Neopets.com once was a relatively simple and enjoyable website. About one and one half years ago, the Neopets site became increasingly less player friendly. Basically, the few games of skill quit giving out as many neopoints as they previously had. The activities became more time consuming and less playful. The games and the site in general has become ridiculously competitive. Young children will be bewildered by much of what is happening on the neopets site. Virtual items which were acquired with great difficulty and took much time to obtain occasionally disappear for a users account due to glitches that the programmers don't seem to understand.
The site has cute cartoon "virtual" characters. However, for a website which calls itself a family site, there are simply too many casino-type games. "Craps", two different types of blackjack, poker which allows gambling using the currency on the site called Neopoints, scratch off tickets, lottery tickets, dog racing and betting, Keno, and other games I am unable to remember presently are on the neopets site. Children are allowed to play all of these casino games. As we know, casino type games can be addictive and unhealthy to people of all ages.
Much of the site has elements of chance which make it frustrating to young children. The chat boards are not monitored as well as one would like because swear words and sexual suggestive concepts inappropriate for children are not deleted as vigilantly or quickly as one would hope.
The game features a battledome where users can battle each other's pets. The frustrating part of this, besides the rewarding of bullying and the almost complete lack of defense during a battle, is that it rewards players who have the most neopoints. If a player does not spend hours and hours accumulating neopoints, he simply can't compete. Also, users accounts are frozen for no apparent reason at times, for reasons I am unable to ascertain. Their are a lot of scammers and tricksters who use fake log-in screens which enable them to steal a person's user account. The super-expensive weapons are frequently downgraded after a person has spent hours playing on neopets.com and thus are obselete too soon.
The Neopets.com site simply has too many users who monopolize their fast connection speeds to the detriment of users with slower connections. Just as there is a Monopoly Junior game which is a simplified version of the game Monopoly, perhaps it is time for neopets to launch a Neopetsjunior.com website.
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www.neopets just added yet Another slot machine casino game to its site!!! This new slots game has nine lines and has scatter bets. Your children will be hooked on gambling in no time if they visit www.neopets.com
Worrals 08.07.2003 13:30
I disagree about the Battledome. If you find a pet with similar statistics to yours you should have a fair match. And nobody's asking you to fight, or to play the casino games - what I like most about NeoPets is that you can play it how you like, aiming to make money, have strong pets, or just wander about exploring. Heheh...I guess I'm just an addict :)
Kiera13 08.07.2003 13:13
As you didn't really address what the sites principle aim is; ie play games, have fun etc. I felt a FH rating was all I could give you. You make some valid points, but those incidents are very few and far between. If u edit with more detail about the site content let me know so I can rerate xxx
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
Jul 8th, 2003
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somewhat helpful by (9%):
