Lockwood’s Horses of The Prairie
by Terra_Cide, HSM Editor-in-Chief
I have been a horse lover all my life. I have been drawing them since I was four. I started studying them as soon as I could read. I spent a good chunk of my early teenage years around horses, doing barn work in exchange for riding lessons. This later parlayed into managing a barn for a riding school in my twenties for quite a few years during a bout of career burnout, being mentored along the way by a woman who in turn was mentored by the former coach of the Canadian Equestrian Team, Torchy Millar. So yeah, I know a thing or two about horses.
Much has been written about the animal-human connection; the bond we create with our pets. Earlier this year, Norse eulogized his cat’s passing in a comment on an article about virtual pets. Horses are no different.
Horses, like Home, have an inherent therapeutic value to them, a value that – when looking at each superficially – neither originally intended to have. As far as humankind’s use for each are concerned, one was formerly a tool for survival, the other a tool for entertainment. However, both became so much more.
Call them confidants, havens, confidence builders, or what have you; I have seen people grow and become more than they thought they ever could be as a result of each. Both provide a freedom that an individual may not have in their day-to-day life. In fact, one memory that I will keep forever is watching a little boy that partook in our therapeutic riding program – and who was about the same age as my son is now – take his first few steps in his life. Ever. That’s a memory that no paycheck can top.
So now then, Lockwood’s latest contribution to the mounted locomotion trend: the horse mounts.
At first, you would think that this would have been the very first option the Home community would have experienced with mounted locomotions. It just sounds like the most logical, natural conclusion to come to. And you’d be right – except you’re not.
The Horse in Motion, Eadweard Muybridge, 1887
Getting the movement of a horse to look remotely natural and correct when it’s rendered digitally is a monumental challenge. More often than not, when a horse moves in a videogame, the gait looks stiff-legged, like they have no elbows or knees on their front legs, and no joints whatsoever in their back legs. Unlike other quadrupeds, like canines and felines, a horse’s backbone does not flex nearly as much while in motion, and this can be very difficult when replicating their movement.
This isn’t exactly the programming that is to blame; artists have had to deal with these challenges for centuries. It wasn’t until 1878 with Muybridge’s Horse in Motion that anyone was able to capture with any accuracy what a horse’s legs were doing whilst in mid-gallop. And in today’s world of digital motion capture, there are inherent risks dealing with a half-ton of animal with a mind of its own (even with the most well-trained movie stunt-horse) that, unless you have the budget of Rockstar, you simply cannot afford.
Now, Lockwood is no stranger to the horse. Their asymmetrical marketing strategy involving the Drey Black Stallion horse prop is practically legendary. However, it’s one thing to render a stationary object, it’s another to make it move. Home’s restrictions can’t possibly help, either. From the glimpse we are given horses in motion in Lockwood’s promo video, it appears that they did well, despite these restraints. Heck, even the rider’s bareback equitation is pretty much bang-on. And bonus! Bareback riding in the virtual world won’t be nearly as uncomfortable – especially if you’re of the masculine persuasion – as it is in real life.
With these mounts, we’re also given an unique way in which a public space is made exclusive.
What Lockwood has done here is quite interesting, and no doubt will cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth over on the forum. And yet when you take the time to think about it instead of being an emotional, self-entitled brat, it just makes sense. Horses are big animals, and proportionately, having such large locomotions raises a bit of a virtual mass and/or memory issue when you have that much going on in a public space. Not only that, but there is the experience of riding – presumably with your friends – and to have someone else’s avatar on foot, possibly intersecting or attempting at keeping up with your mount that would just completely ruin the experience.
And that’s really what is vital to remember. For many people, the key to their enjoyment of Home looking as if they fit into whatever scenario they find themselves. They don’t want to wear – or see others wear – anoraks to a virtual beach; to do so would break the illusion, and diminish their enjoyment of Home. And so if you want to run with the horses, you better pony up and ride.
Oh, and before I forget, did I mention you can also gift your friends a unicorn to ride, which grants you the same access as the horses? Yeah, so there’s that option, too.
So, who’s ready to ride?
January 14th, 2013 by Terra_Cide | 6 comments
Terra _Cide is the former Community Manager for Lockwood Publishing and Editor Emeritus for HomeStation Magazine.
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Great article covering both the human relation with animals/horses and the product itself.
I love animals and have a special relation with them, thats nothing new. I spent three summers at my uncle stable and have unforgettable memories of it. The relation, a true bound, you can have wiht a horse is really different and special.
A unicorn you said!!! Crap! that will cost me two for sure!
The Palomino is mine!!!!! I was hoping they would have this horse as an option and now I see they do. I like horses a lot to, in fact I haven’t bought a single mount in Home as I was waiting for these ones to appear first. I can’t wait til Wednesday to get this. Thanks Lockwood!!
If a picture paints a thousand words… which I quote because the author drew horses and the moving picture of Sallie Gardner which fits right into the article making it even more interesting.
My imagination is fired up at least for the moment.
Good article.
I wanna be Zorro.
Nice read. I gotta say, thanks to games like Assassin’s Creed, Red Dead, Darksiders ( possibly the single coolest horse in any game ever!) and going back to where it properly started, Zelda: Ocarina of Time; Ive found myself enjoying horses more and more. I always saw them as a girly thing though, probably because my step sister was so mad about them, that, and I had to live through The Great My Little Pony Fiasco of the early 90’s…
But horses in real life make me ummm, shall we say “hesitant”. I’m not afraid them per say, just that when I look at a horse, right into its eyes, I see much more than just animal instinct or understanding. There’s a definite intelligence there that most other animals dont really have that I find puts me at unease for sine reason.
I’d say it’s an admiration of what they’re capable of in thinking, I know, that probably sounds nuts, but there it is!
As for getting a horsey to ride around in Home; I dunno, maybe if I find myself in the space after I’ve had a few lol, otherwise, I’ll probably just watch people have a gallop about for a bit. I get most of my horsey needs from RDR still…
You’re right -- when it comes to horses, there are inherent risks involved that even I won’t take now, especially as a single parent. And this is coming from someone who’s walked through an arena with about a half dozen younger (under 10) horses running madly around her! They are social creatures, and like all social creatures, they like social order. If they feel you’re a threat to that order, then yeah, you could be in for it.
I’ll be keen to give it a try when I get home.
Yippy for the Unicorn!
Nice article Terra,
I have been waiting for this horse of a different color to ride into Home. I can’t wait to see them. Go Lockwood!