Digital Creatures, Real Connections: The Emotional and Cultural Power of Virtual Pets

This narrative review explores how virtual pets like Tamagotchis serve as cultural touchpoints, shaping emotional development, consumer behavior, and gender roles. It highlights their dual role as tools for care and learning, while raising ethical concerns about commodified affection and artificial companionship.

In a landmark narrative review published in Entertainment Computing, researchers Michaela Dodd from Auckland University of Technology and Allan Fowler and Danielle Lottridge from the University of Auckland explore the under-examined world of virtual pets. Drawing upon 45 academic sources spanning disciplines such as health sciences, human-computer interaction (HCI), and artificial intelligence (AI), the authors compile decades of interdisciplinary thought on digital creatures like Tamagotchis, Neopets, and Nintendogs. These are not merely relics of childhood nostalgia, but vibrant cultural artifacts that continue to inform emotional development, technological ethics, consumer behavior, and even our notions of caregiving and companionship.

The Digital Lifecycle: Simulating Birth and Death

One of the most profound themes in the review is the way virtual pets simulate life events, specifically birth and death. Tamagotchis, introduced by Bandai in 1996, hatch from eggs and eventually die if neglected, disappearing into the stars or returning to space, depending on the model. These symbolic representations sanitize the experience of loss, yet users often report real emotional reactions, even grief. Online memorials exist for digital creatures that have “died,” revealing the depth of attachment that users form. While some critics see this design as trivializing death, others argue it can serve as a formative emotional experience. Philosopher Slavoj Žižek controversially likens the Tamagotchi to a training ground for virtual cruelty, where children can exert control over simulated lives without consequence. This interplay between sanitized design and genuine emotion makes virtual pet death a psychologically rich, if ethically complex, phenomenon.

Companions in Health and Habit Formation

Beyond emotional play, virtual pets have been used to promote physical and mental well-being. The review cites examples where children wore smartwatches that synced with virtual dogs, whose health would improve as the child exercised more. In another study, a virtual fish would become more colorful with each step taken by its owner, promoting fitness through visual rewards. These design strategies transformed digital pets into motivators for habit change and physical activity. In healthcare settings, virtual pets have been trialed as companions for the elderly, offering comfort and reducing loneliness. However, some scholars caution that this may also reduce human-to-human interaction, substituting artificial empathy for real relationships. Notably, the emotional impact of virtual pets was greatest among users who had little or no experience with real pets, suggesting a niche where these digital companions can be particularly effective.

Capitalism and the Commodification of Care

The acquisition and interaction with virtual pets are deeply embedded in capitalist structures. Like living pets, virtual companions are bought, owned, and managed. This inherently transactional relationship raises questions about the commercialization of affection. The authors describe how platforms like Neopets introduced children to digital marketplaces, where they could buy food and toys for their creatures, haggle prices, and engage in economic behavior. Similarly, Nintendogs became a social necessity among preschool girls, influencing peer hierarchies and driving commercial success. The review highlights how user affection is often cultivated through systems that promote consumerism, where emotional investment is encouraged because it benefits the brand. Full-body interactive games like Kinectimals deepen these bonds, allowing users to physically engage with their pets, thereby increasing emotional attachment and monetized engagement.

Gender Coding in Virtual Pet Design

Though Tamagotchi was initially designed by Aki Maita for Japanese teenage girls, its appeal proved to be more universal. Nevertheless, the review identifies persistent gendered marketing in subsequent virtual pet products. DigiMon, for example, was tailored to boys with its combat-oriented gameplay and industrial casing, whereas games like Star Stable focused on care and narrative agency for female avatars. These design differences reinforce traditional gender norms: girls are cast as nurturers and boys as warriors. Even when not overtly marketed along gender lines, gameplay mechanics often reflect stereotypical roles. Scholars argue that virtual pets can unintentionally perpetuate outdated ideas about emotional labor and female responsibility, particularly when users are judged as “good” or “bad” caregivers based on whether their digital pet thrives or dies.

Ethical Quandaries of Artificial Affection

The ethical implications of virtual pets are multifaceted. Critics ask whether it is appropriate to design a digital creature that can die, especially when such products are often aimed at children. Does this trivialize real-world responsibilities, or does it offer a safer, gentler way to encounter loss? Some argue that these simulations reduce complex emotions like love, grief, and parenting to simplistic, gamified interactions, mere button-pressing routines. Others worry about “technological erosion of emotion,” where users become conditioned to expect one-sided affection and constant reward. The review also warns of a possible environmental consequence: as interest in digital creatures grows, awareness of real-life biodiversity may diminish. In one cited study, children were more familiar with Pokémon than actual animal species, raising questions about where our empathy is being directed in an increasingly virtual world.

Ultimately, the review reframes virtual pets as powerful emotional and cultural tools. They offer both insight and provocation: revealing how we care, consume, and connect in a digitized society. As game developers and researchers move forward, the authors urge a more critical approach to the design of these creatures, one that acknowledges both their capacity to nurture and their potential to manipulate. In a world where artificial affection is as marketable as the real thing, virtual pets force us to reconsider what it means to bond, to love, and to play.