Do your friends/family know that you collect?

[tamagothi_connexion]

My familiy knows I play them, but not how much they cost. Id get in so much trouble for that if they knew. Everyone thinks theyre cute, and I let my sister borrow them every now and again

 

[Zephyr]

Boyfriend doesn't yet, but we have regular days set aside for us to hang out so I know he'll learn pretty soon! He'll probably give me crap but he knows I still play pokemon so this probably won't be all that weird to him. He's like the most laid back person ever. Hardly anything phases him!

My mom knows. She knows I've got the keychain Tama and I think she may have known about the one on my phone. I think it surprised her a bit but when I explained that this was a good outlet for my maternal instincts as well as my need to take care of something, she thought it was sweet. I'm 23 and far from ready to have kids, and I'm going through some stuff involving a lawyer and my apartment building so I can get my dog back (yup, that's her in my profile pic); this is a nice thing to have in the meantime for that.

My roommates will probably find out at some point. They're all pretty chill but I'm not too comfortable actually saying "Yeah I still have virtual pets." One of them and I made plans to go out this weekend, so she'll probably be the first to find out. I'm sure another of my roomies heard the beeping from my Tamago and probably wondered what it was. But nope, my roomies don't know yet.

I sent a picture of my keychain tama (Original) to a friend of mine in a text and said that I was surprised you could still find them. She joked about how hers died cuz she couldn't figure out how to feed them.

So pretty much, my mom and a friend of mine are the only ones who know that I collect. My plan is just to let folks find out on their own and then I'll just explain to them that they're still fun for me, they're cute, and they're a good outlet for when I feel those pesky maternal instincts/a drive to take care of something.

 

[drewadrawing]

One of my best friends and I got our Tamas together, so she knows

My parents also know because I'm home from school for the summer and I've been playing with a V2.

 

[puzzledpanda]

My parents bought me my first tamagotchi. But as far as they know, that one, and the one I bought myself were toys that I just played with as a kid, grew tired of them, and no longer have any interest in. They don't know that I'm collecting them now. I'm not going to tell them. It's not that I'm ashamed, more that I just know that they wouldn't approve. My parents are not the sort of people who collect things. And my Dad already sort of makes fun of me, and gets annoyed at me for liking anime and manga. He's even made me feel bad about watching anime in the past. Like most people, he sees all animation as being childish and for kids. So something like a tamagotchi, marketed to kids, he wouldn't approve of. So really, by keeping my tamagotchis to myself, I'm saving myself and my family a lot of drama and conflict. When I move out, then I'll be free to leave my tamagotchis out around the house, and buy them off the internet.

As for my friends, I haven't really told anyone the whole story yet. I showed one friend the tamagotchi L.I.F.E. app on my phone, and she said it was cute. We went to a dollar store later, where it turns out they had tama-go figures still being sold (which made me sad, because I don't have a tama-go ) and she said it would have been cooler if they had been actually selling tamagotchis, not just the figures. So at least she thinks tamagotchis are cute and cool. I haven't told her I collect them, but I get the feeling she wouldn't find it surprising from me.

I also mentioned tamagotchis to another friend of mine. I have to say, I was a little surprised by her reaction, because she's normally a very understanding, accepting person. She had this really embarrassed look on her face, like she was worried someone would hear me or something. And she kept looking around. We were eating in a restaurant. I didn't even talk about collecting tamagotchis. I just sort of mentioned how they still sell tamagotchis in Japan, which are in colour, but everywhere else tamagotchis haven't been sold for years, and how that makes me sad. So basically I told it the way a person would talk about some beloved, nostalgic childhood thing they miss having around. I thought that would be pretty normal. Thinking back, I'm still confused about her reaction. She watches anime, reads manga, plays pokemon. So I thought she would have a more understanding reaction...

 

[patchis-forest]

my family definitely knows, theyre the ones i have to go through to buy them online. most social media sites i go on has pictures of my tamas somewhere. i mostly keep my tamas at home, though, so when i go out of the house its not so obvious.

 

[derekq]

My parents say I am very childish, not growing up but.... I still love them they are the important part that build up my childhood.

I love this topic

 

[Jokus]

Most of my friends knows, but I let them find out on their own and tell them about it when they ask. The idea of being "that tamagotchi girl" doesn't really appeal to me; there is after all so much more to every person than their hobbies; so I don't make such a big thing over it, but rather laugh at myself and say it's just another one of my strange hobbies...

My family all knows, and the older I get, the more they accept it as a strange but serious hobby instead of a child's play with toys. They're cool about it, but might raise their eyebrows at me mockingly if a tama beeps at me

 

[derekq]

Ya your absolutely right, it is every hobbies, who cares what they say. Though I am shy, anyways, I choose to ignore them.

 

[pyrotarukia]

My family definitively know I still play with Tamagotchi's it wasn't that long ago I went back to visit my parents (taking 4 P's with me) and while staying at my dads my step mum was asking all about them and my dad walked into the room and said "oh look it's tamagotchi" which really surprised me because my dad wasn't at home much when we were little (he was a fireman and always on call) so it was mum that knew all the toys we were into and when I stayed with my mum she helped me look after them. My sister loved it so much I gave sent her my pink P's in the post and she plays with them again too now

 

[Soenattchi]

Yes? I never felt a need to hide it... My hobbies are all prominent parts of my life anyway so they'd be pretty hard to if I wanted to. I'm well-past "the age" -so to speak- to play with tamagotchis and dolls but I really don't care. xP

 

[violetvioletchi]

My family definitely does, and most of my friends do, as I often pull them out and play with them while other people play on their phones etc. I like to show people the different versions I have but sometimes I just feel like they're humoring me (but I guess that's okay, at least they're not rude about it!) Everyone has their hobbies and virtual pets is not really a horrible one to have.

 

[VelociraptorKitty]

My family knows. I've been building up my collection ever since the V1 tamagotchi connection came out. I was still in middle school at the time, so it was my mom and grandmother that got most of them for me back then. I was picked on pretty relentlessly for them. I took them with me to school so I could connect them with my friends and wasn't particularly shy about them, so all of the "cool" kids made fun of me for it. Once I reached high school, I played with them off and on, but my interests had shifted so I wasn't actively seeking them out. I tried to stay in the know of new releases and such, but eventually lost touch around the V4-V4.5 era. Then one faithful Christmas I was gifted the Music Star and fell back into the world a little bit. I dug out my old collection and started running several, mostly for nostalgia purposes, but ended up really enjoying them. I played with them for a few months before setting them aside and I've picked them up off and on a bit since then.

Now that I'm "grown-up" (I'm only 21, geeze) and living on my own, they've sparked my interest yet again and I find myself spiraling into collector mode on a scale similar to that of when I was in middle school. I'm not really shy about having them out and actually, it was my mom who recently convinced me that I should go ahead and order myself a Tamagotchi P's. She doesn't full on understand my liking of them so much, but she gets that I get a lot of enjoyment out of them and has always been supportive of that. I'm pretty lucky in that regard. I think being teased about it so long ago really helped me develop a healthy attitude towards them. They're something I genuinely enjoy so why should I feel bad about that? Just because they're found in the kids section, doesn't mean they're any less fun as adults.

 

[Spartan 1-1-7]

I don't think any of my friends know I collect. I live alone and though we meet socially a lot, they have no reason to see my storeroom and as such they don't see the collection.

Since the first wave in the 90s I had put them all in a box, and occasionally gotten a few MiP tamas from eBay simply for collecting's sake.

Then the iDLe came along. I ran it, because I was old enough to stop caring what people think to a great degree, and it was fun. I am now running a P's. I did struggle with feeling embarrassed at 28 years old but Ra, Ichiro and everyone else is right; it's how you present it. There's nothing to be ashamed of. As a powerlifter and LHW boxer I doubt anybody will pick on me I just think it's one of those 'big guys being secretly softies' things. There's a guy from my gym, got to be 300lbs, walks around a Chihuahua with a diamanté collar on and talks her up constantly, pictures on his phone, the lot. Not much different really - a big dude unafraid to be proud of the pet he loves.

 

[TamaGirl444]

Dad doesn't care much, now my mum thinks there childish, oh well, still love them though

 

[Dizzie]

Most people have figured it out by now about me, I carry them around with me constantly and check them, even at work (Im a security guard) one of my co workers had a tamagotchi when he was little so he pokes at them some and thinks they're neat.

Boyfriend is the one that reminded me of tamagotchi and started me up on being addicted to them again, he has a iDL (e) and Im sending him one of my v3's as a beater because he's shy about taking his iDL to work. He wants a P but since its so girlish he feels he wouldnt be able to get away with it at work or around his friends. Once we live together he'll probably just play mine or something.

My mom thought they were stupid but after I showed her how much the iDL e has gone up in price and most tama's in general she kind of sees them as somewhat of an investment. But mostly I just want them to play with them =x

 

[Tinkalila]

My family knows, but they don't mind! It's usually not embarrassing to bring them outside either, my friends think they're cute because they played with the Connections when they were little. Strangers occasionally give me a weird look about it, but that's nothing compared to what I've gotten for cosplaying in public!

 

[AnnaTchi]

My family and close friends all know that I'm collecting. In fact they are really open-minded.

When I told my sister she said that everyone should be able to do what they really like (if not hurting anyone) without having to be judged, and that's exactly the way I think

As for my friends, some of them think it's actualy cool, the other ones don't really bother! They know me well enough to know that collecting Tamagotchis is pretty normal coming from me

But when i'm at school or working I don't show them out. I'm trying to be professional

 

[jordboss]

My boyfriend know that I collect them, as do a couple of my friends. I don't really play with them much anymore, its mainly just a collection that I like to add to when I have spare money. I only really buy them now to update my site with information.

 

[WarOmnimon]

Everyone around me pretty much knows that I collect and raise virtual pets, and are supportive of it. As a matter of fact, every morning I go to breakfast the regular customers ask how I'm doing with them... even though I usually have whatever I'm running with me.

 

[NATUUURE :D]

Yes. They do. But what my parents don't know is I'm secretly communicating with a seller for a Tamagotchi P's. ._.