Tamagotchi’s demands
can teach kids a lot

PEOPLE call Tamagotchi a "toy," but it's really not a toy. It's more of a responsibility than a game. Some say it can teach children how to take care of their pets. Or it can teach teens what it's like having a baby.

When the Tamagotchi "egg" first hatches, it beeps and calls for you to feed and play with it constantly, just like a real baby. By pressing certain buttons, you can feed it or clean up the poop, a must so the "baby" doesn't get sick.

As the Tamagotchi gets older, less attention is needed, but as it continues to age, it gets to a point where Tamagotchi needs to be fed almost every half hour. It also needs to be played with. Maybe this stage coincides with adolescence. The Tamagotchi does change its shape about three or four times.

A Tamagotchi does show its feelings, like when it's happy, when it needs to be played with, or when it's hungry. They also get sick and recover with shots of medicine. When Tamagotchis are naughty, like when they refuse to eat, they need to be disciplined. They show their anger when they get scoldings.

In our family, we have two Tamagotchis and after a month, we're getting tired of them. At first, it was like, "Wow, it's so neat how this electronic baby has been created with feelings." Now, it's kind of annoying.

Since school's out, my Tamagotchi's really keeping me busy. Before, if I forgot my Tamagotchi at home while I was in a rush to get to school, my mom usually cared for it, like a good grandmother.

When my Tamagotchi got to the age where it needed to be fed almost every half hour, it died. I was busy in classes and my trigonometry teacher would take it away and see to it that Tamagotchi died.

I restarted an "egg" just before graduation time. My friends and I were graduation ushers and were preoccupied with passing out programs and performing other tasks. I didn't have time to care for Tamagotchi's needs.

Then after the ceremony, I spent a lot of time giving out lei, so poor Tamagotchi was ignored. Since my Tamagotchi had reached its play age of 2 or 3, it died quickly.

I feel sad when a Tamagotchi dies. I never really watched one die, but I've heard that Tamagotchis on the brink of death begin to pray and eventually turn into angels. At least it's just a game so you can always press the reset button.

Now, this might say something about Americans vs. Japanese, but in Japan, where Tamagotchis originated, once the original hatchling dies you can't reset to start a new egg.

But since I could start over with a new egg, I did. I tried to be more attentive, but I ignored Tamagotchi the same way. This time, the character wasn't as cute as in prior games, and was a bit slow. It acted as if it couldn't play the game, or as if it was deliberately trying to make itself unhappy and die.

Well, I suppose I was being a bad parent, but I really am a responsible person. I have helped to take care of my two younger siblings for a long time with the same or similar kinds of responsibilities. I also help take care of the family dog.

I heard it mentioned on radio once that Tamagotchis should be used in health class as a prop for teaching parenting. The adults I heard seemed to think that if teens want to have a baby, they should try taking care of a Tamagotchi first. It's a lot more realistic than current stand-ins of dolls or raw eggs.

Some may consider the game to be just the latest fad, but it convinced me that I'm probably not ready or prepared to take sole responsibility for a baby or a demanding kind of pet. Any game or sport that can teach you something about yourself is valuable.

---

Liane Kaneko will be a senior at
Castle High School in the fall and will have plenty of time
this summer to practice raising a healthy,
happy family of Tamagotchis.

Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
Speak up by fax at 523-8509; by answering machine at 525-8666;
snail mail at P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802;
or e-mail, features@starbulletin.com