The Tamagotchi Project

Location:
https://cctp506m.github.io/tamagotchi/bibliography/

Works Cited

Annotated Bibliography

Betters, Elyse. "What is Tamagotchi, How Has It Changed, and Why Is It Back?" Pocket-Lint, 10 Oct 2017, pocket-lint.com/gadgets/news/142524-what-is-tamagotchi-how-has-it-changed-and-why-is-it-back.
The author, tech journalist for Pocket-Lint, a tech review website, profiles the upcoming release of the Mini Tamagotchi. The author remarks on the past success of the Tamagotchi device, and how Bandai, makers of the Tamagotchi, have designed a product to capitalize on nostalgia from the 90s. Most notably, the Mini Tamagotchi will not feature any sort of digital connectivity or companion App, eschewing modern expectations of gaming and connectivity for the self-contained gameplay that made Tamagotchi one of the biggest toy fads in history.
Block, Linda-Renée and Dafna Lemish. "Disposable Love: The Rise and Fall of a Virtual Pet". New Media & Society, vol. 1, no. 3, 1999, pp. 283-303. SAGE Journals, doi:10.1177/14614449922225591.
This article examines the relationship Tamagotchi has on myriad cultures, gender roles, and any imbroglios that might be present. Moreover, the authors illustrate many other key points about the Tamagotchi to give readers the general understanding that are akin to many components that correspond to this once popular device. For example, topics such as the Tamagotchi being the anti-doll, cyber-toy, and three-dimensional fuzzy toy, as well as using a virtual world device to learn basic nurturing and building relationships, are discussed.
Dormehl, Luke. "The Tamagotchi Effect: How Digital Pets Shaped The Way We Use Technology". Digital Trends, 29 May 2019. digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/how-tamagotchi-shaped-tech/.
Dormehl writes about how Tamagotchi positively and negatively influenced children when it was first released in the 1990s. Tamagotchi allowed parents to give their children responsibility of caring for a digital pet as a simulation before getting a real pet. This simulation allowed a child to develop skills necessary to being responsible and caring for another living thing. Tamagotchi, albeit digital, are prone to dying, if neglected by the user, which Dormehl asserts may cause users to experience guilt in the long term. Dormehl later writes on how Tamagotchi paved the way for future artificial intelligences to be created to satisfy users' needs as they seek intimate adult relationships. He connects Tamagotchi to a pre-social media preparation kit that "requires frequent tokenistic interactions (feeding, watering, "liking" holiday and baby pictures) to keep the relationship going if it is to continue living. Tamagotchis were among the first to capitalize on these strange biological quirks of the brain, rewarding dopamine-driven feedback loops of regular reward." This article is written to build background knowledge about Tamagotchi and shed lights on how pre artificial intelligence technology directly and indirectly influences users to this very day. This is a valuable article that will greatly assist with understanding how Tamagotchi played a role in society and continue to do so albeit being obsolete.
Jovi, Jenna. "The Life and Death of Tamagotchi and the Virtual Pet". Wellcome Collection, 27 Jun 2017. wellcomecollection.org/articles/WsT4Ex8AAHruGfWb.
Jovi explores how Tamagotchi began to influence not only her life, but also children from her generation in the 1990s. Tamagotchi, albeit marketed towards children — exposed children to responsibilities of caring for a digital pet and meeting its need so the user's digital pet will remain alive. Failure to do so results in the death of the pet, which Jovi claims may have caused some kids to experience extreme guilt over the death of their digital pet. She writes about how emotionally attached children were to their Tamagotchis and that its death causes a great degree of grief. Despite this, Jovi later reveals how Tamagotchi paved the way for other companies and game brands to create and market pet games for audiences. This article helps to further understand the impact of Tamagotchi in advancing pet genres games for users to experience responsibility and the guilt that ensues when the digital pet dies.
Marcus, Daniel. "The Wonder Years: Televised Nostalgia." How To Watch Television, edited by Ethen Thompson and Jason Mittell, NYU Press, 2013, pp. 223–232. JSTOR, jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qght3.28.
The author discusses nostalgia in media studies through the lense of the popular television show The Wonder Years (1988-1993).
Mascheroni, Giovanna, and Donell Holloway, editors. The Internet of Toys: Practices, Affordances and the Political Economy of Children's Smart Play. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/georgetown/detail.action?docID=5683642.
The book makes use of thought leaders from children and media studies to discuss the effects of internet connected toys. Internet connected toys bring to mind questions about surveillance and data collection, childhood development, and sociotechnical systems for play. Childhood development will likely change significantly as a result of these new toys, a departure well worth exploring as we adapt to new tools in our society.
Thrift, Nigel. "Closer to the machine? Intelligent environments, new forms of possession and the rise of the supertoy". Cultural Georgraphics, vol. 10, no. 4, 2003, pp. 389-407. ProQuest, doi:10.1191/1474474003eu282oa.
In this article, the author distinguishes toys from personal computers. In addition, axioms and theorems are prefaced and they dissect how children view personal computers compared to toys. The notion is that children prefer durable devices rather than finite devices that eventually become obsolete. A super-toy, like the Tamagotchi, is an ideal example of a long-lasting, educational toy that children cherish, whereas adolescent-related computers tend to malfunction, which in turn, irate children and force them to lose interest in personal computers.

Works Cited and Referenced