Tama – ‘botchi’

“I liked this when I first got it. It was fun and reminded me of being a kid again back when we all had tamagotchis. But ever since I loaded the newest update it’s been screwed up. It gives me notifications constantly! Telling me it’s hungry when I just fed it, or claiming its sad when it’s at 100% happiness. At this point it’s really just becoming a constant annoyance!”

– This is a review of the virtual pet Tamagotchi by Sonettic. I have also read a myriad of other reviews just like this one. Having a pet or buddy on your phone seems cool, right? I tried it out on my Android, and downloaded its version of the Tamagotchi (which has gotten over one million Downloads). The little pet was pretty cool for about three days, then, just like the comment above, it became nothing more than a nuisance. The thing is constantly hungry or not happy, and what am I supposed to do? I have to make this thing happy? I have my hands full with three dogs of my own. They are real, tangible and actually in need of food and water. I deleted the damn thing is less than three days, and do not have any regrets. What is it about this little weasel that people find appealing. I think it’s cool to have something living on your phone, but I think it’s even cooler if he’s just doing his own thing (i.e. feeding itself, and taking care of itself). To be perfectly candid, I don’t care about the well being of a Tamagotchi. My attitude is more laissez-faire. A creature living on my phone is cool as hell, but I don’t want to have to take care of him. I got a lot more important shit to worry about during the day, than cater to some virtual pest. I vividly remember the Tamagotchi craze back in the 90’s- everyone had those egg shaped critters on a key chain and loved them (at least kids did). However, I remember getting fed up with it after a few weeks. I threw the thing in the garbage and the fad soon fell off-predictable. Do users like taking care of a virtual pet? To users become nostalgic when they hear the word Ferby? What makes these pets entice downloads? Do users like taking care of them? Why do you think the original Tamagotchi’s and Ferbies fell off? Love to hear feedback.