UC Santa Cruz

This thesis explores the development of a digital game, Buddytale, which is itself an exploration of our attachments to virtual pets, our responsibilities as their caretakers, and the way digital mortality effects the value we place on our relationships to computational entities. Buddytale attempts to build an empathetic connection between the player and their virtual pet, and use that connection to drive feelings of care, nostalgia, and grief. This paper engages in conversation about the moral implications of virtual pet ownership as we consider the different lenses through which we can view them. It attempts to answer questions surrounding the usefulness of mortality in a digital context and examines the implicit death uniquely available to virtual entities. This thesis leaves open questions about what we owe to our digital companions, the authenticity of digital connections, and whether or not that matters in the first place.