Yes, I Am a Superpoke Pet Addict

There! I admitted it! Satisfied??? LOL

What is it about these cute little guys that has the social networking sites all agog? It took me a while to figure out why I enjoyed SPP so well and then I had one of those "duh" moments (note: I was hooked BEFORE said duh moment).

Raise your hand if you remember Colorforms. ME ME ME ME ME Me!!! OMG That was my favorite thing when I was a kid! If you're clueless here, Colorforms had a slick surfaced bit of cardboard, typically with a themed scene on it, and these little vinyl stickers with which a child would create a more detailed picture. There were general themes as well as ones from favorite TV shows and cartoons. The possible combinations seemed limitless. Once I was an adult with children, I couldn't wait until my kids got old enough so I could play Colorforms with THEM!

*sigh* What a disappointment... This simple little plaything only held their attention for a bit, then they were off to explore the worlds of Star Wars, Rainbow Brite, and Transformers. So, I sat inside and played with them myself! Just kidding. Well... I didn't play with them for a LONG time!

I've been online forever. No, we will not discuss how long. I love the internet (most of the time). All of this information and a world of contact right at your fingertips... Now that is cool! I've been on AOL and Myspace. Off of AOL (my youngest got us TOSd for harassing people in chat rooms) and Myspace (bored). Signed up for Facebook and Twitter... never saw much point in either. Signed back up for Myspace. Aha! I could find all of my favorite writers there as well as new ones. That works. And... Hey! What's this thing? Superpoke Pet? *click* And thus began the subversion of my little brain.

With SPP, there are all of these cute creatures... about a dozen to choose from... and different habitats (backgrounds) that you can put them in. You collect coins in varying ways to buy pieces and move them around into something you find pleasing. All of this can be changed any time if you have the means to purchase new stuff... And, wow, look at all of that stuff! (it reminds me of George Carlin's routine)

Not long after finding SPP, I checked back over to Facebook to find some long lost friends. Guess what? They have Superpoke Pets as well. OMG Now I can have TWO of these precious little guys! Wait. I can have one for each e-mail address? I have 3 e-mails. HA!

I realize that at this point in my babbling, many of you are thinking "okay, she's finally lost it. She's over the edge." My response is that you obviously haven't played with SPP yet. I know a lot of people who claim this app as their deepest darkest secret. Yea, you know who you are. We're talking business professionals, people who if word got out about their obsession, they'd probably lose a lot of credibility. Rational, logical, MATURE people are hooked and they're having a ball.

So, let's take a moment to get analytical about this.

There are some definite benefits to this app. Children, especially those who are developmentally challenged, can use this as a learning tool. There are skills in use such as spacial relationships and following through with an idea. A parent and child can play "what doesn't belong" and "what if", guaranteeing some excellent quality time together. There's the inventiveness of taking an object, turning it around and combining it with another to create something totally new. And it has this little thought bubble in which the owner can write a message (within a limited number of characters). Here is a way for anyone to produce something relatively artistic without possessing the skill to do so on their own.

Once a habitat is completed, a storybook can be made by slightly changing the objects within or maybe just the thought bubble. Save a copy of each one and put them together, et voila, you have a card or a book or a message. I made a slide show for my grandson for Valentine's Day and he loved it! His first comment was about how many coins I must have saved up to do all of that. LOL Love my little man!

What's in it for adults? All of the above, just on a more challenging level of expertise... but only if you CHOOSE to make it more challenging. I have seem some incredible and intriguing works. In fact, I'll bet there's room for those pieces under the heading of contemporary or naive art.

But for everyone, there's the sense of accomplishment when you finally get your habitat exactly right, because it isn't easy... Remember the whole "must earn coins" gig.

There's a forum where fellow pet owners can meet and communicate with others and even "friend" one another. I've met some pretty interesting people that way. And I've found the sister I was separated from at birth (just kidding)... Hi, Stephanie! LOL But that sense of connection with others from around the world is an intriguing aspect.

All of that said, what do I get out of this app on a personal level? I like that I have something light-hearted with which to start my day. It gets my creative juices going since it's such a left-brained thing (I'm an artist who is temporarily blocked, so this is VERY good!) and it allows me to release my inner child. I think we all need to do that more, especially with the economy as bad as it is...

And, hey, this app is FREE... you can choose to buy "gold" for certain things with real money to help support Slide, but you don't have to.

I have ADD (which you know if you follow this blog... hint hint) and one of the methods I use to deal with it is to engage a part of my brain in something simple, so the other part can work through complexities. In the past, I've used Solitaire and Sudoku as well as other games. Those are left-brained activities. SPP is right-brained, so it engages a different part of my thought processes.

Now that you've read all of that, I sound quite convincing in my arguments. Don't I? The fact of the matter is that I'm simply having a blast!

When I first started, it was kind of hard to get coins to decorate. I had my 3 characters, but unfortunately they can't interact across different networking sites. I used undo influence to convince one of my sons and a few friends to create pets specifically so that I could earn my treasures. Just recently, Slide added a new way of earning up to 500 a day on the forum. It's SPP nirvana!

Where will it go from here? Who knows? Wouldn't it be great if they would create a link from a pet on Myspace to the one on Facebook to the other on Hi5? Or how about the ability to download and play on a desktop? From there, they could move to Nintendo DS and iPhones (if they aren't already planning this). The possibilities are endless and the fun just keeps on growing.

A note aside: Remember that not everyone online is a good guy, so be careful and monitor your children well when using SPP. I've seen pet names, thought bubbles, and comments that I wouldn't want my child reading... Especially if that child is at the stage of phonetics. A parent might find themselves having to explain some rather uncomfortable words. It's a shame that there are people out there so immature that they have to flaunt their shock value across the boards.

To the people who named their pets ass r nut and fuchar and jena talia, et al... Either develop some class or maybe just GROW UP!

And for all of you others... Don't worry about the hows or whys. Just sign on and get your shits and giggles. You don't have to rationalize to anyone. Just have fun!