Taken by the Tamagotchi How a Toy Changed the Perspective on Mobile Technology
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Taken by the Tamagotchi How A Toy Changed The Perspective On Mobile Technology Laura Lawton Abstract Mobile technology has become a ubiquitous influence on the way we live. In 1996, however, mobile devices were clumsy and remained distinctly outside of the consumer’s social fabric. Bandai Inc’s introduction of the Tamagotchi, a toy that could be taken anywhere, and portrayed a pixelated alien in need of constant nurturing, represented a significant shift in the role of mobile technology in daily life. Through its cuteness, the Tamagotchi convinced consumers to willingly dedicate their time, attention, and emotions to the virtual pet. This paper will explore how the Tamagotchi played a role in influencing how individuals viewed the developing mobile technology market, and how it prepared us for the constant presence of technology that we are so familiar with today. Keywords: Tamagotchi, mobile technology, digital pets “Tamagotchi is a tiny pet from cyberspace who needs your love to survive and grow. If you take good care of your Tamagotchi pet, it will slowly grow bigger, healthier, and more beautiful every day. But if you neglect your little cyber creature your Tamagotchi may grow up to be mean or ugly. How old will your Tamagotchi be when it returns to its home planet? What kind of virtual caretaker will you be?” (Tamagotchi packaging, as cited in Allison, 2006) In 1996, the economically struggling toy company Bandai Inc. released an innovative toy, uncertain of its success. This egg-shaped, portable gadget was called the Tamagotchi, and at the peak of its popularity it was titled “the world’s most popular toy” (Allison, 2006, p. 163). The premise of the game LAWTON TAKEN BY THE TAMAGOTCHI was to hatch and raise the virtual pet into adulthood, where it would return to its home planet ‘healthy’ and ‘beautiful.’ Depending on the care provided, the Tamagotchi would respond to its user and develop characteristics in relation to the quality of care it received. The electronic creature was a success, producing revenues of more than $160 million in the United States alone in 1997 (Allison, 2006, p. 164) The Tamagotchi had the ability to fit in one’s pocket and be taken everywhere –on the train, in the living room, or to a café with friends – while the television or cord phone stayed behind. This level of convenience in interaction with the virtual creature, combined with cuteness and dependency, caused many to form an emotional attachment to their device. From an individual to societal scale, this kind of attachment led to a general shift in perspectives on mobile technology. Today, mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops are ubiquitously woven into our daily lives. In 1996, however, the first form of mobile technology that could have this relationship with its user was not a phone but a pixelated, demanding Tamagotchi. This paper will explore how the Tamagotchi played a role in influencing how individuals viewed the developing mobile technology market, and how it prepared people for the constant presence of technology that we are so familiar with today. Through its ability to facilitate emotional and social bonds, the Tamagotchi helped to ‘sell’ the world on the idea of mobile technology. The Virtual Animal Part of the Tamagotchi’s success can be attributed to the shape the virtual creature’s body and its ability to convince users of its animalistic qualities. Clinical psychologist Neil Frude provides insight into the relationship between artificial companion systems and our emotional attachment to them. “Animism” is our tendency to “attribute life and consciousness to inanimate objects” which, in turn, creates an emotional attachment between the user and objects (Frude & Jandric, 2015, p. 411). The concept of the Tamagotchi introduced virtual pets into the consumer market, and many journalists were surprised when it was a phenomenal success. The success of the toy was due to a combination of factors, including a novel approach to marketing an intriguing version of “kawaii” (meaning ‘cute’ in Japanese) in North America and providing consumers with the ability to interact with technology in a new way. Users could develop a unique relationship with their Tamagotchi that responded accordingly to different factors, based on the decisions of the owner and the level of care provided. Frude remarks that “[t]he emotional impact is not surprising given the animistic tendency, which some people believed to be a novel effect and labelled the Tamagotchi effect” (Frude, 2015, p. 412). The Tamagotchi, although very different in physicality from live pets, delivered the right amount of animism to facilitate the user’s imagination and emotional response. The creatures themselves, although pixelated and simple in design, featured ears, beaks, or tentacles while wearing a hat or perhaps a mask (Allison, 2006, p. 172). The characteristics of the virtual creatures resembled animals likely known to the user in real life such as a dog or a bird, while adding other odd characteristics to appear as a unique creature. It presented a virtual alien that was simultaneously familiar and strange, almost “remix[ing] the virtual and the real” The iJournal (2)2, Winter 2017 2 LAWTON TAKEN BY THE TAMAGOTCHI (Allison, 2006, p. 172). The Tamagotchi offered consumers something they were inherently expected from of a pet, while also encompassing an otherworldly factor that encouraged the curiosity of the users while they watched it ‘grow.’ Judith Donath (2010) describes how successful virtual pets share key behaviours with real pets by giving the appearance of free will, being dependent on their owners for care, and requiring constant attention from their caretakers. In addition, the virtual pet’s responsiveness to their owner’s actions and decisions mimic the behaviour of a real pet. The ‘animism’ in the Tamagotchi made users interact with the technology like real pet owners, and come to tolerate the behaviours of the Tamagotchi as they would an untrained pet. The impatience of the Tamagotchi would soon develop tolerance in the user, suddenly enabling a new, more demanding relationship with technology. Donath believes that “[i]f we think of them as games, the time spent playing with them is entertainment and somewhat self-indulgent; if we think of them as animals, time spent playing with them is care-taking, an act of responsibility and altruism” (Donath, 2010, p. 4). The success the user feels is deeply tied to their sense of self, their ability to be a ‘good’ owner to the ‘pet’ and create ‘life-changing consequences’ in the development of the Tamagotchi. One of the most noted aspects of the toy is the “uncanny sense of presence it generates in its players” because of its imperfect existence (Allison, 2006, p. 176). The creator of the Tamagotchi, Yokoi Akihiro, intended to teach the user that “[p]ets are only cute 20 to 30 percent of the time, and the rest is a lot of trouble, a lot of work,” and continued to state he “wanted to incorporate this kind of idea into a toy…you also start to love them when you take care of them” (Gibson, 1998, p.34). The reality of raising a pet successfully lies in constant vigilance to the creature’s needs. However, through menial tasks such as feeding the virtual pet, cleaning it, and walking it, an intimate knowledge of the creature’s progress develops. The relationship of care between the creature and caretaker can create an intimate bond, even when it is just a machine. It is a toy that requires constant attention, and requires constant attention because it may act out in ‘bad behaviour’ if its needs are not met. Successful parenting is measured by the personality of the Tamagotchi throughout its stages of development, and Bandai’s official Tamagotchi guidebook directly correlates the behaviours of ‘good’ caretaking with particular Tamagotchi traits. For example, in the appearance of a Mametchi Tamagotchi, programmed to have a high intelligence, the guidebook says that it “shows that you’ve really paid a lot of attention to your Tamagotchi” (Allison, 2006, p. 174). However, in the appearance of a more unfavourable creature, such as the Takarotchi that has smelly feet and an aloof disposition, the guidebook notes “[i]f you have been neglecting your Tamagotchi, it may turn out like this” (Allison, 2006, p. 174). The Tamagotchi becomes a reflection of its user’s dedication and creates perceived accountability to the virtual world of the Tamagotchi. The animalistic qualities of the virtual pet allowed for the user to fully engage in imaginative nurturance, fostering a level of personalization and an “emotional closeness with cyber-technology previously unseen with kids” (Allison, 2006, p. 175). The iJournal (2)2, Winter 2017 3 LAWTON TAKEN BY THE TAMAGOTCHI Emotional and Social Spaces In 1996, Arjun Appadurai wrote Modernity at Large, which discussed how a new role of imagination had come to be a part of social life due to the emergence of electronic media and emigration from ‘home.’ The displacement many felt allowed for “the diffusion of the imagination into everyday life” (Allison, 2006, p. 179) where the places we physically occupy are constructed by current surroundings in addition to ideas or “things from different, shifting worlds” (Allison, 2006, p. 179). In Millennial Monsters, Anne Allison (2006) uses the term “deterritorialization” to describe a decrease of the local, and a dispersed sense of belonging to specific places. The imagination, in Allison’s interpretation of Appadurai, is “what captures and recreates a sense of sociality in a world fissured by dispersal and encounters with difference” (Allison, 2006, p. 179). Imagination is a mechanism to ground people in a world with little boundaries, and it also allows individuals to create a world for themselves to incorporate aspects beyond their current reality.