“Some players will see it as a nice break from increasingly complex and demanding standards of modern AAA gameplay. “I think people who like to pet video game dogs do so with a range of perspectives,” he says. Tristan Cooper owns the Twitter account “ Can You Pet the Dog,” which collects data from users on which video games allow players to interact kindly with dogs (and sometimes other animals). The ability to rub your pet behind the ears seems an essential part of the design. At certain points you will interact with the human story characters and you’ll be pet, you can sit, lay down, and offer a paw.” Now I felt like I was getting closer to the reasons digital pets held such hold over users. “As the Companion,” Fazzio says, “you will be earning the kindness, trust, and love of the human story characters. Here, the animal refers to a “spirit companion,” and players are the creature themselves. I’d file this virtual pet under “distraction” rather than companion.ĭavid Fazzio is the solo developer behind Studio 46’s game The Companion, which, in addition to being stunning in both sound and visuals, gives players a chance to see the other side of companionship life. A cute idea, but barely enough to be considered a game. Utilizing the thin space, you can feed your pet, toss a little red ball to play with it, and clean up after it. Soon after Apple introduced the Touch Bar to the MacBook Pro, the Touchbar Pet came along. With each new advance in technology, there will follow a virtual pet of some sort. Yet with so much else going on in our modern-day lives, what keeps us coming back to caring for something that’s not tangible? In search of the answer, let’s go back to the beginning. That’s because they don’t actually exist outside of the hardware they’re programmed on. In turn, these pets give us the companionship we crave, all without ever having to scoop poop or suffer from allergies. We buy them clothes and toys, and enjoy playing with them. Owning a digital pet means first achieving the basic goal of keeping it alive, but there’s more to it than that. What is it that draws us to keep digital pets? I’ve readily integrated this habit into my life, and the realization gives me pause.
It’s extremely satisfying tending to my fish, something that keeps me logging in multiple times per day. I’ve been cultivating a sort of pseudo-fish aquarium in the game Fish Farm 3 for eight months now, and I’ll most likely continue for many more. The lure of sleep is calling, but before I crawl into bed, I need to check on my fish. It’s 11:34 pm, and I’m utterly exhausted.
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