Okay folks- I resisted the Meeroos like I've resisted every other "Breedable" for a long time until very recently, reminding myself of several fun-killing factors that always arise. When I finally gave in, it was because... they are adorable. CRAZY mad adorable. They squee and chortle and frolic. They come with a wonderful rich mythos, and a really beautiful (if entirely optional) decor style. They interact with each other and me and other people too.

Sadly, only a few days in, I find myself rolling my eyes at all the gamers who obsessively have to figure out every single "rule" as quickly as possible, and amass the greatest "wealth" and the best "trading cards". They come to the forums and rant about the rules and stomp their feet at the (really talented and generous) staffers, point vigorously at every fine line ruling, yell at each other, call each other names, etc.

When I was a kid, (Pun intended,) I had the opportunity to raise and show goats at the local county fair. For a 12 year old, this is terrific. The baby goats are fun. They frolic, chortle and even squee. And they grow up to be paired, and bred, to produce milk, and more wonderful squeeing chortling frolicking baby goats. The sad part is, parents who attend the fairs with their kids get nasty and competitive, even stooping to creeping in and letting others' animals out of their pens to disqualify the competition. Consider also if you will, RL dog and cat breeders who will often happily inbreed and force traits in animals, often even to the detriment of the animals' health and well-being, completely losing sight of the simple joy of an animal's companionship.

This ain't the real world. The meeroos are just little (adorable) piles of pixels. Still. I think it bears considering.