How does talking to animals convince them to join you? (1.0)

[SpookCrow]

Dekker, my mediocre animal tamer decided to sit down and chat with muffalos in order to tame them. He feeds them and then proceeds to speak to them about simple things such as swimming, rights, politics, etc. The muffalo apparently joined after hearing about board games.

How does board games and other random things convince a animal to join your colony. Are they curious to watch you play them or are they curious to view the things you spoke of.

[DariusWolfe]

Have you ever tried to calm a nervous or wild animal? Sitting quietly, talking calmly, about pretty much anything, is a good way to do things. The talking doesn't have meaning to the animal, but it helps acclimate the animal to the sound of human voices; We vocalize all the time whereas most animals are reasonably quiet unless they have a specific need to be, so it's a good first step.

I once had to get close to a half-wild dog (a husky) that my wife nearly hit with her car. I sat down and talked quietly to him, every minute or two shifting a little closer, an inch or two. I just kept talking, and inching a little closer, until eventually I let him smell my hand, and eventually touched him. I just kept at it until I was eventually able to toss the collar over his head. The whole process took me over an hour from start to collar; If he had been genuinely wild, I would probably have done the same sort of deal over several days, at least.

That idiotic dog wasn't ever supposed to be a permanent resident, but we've had him for nearly 5 years now.

[Snafu_RW]

Have you ever tried to calm a nervous or wild animal? Sitting quietly, talking calmly, about pretty much anything, is a good way to do things. The talking doesn't have meaning to the animal, but it helps acclimate the animal to the sound of human voices; We vocalize all the time whereas most animals are reasonably quiet unless they have a specific need to be, so it's a good first step.

My ex is a dog trainer & this is exactly the method she uses in any sort of confrontational situation. It works on humans too: see RL hostage cop vs perp 'talker' psych training!
Eg she's managed to stop a brain-damaged  (medically diagnosed skull fractures as a consequence of repeated beatings, hence the rescue) rescue dog from attacking anything it sees, including her, & it's become a useful & friendly part of our family for the last 10 years.. but GHY if any aggression is shown from anything outside what it considers its 'pack'! This process took 3 months to start & 2+ years before we could reliably trust him offlead without a muzzle

TL;DR, '<animal whispering>' can be more effective (& less harmful to you or the animal) over time than 'carrot & stick' training.. if you put the time into it in the first place