your idea is neat .. i like it

Thanks, man! I'm kinda excited about this one myself. :)

Wow Cougar, you’re really an idea machine.
Like this one!!!
Tommy

Your idea is a good one, but it relies on the popularity of one site in order to be effective. Keep in mind, there is always an new social network boasting bigger and better features. How do you plan to deal with this situation?

While Facebook may be one site, I think you're hitching your wagon to a winner by targeting it. Also, any new social network that tries to supplant Facebook is probably going to offer a similar API for third-party integration. Once Cougar has the back-end in place to drive the pets, plugging it into a new social network through a new API would be a lot easier than the initial development (especially if the initial development plans for this and modularizes appropriately).

Thanks, micco, couldn't have answered that one better myself. :)

hey i like it

but change the name

i would never get it with that name... sorry

Guarantee everyone will want this.

yes but i'm a big fan of the lack of music and customization on facebook and I'd prefer for it to stay that way.

You just have to keep it adless and have a mute button

or no sound at all

How is this pet better than the others out there already?

Don't just facebook it. Virtual online tamagachi could be a big hit. Make it social by letting friends pet, feed, etc. it. (and letting everyone see who did what). Also make monsters and stuff... facebook is a slightly older crowd and get the boys.

Btw, the buying accessories (I call it the Cyworld business model) is a great business model. Sell entire rooms, etc, not just clothing and toys.

Dew - Great ideas, man, thanks. I like the monster idea, I didn't have room above to go into the details but one thought I had was to have the ability to have a good pet vs. an evil pet, and your actions would determine the type of pet you end up with. Sort of how RHF has the good/bad sides, I really like that overall concept.

Steveszat - Fair enough. I heard about a "Pets" app that one of the HotOrNot devs put together. It follows the same basic outline of the idea that I have here but there are two major differences:

1. My pets app would focus very heavily on design. The pets would be unique and visually very detailed. They would need to be so well crafted that they evoke an emotional response from the user. Great design = emotion = large base of loyal users. Just ask Apple about that one. :)

2. There would be a set timeline associated with my pet, very similar to a real life timeline. It would start as an egg, hatch and turn into a baby, grow into an adult, and eventually grow old and die. Of course, in my world there is very advanced DNA technology available so you can create a new pet based on your old pet's "DNA", which would allow users to play out various generations over time (ala The Sims).

And as a quick side note, the very basic "Pets" app on Facebook? It has almost a quarter of a million users. And it's only been available for about a month.

i think this would be popular... but i think it would work better if it made money of advertising... a Pepsi logo in the background

There are already a couple of pet widgets for Facebook, although none of the ones I have start as an egg and they have not evolved to the extent you are talking about.
I think it could be fun, especially for days like today when I am bored at work.
Heck I still ocassionally play with my Talking Nano!

DOes the japanese have similar thing like this?