I discovered this site from another opinion and thought I’d see what it was about. I wish I hadn't now because as my title implies, it’s a mad site which keeps drawing you back for more – I keep telling myself to grow up and forget about it, but I just can’t let my little pets starve – sniff, I couldn’t be so cruel!
(Don’t worry, all will be explained..!)
What is Neopets.com?
It’s a site in which you can choose a virtual pet that you can care for, love and nurture. Well, buy them food, train them and ‘play’ with them, so almost. It’s like a cyber community, except that you don’t have so much contact with other members, like on ciao, but you’re still part of a large online network of ‘virtual pet lovers’.
How do I get a pet?
It’s easy to register – you just go to the site, click on register, and then go through the steps of choosing a user name etc. The hard bit is when it takes you to the pages where you choose your pets! Choose wisely, because you can only have four at a time. There are lots to choose from, to suit all kinds of weird tastes. And I mean weird. If you want a pet that’s a blue blob with a face on, you can have one. If you want something more sensible, like a dolphin, that’s no problem either.
You can choose to have your pet coloured green, blue, yellow or red, and can give him or her (your choice) its own personal name. It gets given a series of ratings regarding its strength, defence intelligence etc. You can have five chances of changing these ratings in the beginning if you don’t like
the fact that it’s strength, for example, is weak, but after that you’re stuck with it unless you pay to change it later. More about that in my tips section.
What happens when I’ve got my pet?
You have to make some neopoints (the special currency) to buy some food etc. You have to do this by clicking on links to different sites, doing surveys and such, which you will find on the home page, playing games or just randomly on the site. You are given some starter dosh though, so don’t worry.
The left hand side of the page contains links to the various elements of the sites you will want to use. The first is Pet Central, which is the handiest page of all. It gives links to a quick reference, which indicates whether your pet is hungry or unhappy etc so that you can remedy any problems, and to your items and information etc. Other categories displayed on the left hand margin include games (so that you can bond and have fun with your little darlin’) and the shops. The shopping place is wonderful – I wish they had one in Brighton – there’s everything you can want from hotdog stands to book shops in beautifully green surroundings - sweet. Click on the shop, and if they’ve got goods in stock they will be displayed for you to try and purchase.
You can also purchase a home for your neopets, for which you can buy furniture and choose a location. It’s made out to be really good, but there is little information about it, and in fact it transpires to be not as good as you might think. Once planning permission has been given you are ready to get started – or so you believe. In fact, you will have to pay for the walls for each room you want, and wait for them to be built, and when you add that on to the minimum 1000 neopoints you spend getting a plot of land, it becomes very expensive. The furniture you buy is also only displayed from a birds-eye view – so it’s pretty pointless when you can only see the top of the cabinet you’ve just bought for 2500 neopoints. In my opinion, the home is a waste of money and time because it becomes very expensive and it’s grossly lacking in features. It looks good on your profile however, as people can view your member profile and view your home from there – it’s a bit of a snob thing really! However, there was a little mention in the ‘small print’ that they may in the future charge rent for the homes – so it’s best to wait until you’ve got a bit of money stashed away before you get one.
The same goes for opening a shop - you find that in order to get a decent sized shop you have to pay out quite a bit of money because you are given a very small one at first and then have to spend a lot upgrading it to put more items into it. It is quite fun to have your own shop though, and you can make some neopoints out of it.
The world of Neopia contains eight different lands for you to visit, and in each one you can find different things. There is a concert hall in Tyrannia, for example, where you can watch the latest boy-band jive to some rather funky music ;-) and feel great satisfaction when your pet tells you that you are the best owner in the world afterwards ;-), and a host of different shops unique to each land. Just click on Explore on the left-hand margin.
Each member also gets a neomail account where you can email other members that you know or meet around the site, which is good if you want to make get more involved with other members and join in more with the community.
If you think you might want to extend your hand (or mouse) to a little cutie or mean fighting machine of a creature, here are some quick tips;
Tips
Firstly, HAGGLE VIGOROUSLY when shopping. When you want to buy something, you can haggle with the shopkeeper over it and I thought that if I haggled too much, it would not be sold to me. However, they will often keep lowering their prices till you reach an agreement even if you start off way down, although if you prove a too demanding a customer you will be chucked out of the shop ;-)
Visit The Wheel Of Excitement (in Fairyland), Fruit Machine (in Lost Desert) and Tombola (Mystery Island) on each visit to the site – they can give you free neopoints, food, or special items etc. The Wheel of Excitement costs 100 neopoints a go and can do something bad to your pet however, like give him or her an illness, but these things can be corrected with a visit to the pharmacy or the healing springs etc.
Bid for goods at auction – much cheaper. You can access this from the shopping page. If you’re broke, a bargain picked up can also be auctioned again to make a bit of profit. When you go to the auction, click on 81+ because the first items all say you’re out of time for some reason.
Go to the training centre if you want to raise any of your pet’s levels. You need a codestone first for payment – try the auction for cheaper ones.
Go to the soup kitchen if you’re broke too, as your pets will be given a nourishing broth!
Be nice and sometimes donate things to help hopeless owners to provide responsibly for their pets. You never know, you could find yourself in a similar situation one day.
Explore the whole site and muck about with things – you learn so much more!
Negatives
-Very time consuming -Shops are often sold out -Pretty pointless really -The flippin’ pets keep getting hungry so you have to keep going back to feed them so that they don’t starve. -Going to websites and doing surveys for points (it's not that bad though, and you don't get spam either.) -The pets aren't quite what I thought they would be - they're not very interactive in that they only adopt a few poses and expressions and remain stationary etc. If you give them something to eat that they don't like like, they soon show you what's what though! I gave my dolphin a big seaweed pie and you should have seen the gagging look it had afterwards! It's eyes were bloodshot!!!
It’s a funny site though, and strangely addictive, and it’s a pretty harmless way to pass the time. There is a lot to do on it, and adults are the main users, so I’d recommend it if you like interactive sites that you can have a bit of fun on, and especially if you liked tamagotchies when they were in fashion!!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: free, easy to use, lots of games and activities, safe for children Disadvantages: can be so addictive that you forget about the outside world
Dizzy_Lizzy 05.10.2004 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of neopets.com
Sep 3rd, 2002
(Sep 13th, 2002)
very helpful by (99%):
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