Involuntary Action

An involuntary action is like a decision in which the creature has no choice other than to do it. There are 8 involuntary actions in Creatures 1, and they include:

• Involuntary action 0: This is flinching. Usually occurs when in pain.
• Involuntary action 1: This occurs only in females and is the laying of the egg. If females chose to lay an egg or not, then the species would not continue!
• Involuntary action 2: This is sneezing and occurs when certain chemicals are in the creature. An indicator of disease.
• Involuntary action 3: This is coughing and occurs when certain chemicals are in the creature. An indicator of disease.
• Involuntary action 4: This is shivering and occurs when the creature is cold.
• Involuntary action 5: This is fainting and occurs when the creature is very sleepy.
• Involuntary action 6: This is languishing and occurs when the creature is weak. Languishing is characterised by laying down and whimpering. Similar to death.
• Involuntary action 7: This is an unusual action. It is characterised by the creature jumping about and the chemicals need for pleasure, boredom, and anger rising. It seems to be linked to the stimulus "disappointment".

Involuntary actions are debatable because the laying of an egg sometimes doesn't occur when it should. Also, creatures that have very high sleepiness levels don't always sleep!

Creatures 3 Differences

• Involuntary action 6: Falter
• Involuntary action 7: Drowning

In Creatures 3 the involuntary actions of a creature can be triggered by a biochemical receptor gene in response to the level of any chemical. For example, sleeping is triggered by a gene in response to the level of the "tiredness" chemical.

Triggered involuntary actions also trigger stimulus genes which can alter chemicals and (optionally) allow the creature to learn from the action. For example, coughing causes a small amount of pain and tiredness in the creature due to one specific gene.

See also

• LTCY, a CAOS command which controls how frequently involuntary actions can occur.