1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from house Stuff. 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: What Guten tug mine Freunden. Hi there, guys, it's jovin 3 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: Strickland from tech Stuff and I am joining with my 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: wonderful co host in this great endeavor we call a podcast. 5 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: That co host is Lauren vocal Bomb. Hey. How you doing. Yeah, 6 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: I'm just fine. I have zero zero German for you, 7 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,160 Speaker 1: aside from vocal bomb, which means bird tree by the way. Okay, 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: so we've already learned something and we haven't even gotten 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: on to our topic yet. Today we wanted to talk 10 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: about digital pets. This actually comes to us courtesy of 11 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: a listener suggestion. Uh, and digital pets, virtual pets. This 12 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: is an idea that that really kind of got it's 13 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: it's heyday in the nineties, especially in the United States. 14 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: But we wanted to talk a little bit about the 15 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: rise of digital pets and then the fall of digital pets, 16 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: and and sort of some other are surrounding topics that 17 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: that tie into what all of this digital pet malarchy means. Yeah, exactly, 18 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: and Uh, before we get into specifics, I want to 19 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: talk a little bit about some general features that you 20 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: would expect in a virtual pet. Now, first of all, 21 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: it's it's virtual. It's non actual living thing, right right. 22 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: It's sometimes called digital pets rather than virtual pets because 23 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 1: you know, they don't necessarily have to be. I mean, 24 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: there are web applications that where digital pets live, but 25 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: some of them are physical three dimensional objects. Yeah, yea. 26 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 1: And so we kind of we've been very very loose 27 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: with our definition in the sense that we feel there 28 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: are some toys and uh products out there that have 29 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: influenced the process of virtual pets, uh and the evolution 30 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:47,559 Speaker 1: of virtual pets. So some of the stuff we're gonna 31 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: talk about today, they aren't really a virtual pet in 32 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: the strictest definition, but it's important as far as the 33 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: development goes. In general, a virtual pet tends to have 34 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: certain features that uh that lent it seem kind of 35 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: similar to an actual real life pet. For instance, it 36 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: usually will respond to you calling for it. Uh. There's 37 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: some sort of command that you use to call it, 38 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: whether it's vocal or it's a button you press on 39 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: a on a game controller or on a on a 40 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: little physical device that brings it to you. You have 41 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 1: to care for it. You have to feed it and 42 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: clean up after it. If it falls sick, you have 43 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: to you have to take care of it, right. Usually 44 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: you can train it to do various things. It maybe 45 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: to perform a trick, or it might be to eviscerate 46 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: someone else's virtual pet in the case of certain games 47 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: that will cover Also, there's usually some form of way 48 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: to reward the pet, either with treats or toys. Sometimes, uh, 49 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: the element that allows you to give treats or toys 50 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,799 Speaker 1: is an extra element within the whole virtual pet where 51 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: that you pay real money to get access to virtual treats, 52 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: right right, Yeah, you know a lot lots of these 53 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: virtual pets are one time purchase kind of thing. You 54 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: either buy the hardware or you pay for a subscription 55 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: for a life subscription, and you get that thing for 56 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: you know, as long as you care to play with it. 57 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: And others are yeah, monthly subscription, or you have to 58 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: continue buying into various little accessories and other products in 59 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,399 Speaker 1: order to continue. Yeah, yeah, you're you're really building out 60 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: the the pets life. It's very similar to the way 61 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: a lot of games are are running now, where you 62 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: have an in game purchase to to give your character 63 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: either a different look or sometimes an actual advantage. And gameplay. Uh, 64 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: many of those ideas really got their start in the 65 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: virtual pet world. Um. Also, they usually have uh, some 66 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: sort of a feature there that allows you to have 67 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: your pet meet other pets. Right, yeah, yeah, that that's 68 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: a relatively i guess, relatively recent as of you know, 69 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: Save two thousand and five. But yeah, but right, the 70 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: earliest onelopment, exactly the rear last ones didn't necessarily have 71 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: that that feature in them. You couldn't get a a 72 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: some pets to meet other pets until we started to 73 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: build in that that capability, either in the hardware or 74 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: in the software. But it usually meant that you could 75 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: have your pet make friends with another person's virtual pet. 76 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: Sometimes you could have your virtual pets breed, and then 77 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: you would get little tiny versions of your virtual pet 78 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: that would have features of both the mommy and the 79 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,160 Speaker 1: daddy virtual pet. Jon Strickland explaining how the birds and 80 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: the bees, the virtual birds and the virtual beads bees work. Look, 81 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: when a virtual dog and another virtual dog virtually love 82 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: one another, it's very special. They trade some code and 83 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: then you get virtual puppy. Yeah. Anyway, these are all 84 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: basic features that you would find in virtual pets. So 85 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: so that that's sort of the the overall kind of definition. 86 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,599 Speaker 1: But to really understand the development we have go back 87 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,160 Speaker 1: always and and Lauren, you you have an interesting place 88 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:06,559 Speaker 1: you wanted to start. Yeah, I want to talk about 89 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: pet rocks. I think that that would be a very 90 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:14,840 Speaker 1: early I mean clearly analog not digital virtual pet Those 91 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: debuted in nineteen seventy five at pop which is approximately 92 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 1: sixteen dollars in the current economy, which is actually what 93 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: is say, for example, Tom go Chi cost. So I 94 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: thought that was pretty interesting. So essentially sixteen dollars in 95 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: our current currency to buy a rock, to buy I rock. 96 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: And this this was created by Gary Doll, who was 97 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: a California ad executive and brilliant sold more than five 98 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 1: million of these critters in less than six months. It's 99 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: like a rock with googly eyes. So, so, Lauren, you 100 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 1: remember those days, right? Oh? Yeah, that was seven years 101 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,680 Speaker 1: before I was born, Okay, so I was around nineteen five. 102 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,280 Speaker 1: Was also the year a little movie called Jaws came out, 103 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: a fantastic documentary. Uh. It's also when a certain tech 104 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: stuff podcaster arrived on the scene. That would be me 105 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: so not not not me. So I don't really remember 106 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,119 Speaker 1: I just know I was there anyway. Yeah, pet rocks. 107 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: So so there we go. There's there's a a non 108 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: living pet, and it was mostly a gag gift kind 109 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: of thing, but it lays the groundwork for this idea 110 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,720 Speaker 1: of a pet that's not really alive. Yeah. I also 111 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: wanted to point out actually that in a V seven 112 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: that was when K nine debut on Dr Who, which 113 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: I think is also probably an important reference in the 114 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: entire I mean, especially if you've seen an eyebo, I 115 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:44,160 Speaker 1: think that they're pretty obviously inspired by the canine bucket 116 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,720 Speaker 1: of bolts. So so yeah, So so the idea about 117 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: this kind of course in science fiction, stuff like this 118 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,239 Speaker 1: has been talked about for you know, since the days 119 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: of of Asimov's robot stuff stories. And I seen the 120 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: body electric stuff like that. So yeah, and now do 121 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: Android stream of electric sheet. So uh yeah, these are 122 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 1: again the building blocks that will lead to virtual pets. 123 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: In a company called Worlds of Wonder introduced a toy 124 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: that was, depending upon how you played with it, very 125 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: entertaining or terrifying. That would be Teddy Ruxman. I firmly 126 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: found them terrifying as a child, sexually Teddy Teddy Ruxman, 127 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: it was an interesting idea. It was a toy that 128 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: would read, quote unquote read stories to children. The stories 129 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: would be on a cassette tape. Some of you may 130 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: not know what a cassette tape is. I remember them, 131 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: but a cassette tape, all right, So it's it's magnetic tape. 132 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: And usually, like on a regular audio cassette tape, you 133 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: have two tracks on either side of this this tape, 134 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: and it's usually used for stereo, one tracks for the 135 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: left speaker and once for the right Now with Teddy 136 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: Ruxman instead, one track was audio and the other track 137 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: was a series of directions for the animay Teddy Bear, Well, 138 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: it's really just the mouth. The limbs didn't really move, 139 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: but the mouth would move in time with whatever was playing, 140 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: So that way it would follow the directions and seemingly 141 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: talk to you and read out the story. Uh. This 142 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: meant that if you wanted to do something a little wacky, 143 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: like I don't know, put your Black Sabbath cassette tape 144 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: in Teddy Ruxben, he would not suddenly start rocking out 145 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: because the mouth there was no directions for the mouth 146 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: to follow. Okay, so the mouth wouldn't move. He would 147 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: still play. Oh no, you could play. You play Black 148 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: Sabbath through a teddy Ruxpan. There's nothing stopping you. You 149 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: essentially have a teddy Ruxpan shaped boom box. But but 150 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,240 Speaker 1: it wouldn't like start screaming out. Okay, well that's I 151 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,320 Speaker 1: guess that's I mean, I'm you know, Lord knows I 152 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: tried um. But yeah, yeah, that was again teddy Ruxman. 153 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,680 Speaker 1: Not a virtual pet, necessarily, not in the same sense 154 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: that we're talking about, but again lays the groundwork this 155 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: idea of a a a synthetic creature providing some form 156 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: of companionship and that appears to be autonomous, right right, 157 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: and again very loose illusion in this case. You you 158 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 1: pick up pretty quickly that it's following a very specific 159 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: uh script which was based upon whatever was on that cassette. 160 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: Um Worlds of Wonder, by the way, ended up going 161 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: bankrupt I think in nineteen ninety the h The ownership 162 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: of teddy Ruxpan has passed through several hands, including Hasbro, 163 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: so it was one of those toys that kept on 164 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 1: going even after the company that launched it went away. Now, 165 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: the next year in Night six, we get our first 166 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: actual virtual pet, and this was for a computer platform 167 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: called the Macintosh. So yeah, two years after the Macintosh launches, 168 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: remember they had that amazing nine eight four commercial that 169 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 1: was in the Super Bowl that really really amazing, one 170 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 1: of the best commercials ever made. In my opinion. I 171 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: never owned a Macintosh, but I love the commercial anyway. 172 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:11,560 Speaker 1: The the Macintosh program, Puppy Love debuts in nineteen eighties. 173 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: Six is Tom Snyder Productions release, and Puppy Love was 174 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,680 Speaker 1: essentially a little a little animated puppy dog that you 175 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: could play with on your Macintosh. Very limited uh features 176 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 1: on that, but again was one of the first examples 177 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: of a virtual pet. Now we go ahead of year 178 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: to nineteen seven and the Nintendo Entertainment System gets a 179 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: release of a Japanese role playing game, and I'm going 180 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: to butcher the pronunciation. I apologize to Lauren, who actually 181 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 1: knows how to pronounce Japanese words. But Macgami Tense was 182 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 1: the RPG, and it included a game play element where 183 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: you could capture demons and then you could train those 184 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: demons to fight for you so that you could use 185 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: the ones that you've captured to help protect you in 186 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: other battles. Uh. This is a gameplay element that we 187 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:07,840 Speaker 1: would end up seeing used in other types of virtual 188 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: pets in the future, and in lots of other games 189 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: as well. I wouldn't necessarily count something like Pokemon is 190 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 1: a virtual pet application, but it definitely has that game element. Yeah. 191 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 1: I include Pokemon mostly because, again it has some elements 192 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: of a virtual pet. Although if you're mostly looking to 193 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:29,719 Speaker 1: try and maximize your uh, your your group of of 194 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: Pokemon so that you can have the best chance of 195 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: winning any particular battle, that's not a great message for 196 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: a person who wants to own a real pet. Yeah, 197 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: like vic message that's no, that's that, it's not That 198 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 1: is not what the s p c A I think 199 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: would would want to write. But then again, virtual pets 200 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: let us do these sort of things. I mean, these 201 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: are all cartoony, like the Pokemon or these cartoony creatures 202 00:11:54,880 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: that don't necessarily have a a counterpart in real life. 203 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,040 Speaker 1: Some of them are obviously modeled after real animals, but others, 204 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:06,439 Speaker 1: if it's modeled after a real animal, I have not 205 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:08,839 Speaker 1: seen it. Yeah, I don't think I want to see 206 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: some of the real animals that those things are modeled 207 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:16,680 Speaker 1: on right. Well. Then inwo we had the game Dragon 208 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: Quest five Hand of the Heavenly Bride, and that also 209 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: allowed players to capture monsters and use them to fight 210 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,080 Speaker 1: in their battles. So again that same sort of gameplay element, 211 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: it's starting to starting to become pretty popular. It was 212 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,839 Speaker 1: an interesting idea, UM, but it's still not really a 213 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:35,199 Speaker 1: virtual pet in the sense that we think of, where 214 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: it's just really the whole purpose is to take care 215 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: of an artificial creature. Uh. But in a company called 216 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: p F Magic hits the scene and releases a program 217 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: called Dogs That's d O g Z. They would a 218 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: year later release Cats see a t Z and then 219 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: eventually release Pets pe t Z and UH. And this 220 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: was really where the virtual pet idea started to blossom, 221 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:09,640 Speaker 1: where we started to see some of those elements we 222 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: talked about the top of the show. The things that 223 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,959 Speaker 1: really make a virtual pet, what it is, what kind 224 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:18,360 Speaker 1: of platform with Windows Originally it was originally a Windows 225 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: based thing. So if you for those of you who 226 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:25,679 Speaker 1: remember Windows back in UH, there there were people who 227 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: would have like this little dog would wander onto your 228 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: screen and start to play with your cursor, and things 229 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: like that it was very cute and um. But this 230 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: was an actual full program where you would be able 231 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: to adopt a puppy or later on a kitten, and 232 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: after a few days of real time, so you know, 233 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: you check on your little puppy your kitten each day. 234 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 1: After a few days, maybe three or four days, the 235 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: puppy your kitten would grow into a fully formed adult 236 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: version of whatever animal it was, and you would continue 237 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,120 Speaker 1: taking care of it, so you would play with it, 238 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: you could train it, and you could even breed your 239 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:08,480 Speaker 1: animal with other animals starting with I think it was 240 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 1: Pets three, because you know they released updates as they 241 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: as they built out the game locally on your own 242 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: computer assumed or was this over email email? You could 243 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: email a copy of your pet to someone else and 244 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,280 Speaker 1: you would still keep yours. This is like you suddenly 245 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: cloned your pet. But you could email a copy of 246 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: your pet to someone else and then they could say, oh, 247 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: this dog, he's very cute, FIEFI is gonna love him, 248 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: and see if Fifi and the other dog would you know, 249 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: have a little puppy love going on, and then you 250 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: end up with a litter of virtual puppies. Yeah, like 251 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: like you do that's like like it happens. Um. Yeah, 252 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: So originally these were all designed on hand drawn uh 253 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: kind of designs, like like that's the line drawing style. Uh. 254 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: So they weren't photo realistic or anything like that, but cartoony. 255 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: But it meant that if you wanted to, you could 256 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: actually really tweak the look of your pet, because it 257 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 1: wasn't outside the realm of most people's abilities to go 258 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: and draw in a new shape for their pets body 259 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:22,200 Speaker 1: or a different coloration. But eventually, as that as time 260 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: went on, and we'll get back into the timeline in 261 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: a minute, but by two thousand and six, uh, the 262 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: the company had abandoned the line drawing approach and went 263 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: for a more quote unquote realistic look where you could 264 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: end up changing textures, but you couldn't remodel your pet. 265 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: It was gonna always be the same basic shape, but 266 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: you could tweak it a little bit, just not as 267 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,640 Speaker 1: much as you could in earlier versions of the program. 268 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: But this is where we see the idea of the 269 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: virtual pet really take off, and it ended up being 270 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: fairly popular. A few million copies sold, so not not 271 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: like a crazy excess, but it showed that there was 272 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: a market there that people were interested in getting a 273 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: virtual companion. Kind of a weird idea at the time. 274 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: Some would say a weird idea today that it's not 275 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: necessarily something that has has gained widespread acceptance. I don't know, 276 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: but there's yeah, there's there's, As we will talk about later, 277 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: there are certainly enough different models of this kind of 278 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: thing out there that there's you know, and and they've 279 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 1: they've done medical research about stuff. You know, people who 280 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: are perhaps lonely and don't have so much access to 281 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: as much human interaction as they as they need. There 282 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: are lots of robots meant for keeping people companion. Yeah, 283 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: in fact, we'll talk a little bit about them. I 284 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: have some information about one of those robots, but we'll 285 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: we'll save that for towards the end of the discussion 286 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:50,720 Speaker 1: because that that really it ends up building on a 287 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: lot of these concepts we're talking about early on, and 288 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: we're about to tackle the biggest name I think as 289 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: far as virtual pets go. It's the name I always 290 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: think of whenever I think of virtual or digital pets. 291 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 1: But before we get into that, let's take a quick 292 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:09,000 Speaker 1: moment to thank our sponsor. Okay, now, Lauren. When I 293 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:13,360 Speaker 1: say digital pet, is there a particular brand name that 294 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:18,719 Speaker 1: leaps to mind? Tom There you go, Tomagochi, launched by 295 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:23,639 Speaker 1: Bandai in nine in Japan. That is correct, and from 296 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,439 Speaker 1: what I understand, tomagochi is the correct spelling. I always 297 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: heard it as tamagotchi when I was a kid, but 298 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: I think that that's probably just because we had no 299 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: idea what we were talking about. It's an americanis pronunciation. Sure, Sure, 300 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: the word does come from from a much mca portmanteau 301 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 1: of the words tomago, which means egg in Japanese and 302 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:46,679 Speaker 1: the English were I'm familiar with it from sushi. From sushi, yes, well, 303 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,879 Speaker 1: and in sushi it's usually meant to um, meant as 304 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: a shortened form of tamaga yucki, which is that sweet 305 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: egg omelet. But look at the brain on Lauren. Wow, 306 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: she did not know I was gonna say she either. 307 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 1: All right, Okay, so tamago, what's the other one? And 308 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: the English word watch, which when you kind of translate 309 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: into the Japanese foreign loan word alphabet kata kana, it 310 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: sounds a lot more like oachi. Alright, so it's egg watch, 311 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 1: which I would immediately assume would be an egg timer, 312 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: not a digital pet, not at all. But it is 313 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: a digital pet. But but they but they were egg 314 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,360 Speaker 1: shaped and they did the origin of these little creatures 315 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: would be would look like a little egg. So so 316 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:32,959 Speaker 1: you would go out and you would buy this essentially 317 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: look like a key chain that had an egg shaped 318 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: plastic case there with a little screen on it. Yeah, 319 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: and uh, that would allow you to hatch your virtual 320 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: your digital pet. So you have a little egg on 321 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:50,720 Speaker 1: there that you would have to uh, you know, press 322 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 1: a button which essentially started a timer that would let 323 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: the the Toma gauchi. No, hey, there's a player. It's 324 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: time to start creating a pet for this person to 325 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 1: interact with. And then um, you would end up using 326 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: I think it was like three buttons. Yeah, it's a 327 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:10,880 Speaker 1: little three button interaction. So you would use those three 328 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,560 Speaker 1: buttons to do various commands depending upon what your pet 329 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 1: needed and whether or not you were a good person, 330 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: because it would be things like, you know, feed your 331 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: pet or clean up after your pet, because they would 332 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,159 Speaker 1: leave little digital poos. They would get upset if you 333 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:28,440 Speaker 1: if you didn't. And I say all this hypothetically because 334 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,200 Speaker 1: I never actually owned When did you ever actually on 335 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: I did not own. I didn't own one. Did you 336 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:43,760 Speaker 1: mistreat someone else's Tamaguchi? I'm taking the fifth mostly because 337 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: I can't remember. No, I'm not the kind of guy 338 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,119 Speaker 1: who would ever. I I can't. I can't mistreat creatures 339 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: in a video game, right, Like if there's a video 340 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:58,760 Speaker 1: game s all right, tangential. I I apologize for the tangent. 341 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: But this is an example of how I think the 342 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:07,119 Speaker 1: game Red Dead Redemption. You're you're playing a cowboy in 343 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: the waning era of the cowboy era, right in days 344 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: the train is taking over, the cars are starting to happen, 345 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: so the the Day of the Cowboys. At an end um, 346 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:22,399 Speaker 1: there's an achievement you could get for killing all the 347 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: buffalo in the game. There was a certain number of buffalo, 348 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,640 Speaker 1: and after you killed a certain number, you would get 349 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:31,160 Speaker 1: this achievement. That was the last achievement I got because 350 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: I could not bring myself for the original Buffalo. But 351 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: we'll get into the discussion about that about actually, uh 352 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 1: developing an emotional attachment to a digital creation, which is 353 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: kind of crazy when you think about it, like just 354 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 1: from a like crazy from the sense of that's so 355 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:53,040 Speaker 1: like I would never have imagined it until it happened. Sure, 356 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, you know, as as a kid, 357 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: I mean I had I had a whole stable full 358 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: of my Little Ponies, Okay, I was. I was that 359 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: guy when I was like six and um, and they 360 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: all had very individual personalities, and I was extraordinarily attached 361 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: to these toys. So you know, I mean, I mean, 362 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 1: just building on that if if, if and those things, 363 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: those things didn't move except my imaginations, right, I can 364 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: see how something that does move to a certain extent, 365 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:18,959 Speaker 1: does I mean that? That being said? In fable, I'm 366 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,640 Speaker 1: the guy who kicks all the chickens so well, okay, 367 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: I've been their annoying. I've kicked a chicken or two, 368 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,439 Speaker 1: you know. Also, also, it's very possible, Lauren, that some 369 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: of our listeners out there could be Brownies, and maybe 370 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: they also have their own collections that could rival your 371 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 1: own childhood one. They probably could. By the way, I'm 372 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:39,920 Speaker 1: not speaking down to anyone who likes My Little Pony 373 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: that was created. The latest version my Little Pony Friendship 374 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 1: is Magic was created by the same people who created 375 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: Powerpuff Girls, which I love, which is awesome. Yeah, so 376 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,880 Speaker 1: no judgment here. Yeah, yeah, getting back to yeah, yeah, 377 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: so you could, you could feed them, you could clean 378 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:54,680 Speaker 1: up after them. If you didn't clean up after them, 379 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,159 Speaker 1: they could actually get sick, and then you would have 380 00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: to really take care of them. And also Toma got 381 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: she unlike a lot of other other digital pets, the 382 00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: digital pet in tamagotchies could die. Yeah you didn't take 383 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 1: care of them, or I think in the American version 384 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,440 Speaker 1: it was they sort of turned into little digital angels 385 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:13,440 Speaker 1: and kind of flew back to their home planet because 386 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: they were aliens or or yeah, they went into a 387 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,440 Speaker 1: little digital ufo and flew away. But but the point 388 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:20,719 Speaker 1: was that if you didn't take care of them, they 389 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,480 Speaker 1: would leave. And and in fact that became something of 390 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: a problem because it took you had to take care 391 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: of him about twice a day, sure, and in the 392 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: early stages way more often than that, about once every 393 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,520 Speaker 1: six hours or so. I think, so, yeah, you've got 394 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 1: this thing, and it could make noise, it would beat 395 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: at you when it was really not doing so well 396 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,000 Speaker 1: or not happy. Happy being a weird term because we're 397 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: talking about following a certain protocol, which meant that kids 398 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: would have to whip these things out and take care 399 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 1: of them throughout the day, and then if they were 400 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:55,359 Speaker 1: in school, which became a problem in the United States certainly. Yeah, 401 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,200 Speaker 1: and so in the US you had stories of schools 402 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 1: that would ban these things out right and say, don't 403 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 1: bring them to school because they are a distraction. You're 404 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: not learning, you are instead paying attention to a little 405 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: digital pet, and you need to have your attention directed 406 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:13,719 Speaker 1: towards your schoolwork and um. And in fact, a lot 407 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,359 Speaker 1: of sources that I've read have essentially credited the fact 408 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:22,040 Speaker 1: that the United States school systems often outright banned these 409 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,720 Speaker 1: things for the downfall of the virtual pet industry in 410 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: the US, that that virtual pets, digital pets didn't really 411 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: become as big a deal as they could have because 412 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,919 Speaker 1: the school systems banned them. So, uh, there you go. 413 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: I Tomagotchi what not only was the genesis of the 414 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,400 Speaker 1: digital pet craze, but in the United States at least, 415 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,960 Speaker 1: was also the death of it. But but moving on, 416 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: there are other ones to talk about besides Tamagotchi. Also 417 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: in two thousand five, they updated the line because it 418 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: had pretty much gone forgotten. But there were a lot 419 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,880 Speaker 1: of people who had nostalgic fondness for the Tamagotchi line. 420 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 1: It never really went away. Actually there there there have 421 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: been a several several generation updates here and there. I mean, 422 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: they were still pretty big in Japan from what I understand, 423 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 1: so um, but but yeah, they came back with a 424 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: with an infrared yes connector port. Yeah, the Tamagotchi connection. This, 425 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: this is what allowed the Tomagotchi version to have interactions 426 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,880 Speaker 1: with other people's tomagotchis. Because before it was pretty much 427 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 1: just you know, your pet was confined to its own egg, 428 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: to its own egg, that was the extent of its universe. 429 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:35,639 Speaker 1: But then with the infrared UH feature, it would allow 430 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,239 Speaker 1: your pet to visit other pets and it could get 431 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: out of the egg once in a while. And eventually 432 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: around two thousand eleven two twelve um Toma Go which 433 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,200 Speaker 1: introduced these little separate figures that you can plug into 434 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: here Tomagotchi UH those those were introduced, and also Tomma Town, 435 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: which was a website thing, which as of February six 436 00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:01,679 Speaker 1: has shut down. So so again the struggle for the 437 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 1: digital pet continues. I just wanted to mention some of 438 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: the characters that you could have in tamagotchi. Keeping mind, uh, 439 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: your your digital pet would go through stages in its life, 440 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: so there'd be uh a young stage, teen stage, and 441 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,879 Speaker 1: then an adult stage. So these kind of apply to 442 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: different stages. But you could have Matuchi, which was a 443 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:26,640 Speaker 1: spoiled brat who would like to roll around a lot. 444 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: There was Kinakmachi, which like to jump around a lot, 445 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 1: and the picture I saw of it had a giant 446 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 1: bump on its head with a little bruise marks, so 447 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: apparently that not very safe when he jumps around. There 448 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: was Itchy Gotchi, who was a dancing maniac. There was Mimici, 449 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: which was apparently the most popular of all the tamagotchis. 450 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,240 Speaker 1: Supposedly had a genius i Q of two hundred. I 451 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: loved math and writing. Uh. There was Tarakacci, who was naughty, 452 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 1: impatient and chatty and goals a Rucci who wants to 453 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:07,240 Speaker 1: be in ninja. I like your Japanese pronunciation. But yeah, 454 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: so you know, as as of the height of their popularity, um, 455 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: they're supposed to have sold one per second in Japan 456 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:20,639 Speaker 1: and over seventy eight millions sold as so, so certainly 457 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,679 Speaker 1: thing as also a recent news for for Tamaguchi um 458 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,640 Speaker 1: As a Valentine's Day this year, to celebrate sixteen years 459 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:32,120 Speaker 1: of business, the company announced a free Android app called 460 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,720 Speaker 1: Temacochi Life, which stands for Love is Fun Everywhere. Of course, 461 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:41,120 Speaker 1: it's an acronym life. No, No, that would be ridiculous, 462 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,800 Speaker 1: don't be silly. Um so yeah, so so so Tamagochi 463 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: lives on. Wow. Alright, well, moving on to some of 464 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:50,119 Speaker 1: the other virtual pets, right, yeah, because because around the 465 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,919 Speaker 1: same time, you know, everyone was this was such a 466 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 1: craze that everyone had to jump on. Yeah. There were 467 00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:01,560 Speaker 1: some people who criticized Bandai, saying that they Tomagotchi really 468 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,240 Speaker 1: catered more to a female audience to boys, which is 469 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 1: where digital monsters released by Bandai digimon uh similar life 470 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,399 Speaker 1: cycle to Tomagotchi, but they were also designed so that 471 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:17,480 Speaker 1: you would raise them, train them, and battle them with 472 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,280 Speaker 1: other other people's digimon. So there you go, there's the 473 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:25,120 Speaker 1: boy right the So apparently girls want to nurture and 474 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 1: raise a pet and boys want to train a killer monster. 475 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 1: I don't know if I could, if I could get 476 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,720 Speaker 1: a really cute little little Tomagochi and and fight it 477 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: with other really cute Tomagochi that sounds like the best 478 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: game to me. Really really cute deadly fights. I have 479 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,720 Speaker 1: nothing to say about. That would be great. We see 480 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: the introduction of a toy that made people go bonkers 481 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: when it came out, the Furby. Now, um Ferbie is 482 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: not not a digital pet in the sense of these 483 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: other ones that are software software. This is a This 484 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: is more like a kind of a robot, so closer 485 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: to the Teddy Ruxpin model than the Tamagotchi model. And 486 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: the original one would speak in this language called Furbish 487 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,880 Speaker 1: and would gradually learn quote unquote learn English. It would 488 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:19,120 Speaker 1: really just incorporate English into its vocabulary over a set 489 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:23,200 Speaker 1: amount of time. But later models introduced in like two 490 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,680 Speaker 1: thousand five and two thousand and eleven had uh more 491 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 1: features that would let it converse with people. There was 492 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: some voice recognition stuff that was introduced, um and they 493 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: had they had motion sensors. They could tell when you 494 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: were touching them or when you picked them up and 495 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: moved them around. Right, Yeah, yeah, there were I remember 496 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: when they came out because I remember how people went 497 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: went really bonkers over them. Like there's certain toys that 498 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,800 Speaker 1: I can remember people really going crazy. For the first 499 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 1: one I can remember with that happening would be cabbage 500 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,320 Speaker 1: Patch Kids. So that's the classic from my childhood was 501 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,720 Speaker 1: cabbage Patch Kids. And then you had things like uh 502 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 1: Furby Teddy Ruxman actually was really popular when it first 503 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,800 Speaker 1: came out. Furby another great example. UM. And of course 504 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: there's always Beanie Babies, right. But getting back to virtual pets, 505 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: n that's when we get to a web based virtual pet. 506 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: That's neopets, right, yes, neo pets. There is a virtual 507 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: pet website, so you would go in, you would create 508 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: an account, you would adopt a virtual pet, and you 509 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: could buy virtual items for your pet using virtual currency. 510 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,720 Speaker 1: And you could earn currency through participating in various things 511 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: on the website, whether it was a game like a 512 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: Quest or something, or you could actually purchase virtual currency 513 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: using real, cold, hardcash, as many thirteen to seventeen year 514 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: old certainly certainly have on the internet. In um and 515 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: this this was actually created by two British students, originally 516 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 1: just for other students, and it was picked up by 517 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: a market research expert who then sold it to MTV 518 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 1: Viacom for a hundred and sixty million dollars. Not a 519 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: bad turn, Yeah, and it was. They originally thought it 520 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: up in n but took about two years of research 521 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,720 Speaker 1: and development to really build out the capabilities of the site, 522 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 1: which launched in nine nine. Um and it let you 523 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: customize pets. You could choose you had like up to 524 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: I think there was something like fifty four different pet 525 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: types you could choose from, and then once you chose 526 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: the type, you could actually customize the pet further. You 527 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: could compete in the battle dome if that was your desire, 528 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: or you could do little quests and games. Um and 529 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,000 Speaker 1: Neil Pets still going Yeah. Yeah. The last numbers I 530 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: have out it were from two thousand and six, at 531 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 1: which point it claimed over a hundred million users and 532 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty million individual pets. Yeah, kind of crazy. 533 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,320 Speaker 1: Um and uh. I think that Neo Pets was also 534 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,240 Speaker 1: one of the first ones that really incorporated advertising into 535 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,000 Speaker 1: since it was web based, it could have you know, 536 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: a McDonald's quest or or you know, or you could 537 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: you could purchase branded food or or toy items for 538 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: your digital toy items for your digital pet. Yeah. Originally 539 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: they used banner ads on their website, but then they 540 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,959 Speaker 1: were that was one of the first instances of in 541 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 1: game advertising, where the advertisements were worked, like you said, 542 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:21,120 Speaker 1: into the virtual world Neiopia, as I recall, yes and 543 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,719 Speaker 1: uh and yeah, you could end up encountering stuff that 544 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:29,160 Speaker 1: was specifically branded for a particular company. You could even 545 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,320 Speaker 1: purchase stuff like you were saying, um, yeah and as 546 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: I recall, Neo Pets even got some flak for that, 547 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,440 Speaker 1: about the fact that they were using branded stuff within 548 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:42,600 Speaker 1: the world of Neo Pets. But the response was everything 549 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 1: that is branded is clearly marked as an AD. It's 550 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: not being uh, it's not being presented as just an 551 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:51,880 Speaker 1: element of the game. All right, Well, I don't know. 552 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: I think the part of the controversy was that for 553 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:55,760 Speaker 1: for a while, you know, it would have this this 554 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: little tag at the bottom of a page like this 555 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 1: page contains advert editorial content, and but every page had 556 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: that morning. So, you know, especially when you're dealing with 557 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: young kids who don't know the differences between an AD 558 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: and content, it's that's not a problem just with kids. 559 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,200 Speaker 1: You're you're very correct. I yes, I'm not going to 560 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 1: say any more sentences on that. Let's move on to nineteen. 561 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 1: Another thing that happened in my favorite virtual pet of 562 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: all time. I didn't own this virtual pet, but poly Kell. 563 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: What a weird concept. The Sagad Dreamcast releases a special 564 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: game called c Man. Extremely special. This this game and 565 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: I don't have any notes on this, so I'm I'm 566 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: just speaking from the kindness of my heart. Um. This 567 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,640 Speaker 1: game was narrated by Leonard Nimoy. Um. Uh you know 568 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 1: a k A Spock and um it was a classic 569 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,479 Speaker 1: spot Zachary Quinto Spock right right, Zachary Quinto is an 570 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: entirely separate human person um. But so so you would 571 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: you would have this little fish thing, larva egg, and 572 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: it would it would spawn and kind of developed this 573 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: weirdly human face, and it would talk back to you 574 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 1: like it was. It was like a little fish teenager. 575 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:10,959 Speaker 1: It would it would say, really very angry, Leonard, need 576 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,920 Speaker 1: more things than you and and and the Dreamcast, if 577 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:15,960 Speaker 1: you don't remember, had a little port that you could 578 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: plug various things into on the controller, like, for example, 579 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: in this case, a microphone, so you could talk to 580 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: to your c Man. Right, yeah, you could. You could. Uh. 581 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,400 Speaker 1: It would actually ask you when your birthday was, and 582 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:29,320 Speaker 1: you would tell it when your birthday was. And it 583 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: would give you information about other things that happened on 584 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: that day in history. So you get a little trivia 585 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 1: with your c man and and you would you were 586 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: supposed to interact with your ce man at least once 587 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:44,360 Speaker 1: a day, or else it would die and if you 588 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: continue to interact with it, it would possibly like you. 589 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 1: But it always was a little snarky. It was pretty snarky. Um. Yeah, 590 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: even even if the c man wasn't outright hostile, it 591 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: would still be a little Most of mine were hostile, 592 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: but I but I don't think that I took care 593 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: of mine nearly as opposition because they remind me of 594 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:07,000 Speaker 1: terrifying love crafty and horror. I think we've established what 595 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:11,400 Speaker 1: your your your your capacity to care is already in 596 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 1: this podcast, so it's no surprise that your seaman went bad. Um. 597 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 1: But yeah, as you would care for the seaman, h 598 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: it could meet other seamen, that's a terrible thing to say, 599 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: And then they would end up spawning and you would 600 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: have evolving seaman where eventually it would turn into like 601 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:37,520 Speaker 1: this frog like thing and be still with the creepy human. Yeah, 602 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: it's fantastic. Um. Yeah. Seaman Too was actually released in 603 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: Japan in two thousand seven. Can't imagine why it didn't 604 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: make its way over here. That was for the PlayStation two. Obviously, 605 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 1: the Dreamcast was long different. Sad about that. We we 606 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 1: will have to do a full episode about the Dreamcast 607 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:59,399 Speaker 1: at one point, but yeah, it would. You know, that's 608 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:03,800 Speaker 1: kind of crazy virtual pet thing. It was weird because 609 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: it had an attitude. I mean, it wasn't like cute 610 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,480 Speaker 1: and cuddley. It was weird to look at and it 611 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:11,560 Speaker 1: acted in a very bizarre way. So it was like, 612 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:15,560 Speaker 1: how do you nurture something that is that unusual? Unusually? Uh, 613 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:20,040 Speaker 1: the appearance is unusual and then its behavior is inexplicable. Also, 614 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 1: none of I mean not you know, I don't have 615 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,920 Speaker 1: any children, but I suspect that if I do, none 616 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,000 Speaker 1: of them will sound quite so much like Lennard Nimoy 617 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: right off the bat. Yeah, probably not. You have to 618 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:31,920 Speaker 1: really train them for that, so the next I have. 619 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:34,279 Speaker 1: I mean, there are other virtual pets that that came 620 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:38,239 Speaker 1: out around that era, But two thousand five was the 621 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: next fairly big success. That was when Nintendo released in 622 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 1: ten Dogs, right, Yeah, was that originally for the DS? 623 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:47,960 Speaker 1: It was for the the d S. Yeah, Nintendo. I was, 624 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:50,960 Speaker 1: I know, I butchered that one. I was so confident 625 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:52,880 Speaker 1: going in and then it just fell apart as it 626 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: was leaving my lips anyway. So yeah, you use the 627 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,800 Speaker 1: touch screen interface and the actual built in microphone on 628 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:01,439 Speaker 1: the d S two in act with your virtual dog, 629 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,920 Speaker 1: so you could give it commands of verbally and it 630 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 1: would follow them. Well, if it was a well behaved dog, 631 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:09,640 Speaker 1: it would follow them, well trained dog, it would follow. 632 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: You would have to scold it if it did not right, 633 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,880 Speaker 1: And you could link the ds with other other ds is, 634 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 1: so if other people hadn't intend dogs, you could you know, 635 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,720 Speaker 1: have your dog visit other dogs. So again it really 636 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,800 Speaker 1: went back into this whole model that we were talking about. 637 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,359 Speaker 1: And there are other examples as well. You had one 638 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:33,200 Speaker 1: that was an upcoming example, and yeah, there's well, you know, 639 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,359 Speaker 1: there's still a lot of a lot of web application 640 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:39,359 Speaker 1: virtual pets out there. Webkins are tremendously popular. These are 641 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: stuffed animals that have access codes. So you go online 642 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:44,760 Speaker 1: and you interact with a digital version of your stuffed 643 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:48,360 Speaker 1: animal UM and it's it's pretty ingenious and evil actually 644 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 1: because it sells um not only virtual accessories for this thing. 645 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,239 Speaker 1: But when you buy physical accessories for your physical toy, 646 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,399 Speaker 1: you can plug the codes into the Internet and get 647 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 1: virtuals off too. So it's it's terrific marketing actually. Um, 648 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 1: stuff like that food Pets Sue beta in back in 649 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:11,040 Speaker 1: two thousand and six was a big thing. UM. I 650 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:13,080 Speaker 1: may or may not come back to that later because 651 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:17,640 Speaker 1: we have an awesome note about virtual pet zombies. Um. 652 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:22,840 Speaker 1: But the interesting one that I had what Hatch, Hatch, 653 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: Thank you Hatch. Yes, this is this is an upcoming 654 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,920 Speaker 1: iPhone app. Um. You can sign up for the beta. 655 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,840 Speaker 1: It's it's it's supposed to come out spring sometime. We 656 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:35,799 Speaker 1: are recording this in February, and as of right now, 657 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,560 Speaker 1: it doesn't have a date. And as of now, if 658 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:40,359 Speaker 1: you go to the Hatch website, you can just pick 659 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,480 Speaker 1: which little egg you want and and it'll send you 660 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,680 Speaker 1: an email with a with a certificate of adoption. I 661 00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:49,319 Speaker 1: know this because I've done this, Okay, So I don't 662 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:51,480 Speaker 1: have an iOS device that I could use with this. 663 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,399 Speaker 1: Otherwise I would hope secretly that mine would turn into 664 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,719 Speaker 1: the clover Field Monster. Because I love that documentary. That 665 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,880 Speaker 1: that is a terrific documentary. I'm not sure that I 666 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:02,880 Speaker 1: want to hang out with you anymore and want to 667 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:06,279 Speaker 1: control that. That makes two Abrams documentaries that I've I've 668 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 1: I've mentioned in one podcast preteen It's gonna be hard 669 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:13,799 Speaker 1: not to mention a documentary. He will rule the Key Universe. Yeah, 670 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 1: and I I actually, out of all these virtual pets, 671 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:17,880 Speaker 1: the only thing that I ever owned that was similar 672 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:20,320 Speaker 1: to this. There there are these toys called the Cube 673 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,399 Speaker 1: World Digital stick People. Yeah. Yeah, So they are these 674 00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:27,880 Speaker 1: plastic cubes. They have magnetic contacts on on four sides 675 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:31,279 Speaker 1: of the cube. Uh, the forward facing side is a 676 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: screen that has a little digital stick figure in it 677 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,880 Speaker 1: that behaves a certain way depending upon that that figures 678 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: occupation or main hobby. So for example, you might have 679 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 1: one that has a dog, and so all the activities 680 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,919 Speaker 1: the stick figure does involves a dog in some way. 681 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:49,160 Speaker 1: You might have one that's an office worker or a 682 00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:53,719 Speaker 1: janitor or whatever. And the interesting thing was not only 683 00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:56,600 Speaker 1: would they behave a particular way within their cube, and 684 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,320 Speaker 1: you could pick the cube up and shake it and 685 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,440 Speaker 1: that would actually make the figure follow over like there 686 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,480 Speaker 1: was an earthquake, or you could turn it on its 687 00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:06,280 Speaker 1: side that make the figure slide because gravity had changed terrific. 688 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:09,520 Speaker 1: You could also put two of these cubes together with 689 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:13,400 Speaker 1: their magnetic context, and then the two different stick figures 690 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:18,600 Speaker 1: could visit with interact. Yeah, more often than not they 691 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:21,839 Speaker 1: would fight, but sometimes I get along and you could 692 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,920 Speaker 1: actually stack I think it was up to it was 693 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,160 Speaker 1: three or four, It might be four. I think you 694 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 1: could stack up to four together, uh, and how in 695 00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 1: in either horizontally or vertically and have them interact with 696 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,040 Speaker 1: each other. And then you could even make blocks of 697 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:37,319 Speaker 1: these cubes like grab a whole bunch, and then you'd 698 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: have like essentially an apartment of these little stick figures, 699 00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:43,239 Speaker 1: all behaving in various ways. They were pretty limited in 700 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,279 Speaker 1: what they would do, and you could play games with 701 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,719 Speaker 1: them as well. The games were usually pretty limited, but 702 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,440 Speaker 1: it was a cute idea. And so yeah, I had 703 00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:55,360 Speaker 1: four of those, and they they're a little wacky, not 704 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,040 Speaker 1: not terribly sophisticated compared to some of the other virtual 705 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:00,799 Speaker 1: pets we talked about. But this this kind of led 706 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:07,719 Speaker 1: to this um this uh market of creating virtual creatures 707 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:11,400 Speaker 1: for people to have real companionship, things like the ludo bots, 708 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:15,440 Speaker 1: which are play robots that's artificial human companions. Things like 709 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:19,759 Speaker 1: Ibo or Pleio, the little robotic dinosaur. We have an 710 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,200 Speaker 1: article about how Pleio works on how stuff works dot com. 711 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:28,560 Speaker 1: It includes pictures of a Pleio that has been slightly 712 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,960 Speaker 1: taking apart. I believe it was kind of traumatic for 713 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 1: all of us. Tracy actually wrote that. Our our site director, 714 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:40,400 Speaker 1: Tracy Wilson wrote that article, and I remember hearing gleeful 715 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:44,920 Speaker 1: cackles and seeing lightning and hearing thunder all from her 716 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,320 Speaker 1: office as she was working on that article. True story. 717 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:52,320 Speaker 1: H Then there's also Pero, which is a therapeutic seal robot. 718 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:54,799 Speaker 1: I saw this at I want to say it was 719 00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:58,200 Speaker 1: a c e S several years ago, and I also 720 00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:01,960 Speaker 1: saw it at Japan Fest in UH in Atlanta, Georgia 721 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:05,600 Speaker 1: one year. But it's a robotic seal that's meant as 722 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:09,320 Speaker 1: a companion for senior citizens because in Japan in particular, 723 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:13,640 Speaker 1: they have a rising problem of an aging population. People 724 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:16,680 Speaker 1: are having fewer children, which means that the population is 725 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 1: growing older. The percentage of population entering their their senior 726 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,520 Speaker 1: years is growing each year and UH and there's a 727 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,279 Speaker 1: very real problem of how do you provide companionship for 728 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,879 Speaker 1: those people so that they have a positive outlook and 729 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:36,080 Speaker 1: the pero therapeutic seal robot is kind of a way 730 00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,000 Speaker 1: of doing that, and it builds within it a lot 731 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:40,520 Speaker 1: of these concepts of the virtual pet that so it 732 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:45,440 Speaker 1: responds to you. It uh, it purrs or moves in 733 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:49,400 Speaker 1: very nice little ways, and it's it's it's an absolutely 734 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:51,440 Speaker 1: adorable robot. I mean, you look at this thing and 735 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:55,480 Speaker 1: you can't help but that that looks cuddly. But yeah, 736 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:57,759 Speaker 1: before we sign off, I want to talk about this 737 00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:01,080 Speaker 1: zombie thing. I want to hear or about the zombie thing, 738 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:03,840 Speaker 1: right right, so so on, I have no idea how 739 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,960 Speaker 1: to pronounce this, either sue beta or soap beta. Yeah, 740 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,279 Speaker 1: it's it's it's a website thing. Um. They had back 741 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:11,680 Speaker 1: in two thousand nine. It was on Valentine's Day, they 742 00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:15,359 Speaker 1: had a love epidemic and when players signed on on 743 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:18,560 Speaker 1: on this particular Valentine Today, they found out that every 744 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:22,000 Speaker 1: every little critter in this universe had been infected by 745 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: some kind of love virus, which if anyone else here 746 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:29,000 Speaker 1: seeing the documentary Stacy, which is a Japanese horror film, um, 747 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:32,160 Speaker 1: you will you will perhaps have have already ideas about this. 748 00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:36,200 Speaker 1: But yeah, uh and and this virus would slowly turn 749 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:41,400 Speaker 1: these creatures into into these kind of gory, undead zombie things, 750 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,400 Speaker 1: and and people wound up really digging it. They wound 751 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,200 Speaker 1: up keeping their characters as zombies. You could you could 752 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:53,320 Speaker 1: eventually cure it by by applying something called lamurrisyllum, which 753 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:56,560 Speaker 1: which I am I am enchanted by. I think that 754 00:42:56,680 --> 00:43:00,520 Speaker 1: is terrific um. But but yeah, so you know, there's 755 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:02,439 Speaker 1: there's a little bit of a darkness to a little 756 00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:06,360 Speaker 1: little dark corner there, which again I think that I 757 00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:07,520 Speaker 1: don't know, you know, you know, some of the stuff 758 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:09,200 Speaker 1: is so cute. While I was doing research, I ran 759 00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:13,320 Speaker 1: across um a couple of pages for the current Tomaguchi line, 760 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:17,920 Speaker 1: and I was honestly terrified by the sheer cute level. 761 00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:19,880 Speaker 1: And I know that I'm not in the demographic anymore, 762 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:22,319 Speaker 1: so so I get that it's not aimed at me, 763 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:25,759 Speaker 1: but but just the amount of giant eyes with sparkles 764 00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:30,520 Speaker 1: in them, why why did they sparkle? So that's what 765 00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:34,560 Speaker 1: it is, and look it up. It's it's all. It's 766 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:37,319 Speaker 1: all very strange to me, you know. It's there's when 767 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,920 Speaker 1: when they were doing some initial research with ferbies Um 768 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:41,200 Speaker 1: up at M I t I think that M I 769 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:43,839 Speaker 1: T helped develop the furbies, or kids at MT helped 770 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:45,520 Speaker 1: develop it, and so so a lot of the research 771 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:49,239 Speaker 1: around it was done by those folks. But you know, 772 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,240 Speaker 1: kids kids said that they realized that the Ferbie wasn't alive, 773 00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:55,880 Speaker 1: but but that it was a little bit alive in 774 00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:57,520 Speaker 1: a furby kind of way, not in a human way, 775 00:43:57,520 --> 00:43:59,319 Speaker 1: not in an animal way, but in a ferbie way. 776 00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:02,480 Speaker 1: So it was like a new definition for life in 777 00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:05,760 Speaker 1: the sense of well, it's it's more than something that's inert, 778 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:09,920 Speaker 1: but it's not something that's organically living, right, right. And 779 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,959 Speaker 1: one of the Frederick Kaplan, who's worked with the IBO 780 00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:17,120 Speaker 1: team at Sony in Paris, was saying that, uh, you know, 781 00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:21,040 Speaker 1: these creatures paradoxically are not designed to respect asimov second 782 00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,680 Speaker 1: law of robotics, which is that a robot must obey 783 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:27,200 Speaker 1: human beings orders. They're designed to be autonomous and to 784 00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:30,160 Speaker 1: have their own goals, their own wants, their own needs, 785 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,239 Speaker 1: and to disobey you sometimes because that's real pet, Like 786 00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:35,920 Speaker 1: a real pet would Yeah, yeah, because I mean with 787 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,279 Speaker 1: those behaviors, you end up developing this relationship. If it 788 00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,680 Speaker 1: always did everything you said, that would probably become fairly 789 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:47,239 Speaker 1: boring fairly quickly. You know. It's it's that that process 790 00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:50,560 Speaker 1: of teaching your pet and nurturing your pet that ends 791 00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:55,200 Speaker 1: up being so rewarding from UH an owner perspective. Sure, 792 00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:57,360 Speaker 1: there has to be a positive feedback loop of you 793 00:44:57,520 --> 00:45:00,000 Speaker 1: doing something that has an impact on the pet's life 794 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:03,480 Speaker 1: and the pet therefore having an impact on yours. It's 795 00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:05,560 Speaker 1: it's it's interesting, and you know, they're like we said, 796 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,840 Speaker 1: there's a lot of scholarship on the matter, although to 797 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:11,360 Speaker 1: be fair, the scholarship did kind of died down simply 798 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,640 Speaker 1: because the trend didn't really you know, sustain itself in 799 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,399 Speaker 1: the United States anyway. But I expect we'll probably see 800 00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:20,439 Speaker 1: more of that. I mean, especially as you talk about 801 00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:23,480 Speaker 1: the development of things like artificial intelligence. We're going to 802 00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:28,040 Speaker 1: see more toys that are incorporating some form of AI 803 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,360 Speaker 1: in them, and they'll probably follow a lot of the 804 00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:35,440 Speaker 1: same features that digital pets established. So yeah, it's an interesting, 805 00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:40,719 Speaker 1: interesting subject. I mean, ultimately, these virtual pets are following 806 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:45,080 Speaker 1: fairly simple protocols. That's it's an algorithms that have them 807 00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:51,120 Speaker 1: behave a certain way. There's some quasi randomization about when 808 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:57,399 Speaker 1: they do certain actions, but it's really pretty simple. Yeah, 809 00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:00,680 Speaker 1: And you know, if if can and we really love 810 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,560 Speaker 1: something that that isn't alive, that can't die, you know, 811 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:06,319 Speaker 1: if more mortality is a condition of life, can we 812 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,640 Speaker 1: love something? I think that Vampire Slayer taught us that 813 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:13,320 Speaker 1: we can and that ultimately that decision is going to 814 00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:16,120 Speaker 1: hurt us, but it's okay because it will create a 815 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:18,759 Speaker 1: spin off series it's much better than the original, or 816 00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:23,360 Speaker 1: at least of equivalent quality until it reaches season four. 817 00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:26,080 Speaker 1: All right. So um, that that I think wraps up 818 00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:29,600 Speaker 1: our discussion on digital pets. So guys, that was a 819 00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:31,879 Speaker 1: great suggestion. It was interesting, was something that I never 820 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:34,600 Speaker 1: would have thought to cover on my own, So definitely, 821 00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:37,520 Speaker 1: thank you so much for that suggestion. Listeners, if you 822 00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:39,920 Speaker 1: have any other suggestions for our topics we should cover 823 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:42,919 Speaker 1: in future episodes of tech Stuff, please get in touch 824 00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:44,799 Speaker 1: with us. You can send us an email or an 825 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:49,759 Speaker 1: address is tech Stuff at Discovery dot com, or drop 826 00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:52,040 Speaker 1: us a line on Facebook or Twitter or handle at 827 00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:55,319 Speaker 1: both of those locations. Is tech Stuff, H. S. W 828 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,799 Speaker 1: and Lauren and I will taught to you again really soon. 829 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:02,839 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 830 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:08,240 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot com