Virtual pet

Template:Current-GCOTW A digital pet, also known as a virtual pet, is a type of artificial human companion. These are distinct from robot pets and other entertainment robot in that they have no concrete physical form other than the hardware they run on. The user's "goal" in maintaining the digital pet is to keep the virtual animal alive as long as possible, and in most models, to make it grow into the best "adult" form. In order to keep the pet alive and growing the owner needs to feed, groom and play with the pet.

Genuses of digital pets

Some virtual pets, like the Tamagotchi, are sold self-contained on a simple, hand-sized computer. In the case of the Tamagotchi, a small screen has an image of the pet, while buttons on the case of the device let the user perform different tasks, such as feeding the pet, playing with it, washing it, and so on. Dissatisfied pets can emit beeps.

Gadget based

Sonic Adventure 2 for the Sega Dreamcast had virtual pets which could be either used in game or transferred to the Visual Memory Unit, which enabled a transformation from game based to gadget based. Example gadget based digital pets: Tamagotchi

Webpage based

Virtual pet websites, such as the popular Neopets, Marapets and Powerpets, have been created. These sites are generally free and accessible to all who sign up. They can be accessed through a web browser and often include a virtual community, such as the planet Neopia in Neopets and the cities of Powerpets. In these cities, you can play games to earn virtual money; which is usually spent on items and food for your pets or for rare items.

Some sites adopt out pets to put on your webpage and use for roleplaying in chatrooms. One example is The Silver Unicorn. They often require that the adoptee have a page ready for their pet. Sometimes they have a setup for breeding your pets and then adopting them out.

Example webpage based digital pets: Neopets

Game or application based

Other virtual pets are software sold to be run on PCs or video game consoles. Example game or application based digital pets: the creatures in Black and White, Dogz, Nintendogs

History

Digital pets created a massive fad in Japan, where they originated, and to a lesser extent in the United States during the late 1990s. The idea of an actual animal composed of technology rather than flesh also inspired a number of anime, such as Digimon (itself a contraction of "Digital Monster").

Similar are the varied Monster-raising video games, including the aformentioned Digimon, Pokémon, Monster Rancher, Nintendogs, and Jade Cocoon. One could also suppose that Yu-Gi-Oh is the third generation from this.

Specific pets

External links