An information providing system, apparatus, and method, and a data recording medium wherein a user can frequently communicate with an imaginary electronic pet that virtually lives in a piece of electric equipment so that the user can operate the electric equipment with increased interest and happiness. The system includes a plurality of interconnected pieces of electric equipment for transmitting and receiving character data. Each piece of equipment includes a character system for processing the character data, a representation system for representing a character to indicate a representation to a user of the electric equipment, and a connection system for establishing a connection to another piece of equipment. The character system rocesses the character data based on character representation data for providing the character with a predetermined representation, and the representation system provides information from the character to the user.