As the variety of person who does n’t own a Arabian tea but derails outings to coddle every mangey tabby that crosses my track , I am the target demographic for a practical plot about collecting digital felid . So perhaps it ’s not all that surprising that I instantly postulate to the iPhone gameNeko Atsume : Kitty Collector , the hottest Japanese import since tuna nigiri .
What is surprising is how obsessedotherpeople are . My boyfriend , a bearded man who drink whisky , watches hockey , and will guard dogs over cat any Clarence Day , on a regular basis messages me to show me the mementos his cats ( aka Nekos ) have left him . In theNew York Timesrecently , writer Ryan Bradley interrogated his own fixation with the game in a piece call " Why Am I ghost With a Cellphone Game About Collecting Cats ? " which give 1,400 words to his subsequent soul - searching expedition . " Neko Atsume was my bridge to a good life , " opined a writer inPolygon , suggest that for some , the experience of collecting practical kitty is n’t merely pleasurable but biography - modify .
So , should you claw your way onto the bandwagon ? permit ’s investigate .
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What is Neko Atsume?
If you put out sure detail , uncommon hombre ( one that looks like Anna Wintour , a little chef named Guy Furry , a cowboy named Billy the Kitten ) will grace you with their presence . If you ’re in the app when the kat derive , you may take a picture of them to conserve for descendants in your " Cat Book . " you may level up , sort of , in the figure of adding better toys , getting new uncommon computerized axial tomography , expanding and remodel your yard , and receiving " mementos " from your cat ( a " damp matchbox " or a " cicada skin , " the form of weird jetsam a tangible true cat might haul in through the tizzy ) , but mostly , the secret plan just involves wait for the Arabian tea to occur and then delighting in their ephemeral presence . It ’s like bird - watching , except more endearing , and done from the quilt of your smartphone cover .
How popular is it?
Pretty damn popular ! Neko Atsume ’s star has been rising for a while . It ’s already a phenomenon in Japan , and the English - language interlingual rendition has garnered a immense response since launch in October 2015 . By the end of the year , the plot had been download a sum of 10 million times , spawning BuzzFeed listicles ( 23 Signs You ’re Obsessed With Cat Collecting ) , countlessthink pieces , joke pieces , Tumblrs , its ownsubreddit , vocal factions that either love or hateTubbs the cat , gratuity and tricks sites , memes , andreal - life product . Even the game ’s developer , Yutaka Takasaki , does n’t really empathise it , order CNN , " I do not know why this game is so popular . "
So…whyis it that popular?
In theTimes , Bradley suggest that the plot plays into the Western obsession withkawaii , Japanese prettiness , and certainly , the miniature – a mochi shock , a temari ball – seem designed to appeal to that well - wear down fetishization of Japanese civilization . That , and the fact that the cyberspace loves cute cats as much as it loves purposeless apps ( lest we block thatKimojimade $ 1 million a hour ) .
For me , Neko Atsume also evokes nostalgia for the digital games I grew up roleplay . It ’s like a Tamagotchi I do n’t have to care for , Pokémon I do n’t have to do battle with , Sims that do n’t have bodily need , or Petz that do n’t make me cry ( Did anyone else havePetz ! ? Email me , permit ’s commiserate ) . In that manner , Neko Atsume takes the artificially sustain , stimulus - reaction environment of these old - school game and sour down the engagement level to match the way that people use their telephone set now : as constant reference of abject - strength misdirection .
Just as I scroll through Instagram and Snapchat during daily lulls , I ’ve come to integrate check in on my Nekos as part of my digital modus operandi . It ’s take little to no effort , yet control a rarified cat playing in my yard ( as well as the tantalizing gold rectangle that say " gift await " every time the Nekos will you something ) furnish a fit of dopamine much like a Facebook " like " or a Twitter retweet , bantam injection of excitement that I can take hits of over the course of the 24-hour interval . Much like Snapchat , the app of the minute , Neko Atsume is transient , fleeting . You ca n’t hold onto your big cat or check their behaviors , you must only revel in their presence .
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And it’s better with friends
I asked my friend who does n’t like real cat ( " Only Nekos , " as she put it ) why she finds the secret plan so enthralling . " I like it mostly becausewe’vemade it a big deal , " she respond , which chance upon me as unco on point . It ’s rightful that ever since my champion got the game , we ’ve texted each other constantly about it , divvy up our feline conquering and coveted souvenir with the committed ego - seriousness reserved only for the best inside jokes . And base on the number ofInstagramandTwitterposts devoted to Neko networking , other people have been occupy with the game ’s mannerism in the accurate same way .
Not to get too philosophical about an iPhone cat biz , but so much of contemporaneous online communicating is structure around wasted fluff : giddy tweets and shareable GIFs that are design not so much to communicate a serious point but more to act as a digital fist - excrescence with others . Neko Atsume ’s congenital quirkiness and mild entertainment make it a consummate artifact for the age of meme cultivation .
vie with my friends over who get Chairman Meow to chit-chat their yard first or swash about being bequeathed a " damage spoonful " or " scuff dime " facilitates the sort of shared virtual experience that deliver joy only because it was shared . Or did I just go way too deep ? Have I spent too much prison term feeding pixelated felid on my earphone ?
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Please excuse me while you ponder these recondite existential questions , because I have to go check on my yard . Gifts look .
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Anna Silman is a staff writer at Thrillist Entertainment . Her favorite Neko is Conductor Whiskers . come up her on Twitter:@annaesilman .
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