Looking for info on FooPets..?

This isn't an obsession, I was just wondering if anyone could answer my questions about a game. I'd like a new virtual pet in my life, but I don't think I'll find anything really cute and simple yet interesting. I don't want to take a lot of time away from playing WoW.

So I was wondering if anyone plays FooPets and could answer some questions? I tried FooPets the other day briefly. After I'd started to play with my cat, a pop-up said it had to be linked to a Facebook acct. I don't have one and don't want one, I ended up clicking the box closed. That didn't make my pet disappear or anything, so I continued to play with her. I tried the water dish and the toy mouse and such. When I tried to wash her, it was some kind of mini game I didn't understand. I ended up holding the mouse button down and scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing (poor cat!) It kept telling me to hurry but I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I don't like apps that make me hold down the mouse button and move the mouse, since this seems to bother my arthritis and cause other pains in my arm. (I use autorun as much as I can in WoW so I don't have to do it as much--but I was hoping a pet game would be something that wouldn't involve intense gaming, a physical and mental break from something like WoW.) I also looked up some info on FooPets and frankly, it wasn't all good. But they are just so cute I'm still interested (just shoot me!)

So here are my questions about FooPets, if anyone plays and can help me. How much time a day does it take to care for a pet? Do you always end up spending some money, or is it possible to keep it well and happy just with daily care? Is the washing minigame a required thing I'd have to master to care for my pet? If so, how often do you have to do it? Are other minigames required or just optional?

(Edit: Deleting my old questions about facebook as I found out they insist on your "real name" -- which I wouldn't use, so I'd risk getting banned. Not sure if that would affect the pet though once I'd linked it to a page..)

Thanks for any help you can give me!

How much time a day does it take to care for a pet?
***I keep mine on my desktop, ala the Old GoPets style ^^. The link for that is in the forums. I check in with them every 4-8 hours and they stay healthy and happy.*** http://www.foopets.com/desktop
Do you always end up spending some money, or is it possible to keep it well and happy just with daily care?
***I have spent 0 dollars on them. They seem content and happy with basic food, water and the given toys.***
Is the washing minigame a required thing I'd have to master to care for my pet? If so, how often do you have to do it? Are other minigames required or just optional?
***All games are completely optional. Whoever invented the "washing game" is a tool***

(Edit: Deleting my old questions about facebook as I found out they insist on your "real name" -- which I wouldn't use, so I'd risk getting banned. Not sure if that would affect the pet though once I'd linked it to a page..)

Thanks for any help you can give me!

Oh, thanks for the info and the desktop link! (And I like your characterization of the washing game designer, LOL.) I think I'll give it a try again when I have some time to figure it out. The gray long hair kitten is so adorable.

Edit: Heavens, the new calico they just came out with is soooo cute, too!

Asynjur wrote:Oh, thanks for the info and the desktop link! (And I like your characterization of the washing game designer, LOL.) I think I'll give it a try again when I have some time to figure it out. The gray long hair kitten is so adorable.

Edit: Heavens, the new calico they just came out with is soooo cute, too!

It is, but sadly it's not free. The calico costs 300 Foodollars.

The silver kitty is free and totally adorable, and you would be able to buy other cats for large amounts of foogems (which are obtainable in-game) on Fridays only. Foodollars is the currency which Foo wants you to spend, because they basically have to be bought. Anything new now tends to be available for foodollars only, and foo is getting greedier.

But it's a lovely gentle game if you don't try to get anything new

Andy

I have had a Foopet for a month and have 15K Foogems. They aren't hard to earn

AndyShaeff wrote:

It is, but sadly it's not free. The calico costs 300 Foodollars.

The silver kitty is free and totally adorable, and you would be able to buy other cats for large amounts of foogems (which are obtainable in-game) on Fridays only. Foodollars is the currency which Foo wants you to spend, because they basically have to be bought. Anything new now tends to be available for foodollars only, and foo is getting greedier.

But it's a lovely gentle game if you don't try to get anything new

Andy

How much is 300 Foodollars? I'm hoping not the same as $300!

STEP 1: Select your FooDollar Package

50-pack for US $5.00
100-pack for US $10.00
200-pack for US $20.00
330-pack for US $30.00 (30 bonus FooDollars!)
550-pack for US $50.00 (50 bonus FooDollars!)
850-pack for US $75.00 (100 bonus FooDollars!)
1,200-pack for US $100.00 (BEST VALUE! 200 bonus FooDollars!)

lolz.....dream on! You can do surveys and blahblah to earn Foodollars though. I keep looking on Fridays to see if anything tickles my pickle

Bonus foodollars! Wow, sounds like a bargain!

LOL yes, Foodollars aren't popular amongst players. Foogems are relatively new, it used to be that you got foodollars for logging on. Then they brought in foogems which you can get easily, effectively they are the green shells of foo. Foodollars became hard to get without paying real money, and foo started to make newer or more desired items foodollar-only.

As miticante says, Foogems can be built up quickly, especially if you feed and water the pets of other players.

It's a cute game but I find it a little alarming that they are introducing buggy new features rather fast, it's a little too reminiscent of the way Gopets rolled out changes with no warning and not enough testing...

Oh oh i joined.Haven't found teh add ppl thingy yet but you can add me XD I have teh same ID

Stupid question:
Is foopets a flash game or does it have to be downloaded?
Also I found out there is a site called marapets...

Nothing to download unless you want to try that desktop thing Miti mentioned..

what is frustrating me with foopets is that i can never tell if i am petting my pet or not. i have read in the faqs that you put your mouse on your pet and hold down and move the mouse to pet your pet. i do this all of the time but only about one out of every twenty-thirty tries results in a "you petted her" message.

also, i do have a facebook account but i haven't linked it to foopets. all it will do is spam my news feed with "stephanie just cared for her foopet" and crap like that, i'm sure. i just click the x in the corner of the popup and i am still able to play with my foopet just fine.

if u link your facebook account to foopets account, i think there's some where on facebook for the app, to turn off the news feed or control it. to turn off the news feed or control it i think you have click on the apps setting in facebook. but i could be wrong.
here is my link:
http://www.foopets.com/member/15840600

Daeninn, I have sent a friend request and welcomed your pet, she is of course gorgeous

stooooooph, if you don't want to spam your facebook account you can remove the popup in Foo by choosing Preferences in your Account tab.

You will be able to tell when you're petting your pet because it reacts, and the first time you succeed in petting it during a session you'll get the 3 karma points. It depends on the breed as to how it reacts, but you will always get a petted reaction if you get the pet turning its head down and wobbling it as if you're tickling the forehead, or if you get it to roll on its back for a tummy-rub. Also if it stretches its head up to one side as if you're tickling its neck. Basically, what they don't tell you is that pets have "hot spots". Target those areas with the cursor and you'll get used to it.

There are three distinct types of animals, I don't mean species, I mean in terms of reactions. There are the Foo pets, which are most puppies and kittens, which (if well fed) will greet you with paws up at the screen. There are Marley puppies, which stand back when you start the game and you can call them to the screen by double-clicking. Then there are Pokeys, which are charming and delightful and full of glitches. You are unlikely to have a Pokey unless you buy from another player, or unless you are a player from a while back. Crystalpower has a Pokey, a delightful yellow labrador pokey whom I just now visited

Hope some of that was helpful! In case you hadn't guessed, I'm a foo-addict

I would not try to influence anyone who has been scarred by Go to join, but I personally love my foopets and ignore the extras that I don't enjoy. I don't think Foo will fold any time soon, but if it does -- well, one can save the .flv files from one's cache, so at least one has them to watch with a suitable player.

Cool! I signed up. I also added Dae and stooooooph to my friend's list. My username is iMeow66 on there in case someone wants to add me.

KittyJuan wrote:Cool! I signed up. I also added Dae and stooooooph to my friend's list. My username is iMeow66 on there in case someone wants to add me.

I sent you a friend request. My name and my pets name are both Changeling.

Andy, I've found some pets are harder to "pet" than others. My little gray kitty starts purring right away! But when I visit other people's pets, with some it just doesn't seem to "take" when I pet, although if I'm persistent I can usually get it eventually. This might vary depending on your computer.

i have a weimaraner puppy. i get "reactions" from her every time i put my mouse near her, whether i'm holding it down or not, she'll tilt her head and start panting and things like that. she gives me these reactions when i am holding down the mouse too, sometimes. i just can never tell when i actually pet her because i hardly ever get the "you petted her" message in the care history box, even though she does give me a reaction.
so, i guess that even if i do get a reaction and it looks like i pet her, it doesn't always show up in the box.

kitty, how did you add me? my username on foo is stephcon, not stooooooph. it doesn't show that i have any friends, or friend requests lol

well, i think i'm already done with foopets...
i cannot get the fooboutique to work, and it has really angered me
when i click on fooboutique, the page will load and then when click on my pet at the right it freezes up and even crashed my firefox once (something that has never happened to me before...) so i'm pretty much soured on the whole thing now
grrrrrrrrrrr!

None of the Fooniverse stuff is working for me either.. But I discovered a game I already know in the arcade section, so I've been earning FooGems playing Circle the Cat. Miti sent me a wallpaper, and I've started to figure out how to decorate.. So that should keep me busy for a while.

Asynjur wrote:

KittyJuan wrote:Cool! I signed up. I also added Dae and stooooooph to my friend's list. My username is iMeow66 on there in case someone wants to add me.

I sent you a friend request. My name and my pets name are both Changeling.

Andy, I've found some pets are harder to "pet" than others. My little gray kitty starts purring right away! But when I visit other people's pets, with some it just doesn't seem to "take" when I pet, although if I'm persistent I can usually get it eventually. This might vary depending on your computer.

Siamese and Bengals are very easy to pet. The older Pokey pets are terrible! Shortkat has one that is really hard to pet, too.

Stooooooph, the boutique takes a long time to load the first time. it freezes and jerks till loaded. It's pretty much a waste anyway, since they only wear the clothing in the boutique, itself

pandas07 wrote:Stupid question:
Is foopets a flash game or does it have to be downloaded?
Also I found out there is a site called marapets...

Marapets is a crusty ripoff of Neopets...or it used to be. For a similar feel of Gopets, Pet Society does a great job with letting you spoil an interactive pet

Miticante wrote:

Asynjur wrote:

KittyJuan wrote:Cool! I signed up. I also added Dae and stooooooph to my friend's list. My username is iMeow66 on there in case someone wants to add me.

I sent you a friend request. My name and my pets name are both Changeling.

Andy, I've found some pets are harder to "pet" than others. My little gray kitty starts purring right away! But when I visit other people's pets, with some it just doesn't seem to "take" when I pet, although if I'm persistent I can usually get it eventually. This might vary depending on your computer.

Siamese and Bengals are very easy to pet. The older Pokey pets are terrible! Shortkat has one that is really hard to pet, too.

Stooooooph, the boutique takes a long time to load the first time. it freezes and jerks till loaded. It's pretty much a waste anyway, since they only wear the clothing in the boutique, itself

I'll be sending friend requests to you all today, no need to accept if you don't want to of course but I just had a look and it seems as if there is a real core of Gopets people there now!

I find all the kitties easy to pet, they greet you at the screen (if they've already been fed) and just rubbing their foreheads gets you that wonderful purry kneading action.

The key to a good Foo experience is to make sure that all have been fed and watered within the last 11-12 hours. Any longer than that, and they will stand back and stare at you until you feed and water, and you cannot get anywhere with petting or playing before the feeding, which makes sense.

I have my full quota of pets there, that's 20 after you've reached your green star which doesn't take long if you're enthusiastic about feeding and petting any pet you see I got my 20th one yesterday. When you have a lot of pets, it's not pleasant in the morning to see each one looking hungry, but you can feed and water quickly without even waiting for the pet to load fully. The trick is to click on the pet's graphic, wait for "loading" to start, and then click on the feed and water buttons -- if they "take", they will turn pale blue. You can run through the full 20 like that in just a couple of minutes, then you can have a leisurely and enjoyable play with the pets. Start again with the first one and it will greet you and enjoy petting etc. You can of course feed and water again then, the animations are cute and Foopets don't get fat

Pokeys are terrible to deal with until you know the tricks. When you know how to pet them and feed them etc, they are totally enchanting. First off, they don't greet you at the screen. A happy Pokey will be sitting in a relaxed position when you first see it if it's been fed and watered within the last 11-12 hours. You can deal with Pokey-feeding in the same way as I mention above, it works for all types of pet. So, when you get the pokey looking at you from its seated position, you can pet it -- if it freezes or disappears, just click on the camera icon and then click cancel. The pet will be back with you and ready for action, all waggy and huffy and woofy LOL. There are no pokey cats. There are 6 Pokey breeds -- three different Labs, plus a Rottie, Husky and GSD. There are Foo equivalents of all 6, but they are very different from the Pokeys.

Two types of Pokey will come to the screen if you double-click. The Pokey Husky and the Pokey GSD. That is very cute and you can pet their foreheads.

The Marley lab is rather a special type of pet, halfway between Pokey and Foo in some ways. It has the marvellous rocket-powered chase for the ball which foo removed from the original chihuahua -- if you read what older players have to say about what happened when Pokey changed to Foo, and how they changed the two small breeds forever into Foo, you will understand that there is a lot of bitterness tucked away in the Foo world, much like the GUI change in Go caused outrage, only worse because pets were actually removed at the time of the change. This is one of the reasons why I never recommend Foo to anyone who has been upset by Go.

Anyway, the Marley doesn't greet you at the screen, but it comes to the screen if you double-click just like all the foo pets do and two of the Pokeys do. It can be hard to pet effectively but always responds eventually to the forehead-rub.

As for the boutique, I never use it. I did try it at one point, but the pets are too realistic for me to enjoy dressing them. It is rather nice to be able to have several pets together and take photos of them in cute poses, but they really don't look right, not quite like the pets in the actual game. I am hopeless at the grooming game, in which anyway the pet also doesn't look right, so if anyone has problems with that I can't help alas. I don't play any of the arcade games, I know they are popular but it's just not my thing. I get my foogems, enough for my needs, by playing with pets.

If you want to build up your karma, by the way, feeding and watering other people's pets as well as your own is a very good way to go, and it doesn't deplete your gems -- each time you feed a pet, the gems go up but I haven't paid attention to how much. I just know that I feed a lot and yet I've never been out of foogems!

I jsut noticed that stoooooph is running the game in Firefox. I tried that, and from what I can tell Firefox doesn't like the game much, not sure why. It will run, but then randomly freeze, especially if you are trying any of the fooniverse stuff. Google Chrome will run it rather better, and I use that browser for some things such as sending gifts, the interface for which doesn't work quite right in my version of IE (version 7). The actual game works best, sad to say, in IE.

Sorry if that was too rambling, I need more coffee...

Andy

stooooooph wrote:
kitty, how did you add me? my username on foo is stephcon, not stooooooph. it doesn't show that i have any friends, or friend requests lol

Oh, oops! I will add you again. XD

Asynjur wrote:Miti sent me a wallpaper, and I've started to figure out how to decorate.. So that should keep me busy for a while.

I bought myself a wallpaper and it looks a lot better than the default grassy hills but most of the interior and exterior items in the store can only be bought with FooDollars. Also, what is the Purina Kitten Chow? Can you buy more toys for your pets?

KittyJuan wrote:

Asynjur wrote:Miti sent me a wallpaper, and I've started to figure out how to decorate.. So that should keep me busy for a while.

I bought myself a wallpaper and it looks a lot better than the default grassy hills but most of the interior and exterior items in the store can only be bought with FooDollars. Also, what is the Purina Kitten Chow? Can you buy more toys for your pets?

The Purina Kitten Chow is what you need to buy to feed cats. There is a dog version of chow which you would need to buy to feed the dogs. There is no choice of food. Water also needs to be kept stocked up in your game, bought from the Foomart, but it costs zero gems, just as the default background can also be bought in the foomart for zero.

You cannot buy any more interactive toys for your pet, only decorative items, I don't know if that will change.

Cats always have just a mouse, Pokeys always have just a frisbee, the other pets have different toys -- some have a ball and a frisbee, some just a ball, and most of the dogs get a chew stick or kong which doesn't register as a play item but seems to be enjoyed by the pet.

As regards the items in the foomart costing FD only, that's one of the things which is causing a stushie in the feedback at the moment. Foo have taken to releasing new items priced, often highly, in FD only. If you browse back through the Foomart though, you'll find a lot of things you can buy for foogems.

The ability to buy from other players has only been in place for a few weeks, but everyone wants foodollars so mostly you'll find that user sales are in FD, but mostly cheaper than the official Foomart.

Andy