Do your friends/family know that you collect?

And, better yet, know that you still use virtual pets?

How did/do they react? (if you have had the guts to tell anyone).

One of my good friends that i have known since gradeschool (with a small hiatus in between) just admitted to each other, that we actualy both still use them! I mentioned using them in the past (high school project for parenting lol). and she was actually the first to admit that she still uses hers today. I dont think she collects them but she has looked around on ebay as well lol.

So, we connected my V3 and her V2 last time we were together. we were 12 again and were actually 26... but thats okay! lol

Im just wondering what other similar stories you all have?

I think the question on my mind is why should it be something to be ashamed of? It's just virtual pets, after all. I tell anyone who asks when they see me carrying one around. I've also brought it up when conversations in daily life have turned to collections of any kind. I've never had a bad reaction. In fact, people always get so excited when they see one as most often than not, almost every child in the 90s had one.

They also get so surprised that Tamagotchis are still around, and in full color now. I think like with anything else in life, it's your attitude which will affect the reaction. If you are ashamed of your collection and make it obvious that you are, you're most likely gonna get a negative reaction. However, if instead you display your passion and pride in your hobby and collection, people get excited with you. It's all about your own outlook I think.

Ra,

None of my friends know, and my family doesn't really either.

I'm not ashamed of them, but I don't really feel the need to tell anyone and they don't really leave my room often anyway. So yeah, I'm content with that.

Most people don't know I collect. But here are a couple stories...

When my dad last visited I was bent on getting a secret character and was pretty close, so my P2 sat in plain view on my desk. He didn't even notice it - which bugged me, so I proceeded to tell him all about it, and opened up a suitcase where I had hidden the rest of my collection. His reaction was even better than I could ever have imagined... he asked me to put batteries in each different version and show him what it was all about which was pretty cool.

Just last week one of my housemates was enjoying quite a few beers and was insistent upon me opening up the package I had gotten in the mail... it was a tamagotchi jigsaw and he was like... HEY! I had that same design when I was a kid! And told me all about how old he was when he got it and where from and how much it had cost...

A couple days ago I sent a friend a picture of some work I was doing, and little did I realise that a few of my tamagotchis were in the background. She asked what they were, and I got my collection out and sent her a ton of pictures. Then we reminisced about how my mum got us both pirated versions on a trip to Asia... they were white, and the only characters you could get were robotchi and hanatchi

I guess I'm hesitant to tell my family because my siblings already make fun of me for still sleeping with a stuffed animal. I'm also scared of telling my friends because I cop enough flak for not enjoying bars or clubs. But Ra is right. They're just virtual pets. And I've come to realise there's nothing wrong with preferring to stay in on a Friday night debating which tamagotchi to run, because that's what makes me happy.

My friends know, of course, because all my friends are online.

As for my family; yes, they know I love them and collect them and play with them and watch the anime. I'm 15, after all. They don't mind at all. ^_^

i am a 24 year old collector, i have a family and married.. everyone knows abo my collecting and my husband is a collector of his own things as well lol, there is never a reason to be ashamed or nervious to tell someone abo anything you do or collect. i am very happy in fact his family knows i collect because i display them in our living room, and they love it they think its funny and amazing with how many there are. and i do get a little laugh or so from them here and there but its not offensive.

Everyone knows I collect stuff... and not just Tamagotchis. I collect some vintage toys, Japanese CD albums and concerts, Archie comics and other geeky stuff. Well, they know me pretty well and other than thinking it is geeky, there's no violent reaction or retaliation of any kind.

Exactly like Ra said, I don't shy away and hide my stuff - I'm pretty much open to everyone and quite proud I have all the stuff. Some people even find it cool that I could still get my hands on these things.

My fiancée thinks I'm (lovingly) weird to enjoy playing with my Tamagotchis. When I said I felt sad that my Tama ran away the other day, he just shrugged. I guess to him, playing with a toy intended for children is not worth investing money on. He'd buy me little things like P's pierces or cheap older Tamagotchis, but he'd never spend a lot on a single Tama, maybe unless it was my birthday or a holiday.

He understands I collect cute things and wish to grab every variation of Tamagotchi in existence, but again, my hobby is not quite "adult" for him to become heavily involved in it.

Saving up for a wedding doesn't help the collection to grow either.

I am not an adult so of course my family know I used to collect Tamas, and they didn't like it. I only have online friends so they know and they're fine with it since they all like or used to like Tamas. My real life "friends" don't know because they haven't known me long enough to know about my interest in Tamas (or in much else apart from reading and purple dolphins).

Everyone knows i'm collecting and playing with vpets. I've been doing this since I was little, when i got my first virtual pet. So my family isn't surprised. I show them my new tamagotchis and they dont care at all xD They are so used to.

Recently i made a friend, she is older than me and she doesn't know my hobbie yet But i'll show her soon ^^

My family knows I collect and they don't really care about it. My mom sometimes laughs and sometimes gets pretty angry about the money I spend on vpets, but not very often. My boyfriend knows I collect them because we live together (excluding summer holidays when we go back to our parents' homes) and he finds it kinda cute, but he can't understand why I am that much excited about them and why I spend so much money on (in his opinion) such small, useless things. Some of my friends know about it and don't mind it at all (they're friends after all) and I even got my most precious vpet (Rikou No Koibito) from one of them. ^^ Other people, like from my college or so don't know about it and I don't want them to, because I am ashamed and I only feel comfortable around people I know and like a lot.

I freaked out my sister's friend's sister (wow that's a puzzlogical mouthful!! xD) when I showed her my collection to try and make conversation... But generally I keep my tamas to myself, when I show anybody a lot younger than me they always want to have a go at a game XD (Wow I'm so selfish D which is fine, but I let someone play on it once and they lost it... So I guess I'm over-protective :/

My parents both know how much I love tamagotchis, they were the ones who bought me them when I was little, but they still can't see why I want to play with "kiddie's toys". I don't mind though, AS LONG AS THEY GET ME SOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!

Jokeyyy!

Counting Bodies Like Sheep said:

I guess I'm hesitant to tell my family because my siblings already make fun of me for still sleeping with a stuffed animal.

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Omigosh I have loads of stuffed animals! I can't bear to part with them because they bring back so many memories!!! XD

I would probably normally not go to my room when people come round, or I'd shove them to the farthest corner of my bed, but there was this one time where I forgot, or couldn't care less, and my friend came round XD He thought it was cute and amusing, which was funny (and relieving).

ANYWAY HOW DID I COME TO THIS? xD

All of my friends and family know I use and collect them and don't really care! They know that I enjoy them and don't give a darn what any of them think either ^-^

My parents never really cared either way. Well, when i was little and getting in their faces with them, i could see that i may have been annoying lol.

But now i mostly keep it to myself too. I wouldnt have even mentioned it to my friend except that she mentioned it first! lol.

I guess it really does seem "kiddie" to some people.

My mom now is kind of neutral about it. She knows, but doenst really get it i suppose. I just tell her theyre my comic books or baseball cards. lol.

They know. They don't really care. I'm always carrying Tamas around. They just see it as one of my quirks.

It's not really something I try to hide, but it's also not something I talk about a lot (just because when I do talk about it I tend to ramble and it annoys people lol)

My mom and older brother know, but my dad and younger siblings live in another state so it hasn't really come up. My brother sort of laughed and thought it was silly (in a good way) when I showed him, but we aren't very close so it's not like he really thinks about it. My mom thinks it's weird but at the same time she doesn't really care. She just doesn't like the amount of money I spend on them.

My boyfriend knows and is really supportive of it. He even bought me a P's last Christmas! He understands why some of them get so expensive but just wants to make sure I have my priorities straight when making purchases. He thinks it's a cute/cool hobby of mine. He understands because he collects pokemon cards and other pokemon merch (and I sort of collect pokemon with him) so it's nice that we can relate. He even will humor me every now and then and listen to me ramble on about the different versions and which shells I like the most lol

I only really have 1 friend right now and she is off at college. She knows but I don't think she really cares. She said she was going to buy me one for my birthday last year but then she saw how expensive they were lol, but I don't think she really has any opinions on it, and I think she gets annoyed/bored when I mention them.

I'm not really ashamed of them at all, but I am careful to not show how obsessed I am to people who aren't close to me. When I run a vintage or connection I typically wear it on a chain around my neck, so I obviously don't hide that I still play with them :}

My friends and family all know about my collecting.

But in comparison to spending $50-$400 on a game for a system that's maybe 15+ years old, they're relieved that I've moved on to something that's less expensive and allows me to go outside.

I think the only time a reaction I've gotten from my tamas could have been received as negative was at a nightclub, and it was just some people laughing incredulously at the idea that tamas have come so far, with backlights and color and all.

My family have always known I have being a big fan of Tamagotchi, but they don't know I'm running any at the moment. I'm most certainly not afraid of telling people, but I will only tell if they ask about them. I don't really take my tamas with me anywhere much, so nobody really knows or asks about them anyways.

My friend that i mentioned is the only one who knows that I am currently running any. That and if anyone reads my log... lol.

But i have one coming in the mail so the topic may come up again...

I do not have a collection per se (I only have 3 and one of them is broken, but all-in-all I've had over 20 tamas in total), however my dad was the one who suggested I start a collection. My mom seems to think I'm a bit too old for tamas, but otherwise doesn't seem to mind buying me them on occasion (birthday, Christmas, etc.)

Actually, back in 5th grade or so, I'd ever so often get told by someone "Tamagotchis are for girls," and every so often I'd find someone who also had a Tama and we'd connect them.

ALL of my friends had Tamagotchis, because I gave all of my friends one out of the collection I had back then.