Dancing with Dogs: On abandoning "My Dog"

On abandoning "My Dog"

I finally did it - I abandoned “My Dog”. It was a hard decision, but it was one that had to be made. I was getting frustrated not being able to take care of “Dirk” (yep, that was his name - he was named after Nowitzki) the way I would have liked to - couldn’t feed him - couldn’t really look after him.

I was warned that after the 85 days I had spent caring for him, he would not be the same if I abandoned him. I still had to harden my heart and let him go.

Alright, by now if you have realized I am being coy about something, you are right. Dirk is my dog in the mobile game, “My Dog”. I downloaded the game on to my cell phone and tried the pet sim for 85 days before I gave up in frustration.

I am quite surprised by the many glowingly positive reviews the game seems to have garnered - just Google it. The game was also apparently endorsed by the SPCA for how much “bonding” it promoted between people and their pets.

Honestly, I think “My Dog” was a great concept ruined by stupid execution. The game essentially consists of a home with three areas - garden, kitchen and living room - and three out-of-home places - a grocery store, a dog show tent and “around the block” walk. You feed your dog, you scoop his poop and you take him out for walks around the block. You get rewarded with money and goodies when you keep your doggie happy and healthy - fun and games, right?

Not all the time! The problem with the game is that there is a lot of randomness built into it. My dog needed to be fed at least four times a day - if I didn’t, his health deteriorated and he camped in the kitchen begging for food. The problem is that the grocery store didn’t always carry enough good - sometimes I didn’t have enough money to buy the food - sometimes there wasn’t enough food.

The stocking process of the grocery store was so random that sometimes you could go several days in a week with only one edible thing for the dog available per day. I consider that animal cruelty. I was not comfortable with the entire thing - even a game gets you emotionally invested in when it lasts for 85 days and has you spend atleast an hour a day on the total. It was just way too high maintenance for very little payoff and too emotionally grating to be much fun. Just not worth it!

Posted by shanti at March 28, 2007 7:22 PM