nekoDA

You may have seen Neko around online, but you probably don't know about their first life: Neko was the first ever screenmate, born in 1989 inside a Macintosh. Screenmates were the predecessors to full on virtual pets, starting with Neko and holding onto the popularity all the way through the early 2000s. They simply move around your desktop, keeping you company while you use your computer. Often times, they could detect your windows and any other items on your desktop to interact with them. Screenmates could be any sprite that accompanies your desktop, but often were animals or humanoid characters, making them some of the first "virtual pets" before actual, fully fledged virtual pets.