Confessions of a Pet Society Addict

My 'pet'(name withheld for the sake of necessary anonymity) was born on January 5th 2009.

A green fella with a bulbous head,he had beady black eyes and was naked for at least two weeks thereafter...

I made a two-day trip to Singapore from January 18th-19th, and brought my Sony laptop to surf wirelessly for free. During these multi-hour surfing sessions, I logged into Pet Society(among other things) and raced in the Stadium daily to earn much-needed yellow coins to buy stuff I liked.

I still remember logging in at a McDonald's the first evening after I had arrived and then logging into Pet Society(PS in short) to play ball and frisbee with my pet, because I was dying of loneliness, and was convinced that a pixellated companion(sad though it may sound) was better than no companion at all!


(Of course, I did visit a gay sauna to seek other forms of companionship the following day...but that is a different tale)

The Paw Points I had accumulated(2105) is still imprinted in my memory the moment I first logged in there...

Then Chinese New Year rolled around at the end of January,after I had returned home, and my sister-in-law giggled at his stark nakedness and asked: "Why you don't buy him clothes,ah?"

Embarrassed, I immediately when to the clothes shop to dress him up, although I was dirt poor.

I still remember some of the 'high-end' items I had purchased - a Classic Chandelier(it still hangs in one of my bedrooms),a wooden bed and a black tuxedo, amongst other things.

(I still hang on to them for sentimental reasons, by the way.)

At the same time, I found myself playing other Playfish games more frequently than PS,namely Minigolf Party, Word Challenge, and especially GEO Challenge.

Visiting an electronic pet who needed to be constantly scrubbed, cleaned and fed seemed to lose its appeal compared to games that challenged my intellect to set one record better, which games Minigolf Party and GEO Challenge did.

Then, I read online accounts of how PS was super-addictive, but wondered why it didn't have such a hold on me, despite my having already discovered the joys of opening Mystery Boxes by then.

I began to envy fellow pets who had much more material wealth on display than I did, and was amazed at some of the screenshots of advanced pets who had hundreds of thousands of paw points(even millions), and this envy began to plant a motivating seed that soon sprouted into full-blown addiction.


I still remember pining for the cute Squitty doll, and being overjoyed when I opened an expensive box sometime in April and finally found one!

However, this addiction did not begin in earnest, until late May, when I first discovered the joys of TRADING!I discovered on my own that certain items were only available for a short time(usually a week) and could be traded as 'Not-In-Shop' and 'Not-In-Box' for a profit.

Then came my first-ever trade on the 'Pet Society Marketplace' forum on Facebook, when I sold a Tree-stained glass that I had bought just a couple of weeks earlier for 6 red bubble chairs(costing 15 000 coins each in the Luxury store).

Having hitherto never earned more than 10 000 coins in 4 months of daily racing, visiting and scrubbing, I was overjoyed by my first deal, and promptly sold five of the 6 '4999's back to the shop to feed my addiction to buying and opening Gold Mystery Boxes(GMB).


Then I discovered the joy of participating in contests on the forum and won stuff like shop coins, dragon dolls and other things.
Then, somewhere between May and June this year, I entered a 'karaoke'-type competition where contestants posted videos of them singing a song/songs with musical accompaniment.

Although there were only two real entries(one of them mine), the organiser tied both of us, allowing both to win a doll of their choice each.

I chose a highly expensive Monster Doll, which I promptly sold that very night for 32 x 4999(princess beds), a cupid doll and a dragon doll.

Then I used the proceeds to buy other items at low prices : dragon dolls(many times),cupid dolls(several times) and others, then promptly re-sold them for high prices.

Somewhere in mid-June, I bought a lovely Santa Throne for 28 x 4999 on the Playfish forum, and then resold it on the spot for 32 x 4999 on the PS Marketplace,getting the buyer to send the payment, which I promptly sent to the seller of the Throne, before receiving the chair and transferring it on to the new buyer, netting an instant profit of 4 x 4999.

I was hooked!

[TO BE CONTINUED]

Well...the 'dreaded' day is finally here...

And my former students were quick to wish me an hour before midnight(on facebook), and the start of my 'special day'.

By early this morning, I had received five birthday wishes on facebook(ironically none from family members).


But, taking no chances, I set out to buy my own insurance policy at 8:15 pm last night, baking a cheesecake(my first baking activity in four months)

How Important Is It For Others to Remember my Birthday?

Who can deny that it's wonderful for one to be given best wishes and greeted with smiles on one's birth anniversary?

Unfortunately, my birthdays since the mid-1990s have seemingly grown more and more dismal as my age advances.

Just five days before the infamous era-defining September 11th terrorist attacks, I broke the cycle of dismalness briefly by organising my own little gathering of fellow teacher-trainees.(And little it was as only 4-5 people turned up)

I can still remember being greeted by an ATM machine on Sept 6th 2003, and almost shedding a tear at the paucity of birthday greetings on my 30th year of living.

In 2005, I went over the Johor Bahru to give myself a birthday treat of a night's stay in the four-star Hotel Pan Puteri, followed by an unofficial 4-mooncake birthday 'cake'.

Birth anniversary 2006 was probably the most memorable in the past decade, as I happened to be staying at my cousin Hwee Lu's apartment in Hong Kong, and being the kindred soul she was well-known to be, she arranged for a small cake, complete with candles.

I was touched beyond words, and can still recapture the image of my little nephew Callum running over to greet me as I entered the door, late but present!

The next two years' anniversaries were so forgettable, I've forgotten them, although the one in 2008 was actually a day after my last day in my teaching job of seven years.

Of course, my parents dutifully sent the perfunctory card & made the usual phone call each year, but somehow it never really felt as genuine as those that others had received...(The fallacy of the grass being greener on the other side? Perhaps...)

The last weekend was spent in Kuala Lumpur, where a memorable celebration took place to simultaneously celebrate my father's, and my aunt's birthdays.

And memorable it was, taking place in a renowned Spanish restaurant-cum-Tapas bar, replete with roasted porkers and luxuriously decadent birthday cakes...


Every birthday seems to come with the same birthday wish for me : that I never was born in the first place...