A Critical Play Of Pet Society
Overview
Created by Playfish, Pet Society was one of the most popular Facebook applications between 2008-2013, and arguably the reason why I created a Facebook account — I was an invested player in this social sandbox game. At its core, in Pet Society, each player had a fully customizable pet that lived in a world with other pets who happened to be your friends with Pet Society accounts. Players increase their pets’ status by visiting other players, decorating their houses, and actively participating in the world.
Target Audience
Given that during Pet Society’s peak, it had about 50 million monthly players, it is likely that its user base had a wide range of ages. When I played it, I was 10 years old, and I considered myself to be one of their loyal users. I suspect that, while this game is attractive to a spectrum of players, loyal users are those in the age range 10–18 who have an obsession with cutesy animals or whimsical worlds.
Formal Elements
Players
One of the most interesting things about Pet Society is that although it is a social-network type of game, it is categorized as Single Player vs Game type. Though it is important to recognize that when you visit friends, the friends you can’t see whether they are online or not. You simply interact with them by visiting their home and playing with them. You can even send them gifts!
Objectives
Exploration: One of the most beautiful elements of this game is the idea of self-expression. It’s about sharing more about you as a player through a pet. With endless possibilities, you can be devoted to building the most beautiful home. You may choose to be the most stylish pet out there. Or you could find yourself gifting items to your friends! Whatever it is, there is a space for everyone.
Resources
There are 3 key meters to watch out for: the pets’ cleanliness, happiness, and hunger. As a player, you have to make sure these are as full as possible. You keep these meters high by taking care of your pet in different ways — getting new furniture, visiting friends, playing with your pet, etc. And how you do so is by earning coins. Users need coins to do almost anything in the world!
Types of Fun
- Fantasy — you are brought into a whimsical world that is so beautiful, full of other pets who want to play with you and be your friends. A utopian world indeed!
- Discovery — the opportunity to be yourself as a pet!
- Submission — anyone could spend hours on this game for many reasons, the primary one being earning more coins to achieve more milestones.
Successes
Pet Society did a fantastic job in keeping an eye for visual and graphic design. To this day, I am a fan of their stylistic choices for the pets themselves and their furniture. It makes the feel of the game to be really warm, joyful, and welcoming.
Failures
Pet Society could have gone more viral if: 1) the game didn’t pertain to Facebook and 2) virality was not initiated by the user. When the game was playable, your Facebook friends would only know about Pet Society by the sporadic posts you’d make about your pet. One of the few ways to know about this game was through word of mouth, or if someone got lucky seeing your Facebook post.
Improvements
The one improvement I would add is the ability to see who else is online and/or chat. Perhaps this would even keep the players engaged for longer periods of time!
