Kinect, the newest motion-based controller-free gaming platform, sounds pretty cool. Some of their ideas are awesome. Like martial arts training in your living room, in which the motion sensors detect the quality of your poses and movements, and push you to improve and work your body in the form of a game. Imagine a world in which gamers are required to jump, attack, and swing swords, just like their game characters do, in order to interact with the game. Sounds like a damn good exercise.
Some of their ideas, though, are just disturbing..
I'll admit, when I first saw Kinectimals, I may have 'squee'd and 'AWWW'd profusely. I mean, your own pet tiger or lion that you can train and use motion sensors to cuddle and pet and interact with. Sounds pretty damn awesome, right?
Then, I looked at Lilu. And I felt kinda sick.
For people who can't take care of or afford a pet, maybe Kinectimals is an awesome idea. But for all the virtual love and attention you're giving those pixels, there's an actual pet out there that would die to have your real love and attention. Sure, Lilu may not be a tiger, but she's real....
Kinectimals is not really a new concept, it's basically a cooler 3D tamagotchi. Those things have been around for like 15-20 years. Sure, taking care of a virtual pet may look weird at best, but when you think about it, is it better or worse than "life simulations" such as Second Life or The Sims? In the worst case, those simulations are not only replacing a pet, they are replacing YOU.
ReplyDeleteBottom line is that those are games. As long as you're saying "I'm going to play Kinectimals" or "I'm going to play Second Life", you're probably fine. If you start saying "I'm going to walk my tiger" or "I look awesome, I bought myself a lizard outfit", then you might want to go take a walk. Otherwise, it can get pretty extreme :P
You're right: the idea of taking care of a pet is not new. From Tamagotchi to Pokemon to all the other games that involve pets, you're giving love and time and care to something virtual.
ReplyDeleteThe next level involving physical interaction is kinda what threw me off though. If you're gonna stand there and pet something, with no gain other than making a pixel purr, why don't you just do it to your real pet?