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Within Gameplay
During gameplay these should be somewhat minor plot points or background color. They should, generally, not be a major plot point as they are designed to be simple AI-like pets. In longer terms, it is well known that humans can get attached to inanimate objects that are not at all intelligent but which they use and rely on, a prime example of this is cell phones. As such within game I intend that humanoids get somewhat attached to them, ranging from mild attachments to a good tool to someone having genuine feelings of affection for the robots in a wholesome sense.
The devices will probably always be within some kind of a holographic projection at all times, thus their holographic image will be customized to whatever the person who is using it wants. This should be similar to the way companion pets or vanity pets are used within MMORPG's only taken to a logical conclusion.
Cyclops (talk) 12:05, 19 April 2021 (PDT)
Rule 34 Awareness
It is important to note that within game they should not become love interests anymore than a person's dog or cat could be a love interest. Yes you love your dog, cat, parrot, chinchilla, whatever but you are (hopefully) not in love with any of those things. As such one can assume that no one by-and-large has romantic feelings for, sexual relations with, or otherwise these robots. Yes they can produce holograms and while it is reasonable to assume that some 13 year old boy may try to create a sex partner using their AI pet's holographic generator, one can assume that this should not be the focus of any part of the game.
I am aware that holograms, holodecks, or the DS9 holosuites are often used for sexual encounters by adults. It is reasonable to assume that such things could go on with anything that can produce a solid-feeling hologram. That is not the purpose of these devices and within game such behavior would be considered deviant along the lines mentioned above.
Cyclops (talk) 12:05, 19 April 2021 (PDT)
Concept Origins
Originally came up with this idea from an image of a flying spheroid robot with lots of antenna that had a big screen on the front for displaying emoji. As I was thinking of what to do with it I liked the idea more and more of doing something like the bit in Tron.
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fGujzulsas%7C300}}
Of course to also be more useful, the "bit" (pun intended) in the movie is cute and amusing. For here, I wanted to envision what it might be like if someone were to actually do something like that. With holography it should be pretty easy to do and going back to one of my favorite sci-fi items the DRD 1812 from Frascape.
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8o5hLX5rYI%7C300}}
I also take some inspiration from an episode of X-Files (Season 11 Episode 7) where it has these robots with insect-like intelligence. At some point during the episode one of the insect-like robots is following Mulder. When Mulder asks why the creator just says, "it likes you".
I also took some inspiration from a robot character in a 1980's science fiction film called Space Camp. In the film NASA has a robot named Jinx which is befriended by a young boy named Max who is way too smart for his peers and far younger than the others there. Within the story Jinx is intelligent and self-aware but no one at NASA knows this, they treat Jinx like a tool and otherwise ignore the robot. Max is upset because he's getting bullied by the college-age people attending the camp with him as he's too young to really socialize and deal with the situation at hand. Max befriends Jinx and discovers that Jinx is a rudimentary intelligence but understands very quickly the concept of friendship, saying "Max and Jinx, friends forever."
Finally I am also inspired by the idea that what if a Tamagotchi or other "digital pets" had a physical form. In reality virtually no one I knew did more than play with the devices for more than a few days, a week, perhaps a month before they were allowed to die. The idea of a digital pet that one can actually have around is an interesting one to me. Within the parlance of the game itself, I didn't want them to be created to be digital pets but rather it being a side effect of their usage. A pet that one does not have to feed or water but spends time tinkering with or otherwise customizing and changing. A sort of pet-for-makers as it were.
I envision the use of the pet among younger people within the game universe to be a customizable option similar to what the Trapper Keeper or Pee Chee Folder were during my own high school years (1992-1997). Endlessly customizable because they were cheap and every year / every semester you'd get a new set of each to play with. Similar personal expressions took place (and still do) among bags, backpacks, composition books, and anything else your average high school kid can get their hands on for long enough. Since it is holographic it can be changed an unlimited amount of times, since it learns it can learn what the child wants.