the whys are, there can always be an additional why behind the why, so for examplle how everything was formed on a spiritual level and why, there could also be something else that formed the forming of the thing and another reason why they formed the forming of it, as well as the perspective of the reasons why that are intended for within the universe and then the reasons why intended from outside the universe, making for example, whatever the religion/cosmology of InZoi is that I haven’t discovered yet, I wouldl think peoplle coulld just imagine that their god/beliefs created the other creationing. that the cosmology they believe in created the creation story and why of InZoi’s world. I might not be explaining it well and maybe many people wouldn’t think of that, idk, but considering they have already included some things from real world religions, i doubt they will now add fictional ones, but i do hope they don’t shy away from continuing to implement some religious elements and perhaps expand it a little.

[GoldenBuffy]

The Sims Medieval I feel did a good job on this. They kept it simple sims who were religious believed in and worshiped the “Watcher”.

If the Inzoi team were to introduce religion, it could be along similar lines, giving the players the ground work, and we can take it from their developing our own religions in the game.

[StarryMountain]

they have already added real-world religion to the game, just not any options to socialize or formally declare/convert or anything like that
so it would be strange to then deviate from that or add made-up ones too
but i do think it could work and be cool to have some method of letting players design a religion if they ever added more religious functionality to the game

[Scarlett]

id love a fictive religion where zois believe in psycat