Those who still spend money on Neopets, why?

[Worlds]

I say this with all love and the understanding that everyone is free to spend their money as they wish. No judgment here at all � I�ll be the first to admit that I have given way too much of my money to TNT: lots of NC on GBCs, gacha caps, years of premium, even up until January of this year.

But now: Flash is dead (taking customization with it), NC cards have been nuked, TNT continues to treat its player base (paying players included) like crap, and there just isn�t much gameplay going on, imho. The economy has slowed down so much and it feels like the site has thinned out a good amount. So it�s a bit surprising to see people still splurging on RR caps and renewing their premium, when it feels to me like the site is on its last legs.

So my main question is � why? What keeps you going? What about Neopets makes you still want to invest in it? Hey, for all you know, maybe your answers will give hope to the rest of us jaded lot :-(

[Hollow]

I stopped spending money on Neo a long time ago as I don't visit the site that much anymore, however if I see something I really want from the NC Mall - like GBC's or the morphing items then I'd buy like �5 worth NC from the mall, then they sorta just sit there collecting dust in my inventory xD

[Starset]

I personally spend money to get the gambling fix/adrenaline rush, so I don't do anything worse for that feeling. xD As much as I dislike what direction TNT has taken the site and treatment toward their players.. the allure of new GBCs and MMEs is so strong. I used to spend too much on an MMO-style game and now neo has become that sense of retail therapy. So it's more for my own satisfaction and sanity than it is for the site's revenue.
Plus, I just like collecting NC items. I have premium too but that's just for jetsam ace and SSW. I do get angry with myself at times for supporting the staff of a website which used to be so nostalgic and homely..but ughh gambling fix.

[Goose]

Nerkmids from the battledome challengers, and better, additional boons from winning the Obelisk Battles.

[Flordibel]

It makes me happy! I make my little outfits in DTI, dress up my pets with the classic Customisation activity, and I'm good.

[Maelstra]

I stopped buying NC in December; but I have that premium slot and am too attached to my damn pixel pets to cancel it ):

As soon as they give us more pet slots I will be canceling.

[NotADoctor]

Kind of just like Hollow mentioned. Haven't spent a dime in years, only sometimes for an occasional background/floating fairy that I liked but even that was easily 5-6 years ago. Lots of games I played went the same route by investing in payed skins/customization and just focus on that while the rest(best) things of the overall games were left for dead. My favorite things till this day, on Neopets, are Plots, AC and Key Quest(RIP). Since TNT didn't seem to care and kept investing in NC stuff, I just stopped. A lot of NC stuff are awesome and it comes the individual and what they like to spend their money on but the site has so many things that could be invested on that unfortunately doesn't pay as good as NC stuff. I'm not ranting nor remotely mad about it, from a business point of view it just works for pretty much any game that has come out in recent years or is up till today.
Will I ever spend money on Neopets again? Doubt it, unless it involves Key Quest or something as entertaining, that shit was so much fun.

[Ice]

I've only ever spent a handful of money on Neopets proper (let's say, <= 30$ on NC from the site itself) but, I have spent a disgusting amount of money procuring things for Neopets off-site. Which I personally still count as "spending money on Neopets" and yeah, I do sit in bed at night staring up at my ceiling thinking I spent HOW MUCH to own certain things on a clearly dying website? But then I rationalize it as this is my hobby and at the moment I don't have that many other interests I put money into, and what is life if not spending money for fleeting bits of enjoyment and a dopamine hit. Can't spend money when ya dead.

On the Neopets side of things since obviously I'm not putting money directly back in TNT's hands - which, sure a lot of their recent managerial fumbles contributes to my distaste of doing such a thing - I see spending money elsewhere to keep me trapped in the Neopets addiction is funneled back into me remaining an active player with a vested (now heavily monetary based lmao) interest in seeing Neopets continue to function. I'm here for the long haul and won't jump ship and quit, as a lot of other players have done, and at the very least continue to spend my time and energy playing Neopets and caring about its future.

[Cat Purrson]

I refuse to give money to a company that doesn't care about their players. Fix your site and this big mess going on with UC and maybe I'll buy from you again.

I will however to continue to put my money in the hands of other players if I desperately need something

[Rhymes with Witch]

It's still fun for me. Simple as that. In the worst case I will have spent money having fun on something that doesn't last but quite honestly in my view a lot of life is more or less intangible. The site could die tonight and I'd have the memories of playing and goofing off to remember until I die. Ain't like I can take anything with me when that happens anyway