Tamagotchi Pets

Throughout my entire childhood, I really wanted a cat, but my dad is allergic so I knew it would never happen.  So when the oval-shaped Tamagotchi virtual pets came out, I was thrilled.  I remember being an eight-year-old, sitting on my grandma's couch at a family gathering one night, so engrossed in taking care of my digital pet that I didn't want to sit down at the dinner table and leave my Tamagotchi pet alone.  Finally, I had a pet I could call my own.

Years later, my parents divorced and my mom and I adopted a kitten from the Humane Society.  Once I had a real cat, the Tamagotchi virtual game seemed like a waste of time.  Why would I spend hours upon hours pushing three tiny buttons to keep a virtual pet "alive" once I had the opportunity to play with a kitten in real life?  It just simply wasn't the same.  I eventually threw my Tamagotchi away because I no longer felt the same emotional bond with it that I once had.

So what does this anecdote have to do with design?  As a DES 001 student, I started thinking about the implications of design on our emotions.  How is it that a small digital image could have such an impact on someone?  Clearly, it was designed with this in mind.  The creators of Tamagotchi appealed to the human instinct of caregiving, present even in young children.  It is an internal instinct to feel love towards other humans and animals, albeit a digital animal in this case.  The game is designed so that the pet "owner" feels obligated to do everything they can to keep the animal alive, because if it dies you not only feel personally responsible, but you also lost the game and thus have to start over again.

The game also relates to design by employing the use of universal icons familiar to all people.  The icons have to be easily recognizable so people playing the game can easily understand the needs and desires of their virtual pet.  For example, the toilet icon means the pet has to go to the bathroom, the baseball and bat means the pet wants to play, the chef hat means the pet is hungry, the heart icon means they need more attention, and the cross represents the need for medical care.  Essentially, the designers of Tamagotchi took the basic functions of life and simplified them into a few symbols displayed on a small screen, giving children the power to control another life from a very early age.

The design of Tamagotchi lets children explore what it means to help others.  Even though it is actually just a few digital lines on a screen, the moral lesson of the game is so strong that it creates emotional attachment to something that doesn't exist.  This game evokes a sense of love and caring that can be expressed in the lives of these children as they age.  Although the excitement of the game fades away as children grow up, Tamagotchi educates children about fundamental life lessons in a fun way that they never forget.