Janner i think you're mixing avatars with characters.
Characters live in a world, virtual, but as complex as a real one.
Avatars is what we see on the computer screen. Their abilities are greatly limited. That's true even in a complete game, and PS is far from complete.
Now, seeing the avatar of a pet, that usually stays still, run and display some intelligent behavior will surprise me, the
player. None of my characters will be surprised. Pets in Yliakum do that everytime. We (players) don't see it, because their avatars are (yet) too limited to show that.
Characters do all the stuff people (and pets, if you consider them characters too) usually do in a complex world. They go to sleep, they wake up, they go to work if they have a job, or go to school if they are young. They can sit down, light a pipe and smoke a bit. If they are pets, they run around, hunt rabbits, even mark territory if that's their habit.
The avatars won't do much of those... they simply disappear when the player disconnects. They can't really 'sleep' (assume a position that seems comfortable for sleeping) or smoke. They cross rivers and lakes without getting wet, they run and fight just as good even when they are at 5% of health, and so on.
The avatars of pets are even more limited, for now. They just stay there. That's what you see, as a player. But that's not what your character sees. He sees a normal pet, not a still representation of it.
Nothing in the settings mentions weird, still pets. It seems reasonable to assume that pets in Yliakum are just like those in the real world, companions to their owners... just a bit more magical in nature (as everything is, in Yliakum), and with different shapes, of course.
BTW, it'd be fun to RP something like:
- have you seen my pet?
- no, what happened?
- i've got a terrible headache, i tried to summon him but i failed the spell and now only gods know where I sent him!
![Oops :oops:](https://www.hydlaaplaza.com/PlaneShift/smf/Smileys/custom1/oops.gif)