There are hundreds of virtual pet applications on Facebook. Here are the top three:
Pet Society
URL: http://apps.facebook.com/petsociety
Users can create their own pet, which comes with its own home. The animal's health, happiness and hygiene levels are indicated so pet owners know when to feed, clean or play with it.
Currency: Owners earn coins by visiting other friends' pets, racing their pet or betting on races. The coins can be used to buy clothes, food, furniture and luxury items at the various stores in the virtual town that the pet lives in.
Pet playtime: The application uses flash animation, which means you can see your animated pet move and react to your actions.
(fluff)Friends
URL: http://apps.facebook.com/fluff
Users can choose to adopt a pet from around 80 pre-created cartoon pets, such as a polar bear. Each animal comes with its own habitat and a (fluff)Book page, the equivalent of a Facebook profile page, which indicates its mood and speed.
Currency: Owners earn 'munny' by visiting friends' pets, racing their pets and betting on races. With the 'munny' earned, they can choose to buy food and accessories for their pets.
Pet playtime: A text notification lets users know how their pet reacted to their actions.
Pet Pupz
URL: http://apps.facebook.com/petpupz
Users adopt their choice of a virtual canine, represented by actual photos of the various breeds, such as the sharpei (left). Each dog comes with a profile page where its likes, dislikes, age and various indications of its well-being are listed.
Currency: Puppy points to buy food, toys, training sessions and other accessories for their pet pooch.
Pet playtime: Like (fluff)Friends, the animal's reaction is stated only in text format.
This story was first published in The Sunday Times on 4 January 2009.
