Game Shifts Virtual Caring from Pets to People

Here's an online game that takes virtual caregiving to a new level: raising humans. Simulated ones, of course.

Eccky is a Dutch game that allows virtual parents to find each other online, create a virtual baby based on their mutual characteristics, and then rear the child via the web, MSN instant messaging, and cell phones—all in a matter of days. So much like real life, no?

The virtual baby grows quickly—three years for every day the game is played. So in six days, you've got an 18-year-old ready to leave home and end the game. Whether he or she is happy and well-adjusted depends on how much attention is paid, how well bodily needs are tended to, and how many games are played with the growing tyke.

The game has done well in the Netherlands, but its U.S.-based maker, Media Republic, plans to launch versions with MSN Netherlands in the UK, China, and other countries in April 2007, Cnet reports.

It sounds like a mix of popular simulated pet-care games, such as The Sims, Neopets, and Tamagotchi, and high school life skills' classes that pair students to care for an automated baby doll. This next step in virtual caregiving gets even more personal with IM and cell phone features, and I'm wondering who this would appeal to most—teens or young adults?

Do you see Eccky catching on here in the States?