John Lacey Gets Personal

Is it strange that I feel more peaceful after playing with a virtual pet?

Some time ago I added the Pokey! application to Facebook and became the proud owner of an adorable, if virtual, male black lab puppy. I named him Dennis.

I feed and play with him at least twice a day. He’s very cute. The animators of Pokey! have done a brilliant job bringing the puppies to life. As much as I long for a (real) puppy of my own, my living arrangements currently do not allow for this, so Dennis is the next best thing.

Some of my friends have Pokey! puppies of their own and I’ve started something of an impromptu Puppy Play group. In addition to Dennis, there’s Bono, Cocoa, Pokey and Pigg-Dog.

Dennis’ New Apartment

There’s something really nice about watching the puppies jump up and run around as they react to your actions. I realise, intellectually, that the dog’s ability to catch the frisbee (for example) is ruled by a random number generator – but it makes me happy to believe that positive reinforcement helps. And it is weirdly satisfying when a puppy finally catches the frisbee. Its cute too, since the frisbees are actually larger than the puppies’ heads.

Categories: Culture
Tags: virtual pets