Hooked on Tamagotchis

My girls are now hooked on Tamagotchis®, these key chain electronic games where you grow a creature – or better said, watch a blob “evolve” into some surprise pet formation. It may turn out to be male or female and over the first weeks you play with it and let it sleep, eat and poop. Yes, my seven-year old loves the latter because you can wirelessly send the poop to another Tamagotchi player as a gift. Nice way to get back at big sister.

These virtual pets have been around a long time but there’s been some sort of resurgence among the elementary school kids, which seems to have successfully overtaken the Webkins® craze. It must be the technology getting better and better – especially that kids can interact wirelessly with other players.

Apparently Rosie’s best friends, twin sisters, have married and mated their characters recently. One sister has a male pet and the other a female pet. Now that these characters are adults, they can have babies together to build a “Familitchi”. Yes, it’s true. Electronic toys for the 7-11 crowd are mating with one another.

Rosie, now 10 ½ – just about a pre-teen – gushed when she told me all about it yesterday. She was totally flushed with surprise and horror (“Isn’t that just so weird?”). It was the rage on the bus ride home. To this news my Younger screamed from the other side of the house: “Can girls get married?” (Yes, I shouted back thinking of the world at large made up of real people – and we live in Massachusetts, that liberal state). She was, of course, thinking how her Tamagotchi could mate with another female pet owned by some friend when it grows up. It was actually a good question. It made me think: Do digital humanoids or pets or what-have-you have to get married to have babyoids? Might these Tamagotchi’s break sex and gender barriers? Might they be more “alien” or androgynous, or did some game inventor not think beyond the consequences of such heterosexual, evolutionary game play.

All I know is that if it’s not some headline across the newspaper regarding sex scandals it will be these silly toys that prompt “The Talk” on how babies are made. I better learn how to play one. Might help with the explaining.

Stay tuned.

Comments

[Lynn]

Wow.....tamagotchis mating. I remember 10 or 12 years ago when they first came out and we were lucky to get them to hatch and grow up. How confusing for kids if they aren't ready to understand the whole mating thing. I'm glad my girls are older (18 & 12) and aren't into those right now.

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