Polygon Just released a video on the "black market scandal"

[RealisticError]

I just saw this on the front page of my youtube...

I usually like the Polygon video team, I'll edit this post with my thoughts when I finish the video!

Edit: I went to make lunch and forgot to write my thoughts

They definitely did their research on the conversion and PC behaviour, their explanation of how pet trades work and the value of UCs was really accurate. Honestly, I didn't realise all the fake UCs were allowed to stay though, that's super interesting. It's nice to have a member of TNT admit that the Neopets website is mostly adults, maybe they could lean into that and allow the website to be a little more adult-oriented, and keep the rest of the brand as the flagship childrens content.

[Buizel]

This is honestly one of the dumbest videos I've watched in a while and I'm only 3 minutes in.

Hopefully I can edit this later to change my opinion.

Edit: It didn't change.

Idk why Polygon is so consistent in their narrative of "HACKER BAD, CHEATING BAD" mindset when it's not as serious as they're making it out to be. They also still ignored that the constant disregard that TNT has for its players and site security as a whole is more impactful to the demise of the site over any illegit UC can ever be. If they want to report on something, they should report on how Tony P. responds to the tickets he's assigned.

[RealisticError]

This is honestly one of the dumbest videos I've watched in a while and I'm only 3 minutes in.

Hopefully I can edit this later to change my opinion.

Edit: It didn't change.

Idk why Polygon is so consistent in their narrative of "HACKER BAD, CHEATING BAD" mindset when it's not as serious as they're making it out to be. They also still ignored that the constant disregard that TNT has for its players and site security as a whole is more impactful to the demise of the site over any illegit UC can ever be. If they want to report on something, they should report on how Tony P. responds to the tickets he's assigned.

Let's not forget that they stored their passwords in plain text! (at least, they did when the DB leak happened) If anything the bad security and the hackers gave everyone what they wanted...in a round-about way, without this scandal the conversation around UCs would always stay as "nah, can't be done"

[Woodpecker]

This is honestly one of the dumbest videos I've watched in a while and I'm only 3 minutes in.

Hopefully I can edit this later to change my opinion.

Edit: It didn't change.

Idk why Polygon is so consistent in their narrative of "HACKER BAD, CHEATING BAD" mindset when it's not as serious as they're making it out to be. They also still ignored that the constant disregard that TNT has for its players and site security as a whole is more impactful to the demise of the site over any illegit UC can ever be. If they want to report on something, they should report on how Tony P. responds to the tickets he's assigned.

I disagree, I thought it was a well-made video which explains the situation perfectly for a non-neopian. Also, hacking *is* bad if you're stealing UC's from other people. Yes, TNT has terrible customer service & security, but that doesn't make it okay.

[Buizel]

I disagree, I thought it was a well-made video which explains the situation perfectly for a non-neopian. Also, hacking *is* bad if you're stealing UC's from other people. Yes, TNT has terrible customer service & security, but that doesn't make it okay.

But as neopians actively playing on the site, yes, this video touches on one of the few issues that is leading the site to an even lower number of active users, but isn't as huge as Polygon is making it.

I apologize if my post came off as a justification of sorts for hacking due to neo's customer service, as that wasn't my intention. As pointed out in the video, there was a list of genned UCs released that weren't taken from others, but was exploited due to there being (seemingly) like 3 links I guess for making UCs. There might be more since it happens more often than not these days lol, but things easily found such as those added to the fact that users are put on trial via a ticket are more impactful in my eyes than the reversal situation that started late last year, as huge and confusing as it was. Plus that situation where those people (forgot if they were a group or something) alerted Neo to that huge security flaw a few months ago.

I'm rambling so sorry lol but I suppose my point is, the black market is the least of this site's worry atm with so many other prevailing issues overshadowing the site.

[Zapdos]

(you need an account to see links)

also

I disagree, I thought it was a well-made video which explains the situation perfectly for a non-neopian. Also, hacking *is* bad if you're stealing UC's from other people. Yes, TNT has terrible customer service & security, but that doesn't make it okay.

I'm not sure where you think a lot of the UCs in circulation come from...

[My name is Yoshikage Kira]

F's for Bigjohnswife (male)

I do think it was a pretty good summary

[Flordibel]

I really like this video!

It's a great summary of the concept of UC trading and Neopets as a whole, without being too pandering. It doesn't offer the greatest view of the cheating community... but I suppose that's the POV of the video. I appreciate that they interviewed Stephanie for it, and that they touched a little bit on what might be happening in the future. I liked the distinction between "Neopets the brand" and "Neopets the site," too - I think that's something that Neo themselves struggles with.

The noir bit at the end also made me laugh. I love a good tongue-in-cheek bit.

[kittyray]

It was a good summary, but overall wasn't a big fan of the video. idk, I watch a lot of pop culture breakdowns and analysis videos, some of which are really thought-out and well-researched, though I guess some of which are, while still well-researched, kind of a laugh. idk, this one just fell kind of flat for me and if I wasn't so invested in neopets I'd probably have clicked away. I'm not expecting somebody like Jenny Nicholson to make a video on this type of thing, just too niche, but damned if I wouldn't love it.

[Woodpecker]

But as neopians actively playing on the site, yes, this video touches on one of the few issues that is leading the site to an even lower number of active users, but isn't as huge as Polygon is making it.

I apologize if my post came off as a justification of sorts for hacking due to neo's customer service, as that wasn't my intention. As pointed out in the video, there was a list of genned UCs released that weren't taken from others, but was exploited due to there being (seemingly) like 3 links I guess for making UCs. There might be more since it happens more often than not these days lol, but things easily found such as those added to the fact that users are put on trial via a ticket are more impactful in my eyes than the reversal situation that started late last year, as huge and confusing as it was. Plus that situation where those people (forgot if they were a group or something) alerted Neo to that huge security flaw a few months ago.

I'm rambling so sorry lol but I suppose my point is, the black market is the least of this site's worry atm with so many other prevailing issues overshadowing the site.

I thought you were referring to the stolen pets, my bad then.

I'm not sure where you think a lot of the UCs in circulation come from...

Which is why I don't trade UCs.