Dom Hofmann, the founder of Vine, has introduced a new virtual pet called Wagmigotchi on the Ethereum blockchain.
First Wagmigotchi Died Almost Instantly
As Hofmann explained, in order to keep Wagmigotchi alive, the user (or caregiver) needs to play with the virtual pet, feed it, clean it, and make sure it sleeps. In return, they get a piece of love.
The first Wagmigotchi died within minutes of just 73 transactions, and lack of sleep could be the cause of his death. After some fine-tuning of the smart contract, Wagmigotchi No.2 was born shortly after 8 p.m. UTC on September 10th. At the time of writing, it still exists after nearly 3000 transactions.
Wagmigotchi Virtual Pet Released on the Blockchain
The chain pet transaction fees range from 0.002 ETH to 0.006 ETH – between $6-20. Currently, the caregiver has spent more than 13.16 ETH ($44,478) in transaction fees on caring for Wagmigotchi.
You can check the status of Wagmigotchi here via the contact address. Or the engineer Sam Mason de Caires created a more user-friendly front end for Wagmigotchi.
When announcing Wagmigotchi No.2, Hofmann emphasised that users should not expect any benefit from the project. He said:
“Friends, you really don’t get anything from this. It’s an experiment. Don’t do it unless you want to take care of the pet for nothing in return.”
Hofmann’s project spawned virtual pets on other blockchains, and a creator started the WagmiPet contract on Polygon.
Wagmigotchi is Hofmann’s second blockchain-based project within a month. In late August, he released Loot, a series of NFT loot bags containing random adventure gear.
The Wagmigotchi Project isn’t the first cryptocurrency company to be inspired by the Tamagotchi style of virtual pet simulation. In March 2021, Pixelcraft released the game Aavegotchi, allowing players to collect Aavegotchi as an NFT.
