Does anyone else think Pet Simulators are underrated?

[Original_Name]

TL;DR Version First:

I often think about how we, as humans, like to create things in our own image. This is fascinating from both a biological and theological standpoint. Pet Simulators are compelling to me because instead of just creating fantasy creatures to hunt and kill, we're giving life to creatures we wish to nurture and understand. On top of this philosophical element, pet simulators can be used to create very compelling emotional narratives, because they delve into very intimate protective human behaviors. Yet, as a genre, they get very little attention from gamers and developers.

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Most of us here have probably had at least some experience with a Tamagotchi or a copy of Nintendogs, whether you kept one of the little scamps for your own or just fooled around with one while your girlfriend or sister was busy. There's definitely intended to be a feminine quality to the sims, but the genre can fulfill a very unique sense of fantasy by satisfying the pet enthusiast that lives in most of us.

What's most fascinating to me, though, are the games which simulate supernatural pets. Tamagotchi offered this in a minor way, but because of its super-simplified presentation it's not meant to sustain your suspension of disbelief in any way. Seaman, on the other hand, is a game which I deeply enjoyed because I've always been interested in marine biology and cryptozoology, and despite the extreme camp, that game entertained fantasies which I frankly didn't expect for game designers to care to simulate. It also uses the non-human perspective to say some incredibly interesting things about human nature.

The Last Guardian may end up being an even better example, though, because I find the ambition of telling a deep, emotional story by actively fostering a real connection between the player and the creature onscreen to be an exciting and extremely sophisticated approach to using games' innate power of interactivity to create a real, meaningful response in the player.

The creative potential in imagining increasingly complex and fantastical creatures not just to kill, but to understand and nurture, offers a very real portal into human post-creationism. Either by natural or supernatural forces, we are created beings; to see how created beings approach the idea of being that creative force is so moving it literally gives me goosebumps. We've come a very long way, and I see some of the best in human creative potential manifesting itself in these fantasies of creating and nurturing beings of our own design.

Though I was not raised in the tradition, I've always found a deeper implication to the passage, "God created man in His own image," because as I see us pursue the arts, robotics, and the myriad ways in which we redistribute matter in order to create - in varying degrees - life, I can't help but finish up that passage, "so much so that we create in our own image."

I'd really like to see more contributions made to this fascinating genre.

[dedalusdedalus]

Either by natural or supernatural forces, we are created beings; to see how created beings approach the idea of being that creative force is so moving it literally gives me goosebumps. We've come a very long way, and I see some of the best in human creative potential manifesting itself in these fantasies of creating and nurturing beings of our own design.

I predict that the future will be just like the Harlan Ellison short story "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," except that the malevolent A.I. entity that destroys humanity and tortures the protagonists will be a sentient virtual pet instead of a supercomputer programmed to wage atomic war.

[vlame]

does seaman count, that game, i swear to god!

[dedalusdedalus]

does seaman count, that game, i swear to god!

OP mentioned Seaman in his post. But yeah, I don't blame you, that post was rather on the TL;DR side of things.

[vlame]

does seaman count, that game, i swear to god!

OP mentioned Seaman in his post. But yeah, I don't blame you, that post was rather on the TL;DR side of things.

damn, didn't think i would get caught not reading the post. i just lost smooth points hahaha.

[dedalusdedalus]

does seaman count, that game, i swear to god!

OP mentioned Seaman in his post. But yeah, I don't blame you, that post was rather on the TL;DR side of things.

damn, didn't think i would get caught not reading the post. i just lost smooth points hahaha.

No smooth points lost! It's more an indication that the post was TL;DR.

[vlame]

No smooth points lost! It's more an indication that the post was TL;DR.

for long walls of text he should headline some things or bold titles of games...

[irixith]

I don't know about everyone else, but Pet Stimulators are definitely way outside my wheelhouse.

[Original_Name]

I don't know about everyone else, but Pet Stimulators are definitely way outside my wheelhouse.

Hahaha, goddamn.

[Original_Name]

Sorry about the length, guys. I'm an English Writing Major, so it can be kind of difficult to go back to more relaxed styles of writing. That probably shows in the way I tend to write on these boards. I'll try and trim it down a bit -- it's an interesting topic, I'd like to make it easier for discussion on the actual subject matter to take place instead of just how verbose I can be.