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Tamagotchi Connection

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Re: Tamagotchi Connection

#31

Post by qsort »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #14

Tamagotchi are an ingenious psychological and social gambit, paving the way for smartphones. An electronic dependent, halfway between a doll and a game that hooks into the formative maternal and caring instincts of a child, almost 20 years before the modern smartphone (1996 -> 2016). Don't feed it? It dies. Fail to socialise it? It gets lonely for friends. B.J Fogg eat your heart out! Now we grew up into mums and dad…

The level of addictiveness is definitely dependent on the individual though.

I was born in the mid 90s and had one of these things growing up. I couldn't care less about it, I must have let the poor bird die a dozen times.

On the other hand I got insanely hooked to my dad's very-old-even-then 486. Turned that into a career, so that didn't turn out too bad I guess.

Re: Tamagotchi Connection

#32

Post by siva7 »

Etheryte wrote: post #26
siva7 wrote: post #21

What a weird toy. Why not just get a real pet. Did people really do this back then?

Racing simulators are such a weird game. Why not just race real cars? Do people really do this?

That's silly. I understand that not everyone can afford a race car.

Re: Tamagotchi Connection

#33

Post by kergonath »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #30
Hendrikto wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 20 years before the modern smartphone (1996 -> 2016) The first iPhone was released in 2007. You could argue that ”modern“ smartphones took a few more years, but definitely not until 2016.

Sure. What I'm really talking about is the modern ensemble of smartphone, social networks and app-centric economy. In 2007 they were still mainly "just phones". It would be nice to have a better fix on the historical location of the smartphone vis a vis obsessive, anxious use, but my reading of folks like Johann Hari and Tristan Harris puts it around 2013/15, which tallies with my observations in London.

> Sure. What I'm really talking about is the modern ensemble of smartphone, social networks and app-centric economy. In 2007 they were still mainly "just phones".

That was already there in 2010. There was a Cambrian explosion of apps in 2008/2009, and Apple ran the “there’s an app for that” campaign in 2009/2010. Facebook was there on day one and there were multiple Twitter clients. Instagram launched as a picture-focused, iPhone-only social network in late 2010.

Re: Tamagotchi Connection

#36

Post by tasogare »

bakugo wrote: post #4

I still have a perfectly working v4, these things were built to last. Lots of kids at my school had one back then, but they were mostly the more basic chinese knockoffs. If you had a real one, you were one of the cool kids.

[dead]

Re: Tamagotchi Connection

#37

Post by kossTKR »

bowsamic wrote: post #34

I'm kind of surprised that zoomers haven't brought tamagotchis back yet

Yeah i'm also a bit surprised that "virtual pets" aren't larger today.

Maybe i just don't follow the gaming market enough but games with a simple interface, with a creature that you care for, that grows and lives 24/7 and that can "do things" with other creatures seems like quite the market.

Many people find the "character creator" and just "walking around a aimlessly" in games the most interesting thing, and spend little time playing the actual game.

Maybe these things have been explored in the crossovers between VR Chat, Pokemon Go, Spore, Animal Crossing etc.

Re: Tamagotchi Connection

#38

Post by qwertox »

Hendrikto wrote: post #28
nonrandomstring wrote: post #14

Tamagotchi are an ingenious psychological and social gambit, paving the way for smartphones. An electronic dependent, halfway between a doll and a game that hooks into the formative maternal and caring instincts of a child, almost 20 years before the modern smartphone (1996 -> 2016). Don't feed it? It dies. Fail to socialise it? It gets lonely for friends. B.J Fogg eat your heart out! Now we grew up into mums and dad…

> 20 years before the modern smartphone (1996 -> 2016) The first iPhone was released in 2007. You could argue that ”modern“ smartphones took a few more years, but definitely not until 2016.

While the smartphone was "born" in 2007, it definitely took many years for them to be devices which are powerful enough to be really useful.

The Nexus 4 was the first Android device which was generally usable, it came out in 2012. Everything before it was a heavy compromise. And while the iPhone was usable before that time, the price of it didn't really make it accessible.

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