Should Petz Die?

Originally posted Jan 23, 2023 on Cohost.

Back in 1996 the developer of the Petz games, P.F. Magic, put out a survey to their players that asked a single question: should Petz die?

Giga Pets and Tamagotchi had just hit the scene, and P.F. Magic wanted to know whether there was any demand for Petz to die when not cared for consistently, like the electronic pets offered by Bandai and Tiger.

Don’t worry, the Petz ended up staying immortal.

By the end of the survey, with over 16,000 total votes, 45% said "NO!", 20% said "Yes!", and 35% said it should be optional.

You can read all the responses P.F Magic featured here and here, but I'll share a few that I found interesting below:

Image of a cat and dog from Petz

trixiebabe@geocities.com
I am a 14 year old Australian girl, and as much as I love my catz, Tiddles, I think, like all pets in reality, he should not bear the burden of eternal life.

rogersjg@fia.net
No. I do not think they should die. People pay for them, so dying would be a waste of money. Having them live longer also adds up the fun level!

fhubbell@msn.com
Dear sir or miss;
NO! That's my answer to the "should petz die?" debate. But it would be interesting if they did die after a long time and all the petz came to gether for a funeral. And then after a week or so the pet could come back to life. or some thing.
Heather
thank you!!!!!

sketcho@ix.netcom.com
Dear person,
I believe that they should be able to die, or at least allow the programmer to decide whether or not they should die. Perhaps a little circle in the options menu that says,
"Check one
<> mortal
<> highlander"
If they can grow from puppies, kittens, oddknobs to full grown,then it is my belief that they should also have the option of passing. Maybe they could visit as ghosts or angels in screensavers. If you do make them mortal, please give them quick painless deaths. Nothing as gruesome as being run over while trying to cross the information superhighway.
Thank you,
"SketcH" Quinn- \; '

tondav@iafrica.com
Hullo my name is Jenni and I live in Cape Town. I am 8 years old.
YES I think they should die.

CompMan2@aol.com
THEY COULD ALSO HAVE PUPPIES
JESSICA

god@netcarrier.com
Let them live long, very long lives...

DarkMystJ@aol.com
i think that virtual pets should die as long as you can bring them back because little kids might like to sling the computer dog around the screen and if the computer dog is still alive they might think it will have the same result with the real dog

rogersjg@fia.net
If they died what would you do with the dogz program. When you open it will there just be a rotting carcas?
Shawn Rogers

sabene@visi.net
If virtual pets die, my wife will kill my computer!
Steve K. Bene

DGEOL1@aol.com
Dear Pf magic,
I have a terrific computor petz. He is a Scrappy breed of dogz that I have renamed, Duncan. Even though he is not real, I feel that I really love him like my own real dogs. I have had him for awhile and he has grown quite big. I think it is a wonderful idea to have a pet that cannot die! You never have to worry about its health conditions, and its always playful and energetic. It would be tramatizing to get on my computor screen one day and discover a dead dogz. Also, this would be a waste of money. Somthing that costs up to $20.00 is a big loss if it suddenly dies. Thank you for reading my letter. I enjoy your website alot.
~ Sarah

wmelvill@uniserve.com
I don't know