It’s practically an unwritten rule in video games that when you come across either a cat or a dog, you must eagerly run up and see if you can pet them. It’s so common an instinct that game developers have caught onto this and made their digital felines and puppies strokable, devoting valuable development time to it. And yet, it turns out that not many of you are not taking this rule seriously.I looked at a bunch of games, all with achievements for petting or interacting with an animal, to see whether or not these good boys and girls have been getting the attention they deserve. Unfortunately, the achievement data has revealed some rather sad news: not enough of you are petting the dog/cat/cute alien creature that is pining for your attention.Take Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush, for example. In Hi-Fi Rush, you can pet and play with 808, the loveable robotic cat, for an achievement. Looking at the global You can pet the cat achievement data, just 42% of Xbox players who have started the game have pet 808 and unlocked the achievement — for shame. On Steam, this percentage sits at 76%, which is better but should be higher. As for tracked TrueAchievements Hi-Fi Rush players, 84% of you have taken some time out of your day to show 808 some love (good job, gang). The same behavior can be seen in GhostWire: Tokyo (it seems that Tango Gameworks likes pet-the-dog-style achievements). In GhostWire: Tokyo, you can unlock the Animal Lover achievement simply by petting one of the many cats or dogs found throughout Shibuya. Sadly, players across all platforms have been ignoring our furry friends. On Xbox, just 36% of GhostWire: Tokyo players have the Animal Lover achievement. Interestingly, just over half (54%) of PlayStation Ghostwire: Tokyo players have the trophy equivalent, and 72% have it on Steam. On TrueAchievements, this percentage sits at 65%.We see similar stats in numerous other games. In Obsidian’s Pentiment, 11% of Pentiment players have the A Regular Saint Francis achievement for petting five animals. In Watch Dogs 2, 12% of Xbox players (23% on PlayStation) who have started the game have pet ten dogs unlocking Doggyland. In the delightful Toem, 52% of Xbox players with the game have the Who’s a good boy?! achievement for petting a pet (60% on PlayStation). As for Fable II, 67% of Fable II players have the Pooch Pamperer achievement for playing fetch with the dog, and while that is better than most of the other achievements I’ve come across, there’s still around a third of you out there who didn’t play with your dog — tsk tsk. While it’s sad to see so many of our furry friends devoid of head pats and tummy rubs, there is a glimmer of hope. Around 75% of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Xbox players have unlocked the secret Can You Pet the Bogling? achievement for giving one of the many doe-eyed bogling creatures a good stroke — this sits at 80% on PlayStation. Things are also much more positive over in Ravenlok, with 80% of its Xbox players popping the Waff! achievement.Now that I have called out this the most pressing and vital of gaming issues, I’d love to see improved percentages for pet-the-dog-style achievements in games new and old. To close out this article, I’d like to leave you with a conversation between two TA users discussing the Waff! achievement’s solution in Ravenlok that I think sums up the right attitude when it comes to our virtual furry friends:”Even if this wasn’t an achievement, I would pet the dog anyway.””First rule in games: If pet is pettable, pet the pet.”
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