A virtual pet (also known as a digital pet, artificial pet,
or pet-raising simulation) is a type of
artificial human companion Artificial human companions may be any kind of hardware or software creation designed to give companionship to a person. These can include digital pets, such as the popular Tamagotchi, or robots, such as the Sony AIBO. Virtual companions can be used ...
. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment. People may keep a digital pet in lieu of a real
pet.
Digital pets have no concrete physical form other than the hardware they run on. Interaction with virtual pets may or may not be goal oriented. If it is, then the user must keep it alive as long as possible and often help it to grow into higher forms. Keeping the pet alive and growing often requires feeding, grooming and playing with the pet. Some digital pets require more than just food to keep them alive. Daily interaction is required in the form of playing games, virtual petting, providing love and acknowledgment can help keep your virtual pet happy and growing healthy.
Digital pets can be simulations of real animals, as in the
Petz series, or fantasy ones, like the
Tamagotchi or
Digimon
, short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise encompassing virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures, who inhabit a "Di ...
series. Unlike
biological simulations, the pet does not usually reproduce.
Types
Web-based
Virtual pet sites are usually free to play for all who sign up. They can be accessed through
web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...
s and often include a virtual community, such as Neopia in
Neopets. In these worlds, a user can play games to earn virtual money which is usually spent on items and food for pets. One large branch of virtual pet games are
sim horse game
Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation ...
s.
Some sites adopt out pets to put on a webpage and use for role-playing in
chat rooms. They often require the adoptee to have a page ready for their pet. Sometimes they have a setup for breeding one's pets and then adopting them out.
Some sites use quests in order for users to make points and receive items. Some quests can give stat points to the user's pets for when they are battling. These sites, and their clones, have a single non-dynamic image for each pet and its various colors, leading to a lot of similarity in the pets.
There are also "simulation sites" where the webpage attempts to simulate a real-life discipline, such as horse dressage or pedigree dog showing. Often these sites will also have a breeding aspect, including genetics and markings. Other simulation sites focus mostly on the markings.
Software-based
There are many
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s that focus on the care, raising, breeding or exhibition of simulated animals. Such games are described as a sub-class of
life simulation game
Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation ...
. Since the computing power is more powerful than with webpage or gadget based digital pets, these are usually able to achieve a higher level of visual effects and interactivity. Pet-raising simulations often lack a victory condition or challenge, and can be classified as
software toys.
The pet may be capable of learning to do a variety of tasks. "This quality of rich intelligence distinguishes artificial pets from other kinds of A-life, in which individuals have simple rules but the population as a whole develops
emergent properties
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.
Emergence ...
".
For artificial pets, their behaviors are typically "preprogrammed and are not truly emergent".
A screen mate is a downloadable virtual pet that creates a small animation that walks around a computer desktop and over open screens unpredictably. Each pets is a small animation of an animal (such as a sheep or a frog, or in some cases a human or bottle cap) that can be interacted by clicking on or dragging, which lifts the pet as if you were picking it up. Most screen mates are free to download and used for entertainment purposes.
History
PF Magic PF Magic was a video game developer founded in 1991 and located in San Francisco, California, United States. Though it developed other types of video games, it was best known for its virtual pet games, such as '' Dogz'' and ''Catz''. The company wa ...
released the first widely popular virtual pets in 1995 with ''Dogz'', followed by ''Catz'' in the spring of 1996, eventually becoming a franchise known as ''
Petz''. The digital pets were further popularized when
Tamagotchi and
Digimon
, short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise encompassing virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures, who inhabit a "Di ...
were introduced in 1996 and 1997.
Digital pets like Tamagotchi and Digimon were a massive
fad
A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short period.
Fads are objects or behaviors that achieve short- ...
across
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
during the late 1990s. Today, there are also "Digital Pets" which have physical robotic bodies, known as
Ludobot
An entertainment robot is, as the name indicates, a robot that is not made for utilitarian use, as in production or domestic services, but for the sole subjective pleasure of the human. It serves, usually the owner or his housemates, guests or cl ...
s or
Entertainment robot
An entertainment robot is, as the name indicates, a robot that is not made for utilitarian use, as in production or domestic services, but for the sole subjective pleasure of the human. It serves, usually the owner or his housemates, guests or cl ...
s.
Controversy
The popularity of virtual pets in the United States, and the constant need for attention the pets required, led to them being banned from schools across the country,
a move that hastened the virtual pet's decline from popularity.
A ''
Mad'' cover on regular issue #362, October 1997 shows a gun being pointed at a virtual pet with
Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman is the fictitious mascot and cover boy of the American humor magazine '' Mad''. The character's distinct smiling face, parted red hair, gap-tooth smile, freckles, protruding nose, and scrawny body, first emerged in U.S. iconog ...
's face and the line "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this virtual pet!" Illustrated by Mark Fredrickson. The cover parodies the January 1973 issue of ''
National Lampoon'' which depicted a gun being held to a real dog's head and the line, "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this dog."
[MAD Cover Site](_blank)
MAD #362 October 1997.
Digital pets over real pets
Some people suggest that digital pets are preferable for a number of reasons. Having a digital pet in place of a real pet ensures real pets do not have to suffer, and it is arguably
training before adopting a real pet.
PETA
Peta or PETA may refer to:
Acronym
* Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943
* People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization
* People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...
has suggested that robotic animals can help people recognize that they are not up to the
commitment of caring for a real animal.
[G. Jeffrey, "If you kick a robotic dog, is it wrong?" in The Christian Science Monitor, Feb of 2004] Another argument is that the digital pet can successfully substitute a real one for children who cannot care for a real pet, such as those who suffer from
allergies.
Relationship with digital pet
There is research concerning the relationship between digital pets and their owners, and their impact on the
emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
s of people. For example,
Furby
Furby is an American electronic robotic toy that was originally released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics. It resembles a hamster or owllike creature and went through a period of being a " must-have" toy following its holiday season launch, with co ...
affects the way people think about their identity, and many children think that Furby is alive in a "Furby kind of way" in
Sherry Turkle's research.
[Katie Hafner]
What Do You Mean, `It's Just Like a Real Dog'?
, 2000
Common features
There are many common features between different digital pets, some of them are used to give a sense of reality to the user (such as the pet responding to "touch"), and some for enhancing playability (such as training).
Communication
With advanced video gaming technology, most modern digital pets do not show a
message box nor
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
to display the pet's internal variable, health state or emotion like earlier generations (such as Tamagotchi). Instead, users can only understand the pet by interpreting their actions,
body language
Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
,
facial expressions, etc. This helps to make a pet's behavior seem natural, rather than calculated, and fosters a feeling of a relationship between user and digital pet.
Sense of reality
To give a sense of reality to users, most digital pets have certain level of
autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...
and unpredictability. The user can interact with the pet and this process of personalizing can make the pet more distinctive. Personalizing increases the feeling of responsibility for the pet to the user.
[Frédéric Kapla]
Free creatures : The role of uselessness in the design of artificial pets, 2000
/ref>[
Frank, A.; Stern, A.; and Resner, B. 1997. Socially intelligent virtual petz. In Socially Intelligent Agents.
] For example, if a Tamagotchi is unattended for long enough, it will "die".
Interactivity
To increase user's personal attachment to the pet, the pet interacts with the user. Interactivity can be classified into two categories: Short-term and long-term.
Short-term interactivity includes direct interaction or action to reaction from the pet. Example: "touch" a pet with mouse cursor and the pet will give a direct response to the "touching".
Long-term interactivity includes action that affects the pet's growth, behavior or life span. For example, training a pet may have a good effect on the pet's behavior. Long-term interactivity is quite important for a sense of reality as the user would think that he has some lasting influence on the pet.
Two kinds of interactivity are often combined. Training (long-term interaction) may happen through continuing short-term interaction. Similarly, playing with a pet (short-term interaction) may, if continued over the long term, make the pet more optimistic.
Example of common features
# Responds to calling
# Responds to touching
# Training the pet
# Supplies or toys for the pet
# Dressing up the pet
# Competition or trial amongst pets
# Meeting other pets
# Complaining when it needs care
See also
* List of virtual pet games
* AIBO
References
{{Authority control
Life simulation games
Electronic toys
1990s fads and trends
Toy animals
Video game genres
Toy controversies