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Hatsune Miku has been doing the rounds when it comes to collabs at the moment. We’ve seen her in Super Monkey Ball, Fall Guys, and now Fortnite, and while I’m pleased that more people are getting to understand what exactly the enigma of internet icon Hatsune Miku is, I can’t help feeling like these appearances are getting more obscure. The most recent addition to this roster is a Hatsune Miku DLC for Desktop Mate, a ‘game’ available on Steam that puts a sentient anime mascot (referred to as a desktop pet) on your screen.
If you don’t know what a desktop pet is, then I’ll try and break it down to the best of my ability without sounding like I’ve lost the plot. It’s a virtual creature, or in this case, anime girl, who lives on your desktop screen and occasionally interacts with you. If you’ve ever owned a Tamagotchi, it’s basically like that but on a larger scale and you don’t have to worry about any of the responsibility of feeding it or cleaning up after it. If I was responsible for changing Hatsune Miku’s newspapers, I probably wouldn’t have decided to spend the money on this DLC.
You may find yourself asking why you would ever want to download this. Truth be told, I don’t really know why I felt so compelled to. But to me it feels no different than an idle game. Except I’ve got no need to keep checking it to make sure whatever I’m monitoring is going well, nor is it as distracting as I find having an idle game running in the background. With Desktop Mate, Miku will sit on my toolbar or play peekaboo with the side of my monitor. It’s nothing groundbreakingly special, and it doesn’t have the typical features of a desktop pet since you don’t need to worry about feeding it.
As cute as she is though, she’s not great for productivity. Even when typing this article I’m having to battle with a pocket-sized Miku running around trying to grab my mouse. I’ve had this with other desktop pets in the past, and at first I’m always charmed by them running around my screen chasing my mouse. But unlike the thumbprint sized bundle of pixels resembling a pet I’ve had in the past, the significantly larger anime character makes it a lot harder to evade.
For $15, I do wish there was a bit more going on. The interactions are pretty limited and clicking the avatar only results in a brief change of expression or a wave of the hands. Most of the time once you place her on your taskbar or on the side of your screen she’ll stay there until you move her again. I expected slightly more sentience for what I was paying for, but I’m sure having her drag my tabs around or jumping between my monitors when I’m trying to focus on something or even play another game would give me a little more to complain about than just stealing my mouse.
This does feel like just the beginning for Desktop Mate though, and Hatsune Miku is a massive character to essentially launch with. It does keep me optimistic for more characters released in the future, and given they don’t all cost the same I’d happily spend some pennies on a couple additional characters later down the line. I’d also want to see some improved interactions and a little more substance to what exactly they do first rather than just letting you move them around and then watching you work away.
So is Desktop Mate an effective desktop pet? Yes. Is the Hatsune Miku DLC worth $15? No. Absolutely not. As much as I love Hatsune Miku, and I can’t express how this isn’t even close to the most amount of money I’ve ever spent on her, I cannot recommend spending $15 for the sake of her just living in your computer for a bit. It’s cute, sure. If it was on sale and you’re an avid collector of all things Vocaloid, then it might seem like a little more bang for your buck.
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Kurt Indovina
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