I wonder how Neopets would be functioning if adam and Donna never sold it.

[penguin1991]

I was up LATE thinking about that lmao.
Thoughts?

[Aero]

They actually addressed why they sold the site in a Reddit AMA before: (you need an account to see links).

Why did you and Adam decide to sell neopets, and was Viacom the only interest or where there other companies?

Donna: We really werent involved in the decision. I know that may sound strange but we were pretty much excluded from all decisions regarding investment or the future of the company. On the flip side, we had total free rein over what we put on the side (aside from the odd restraint from the legal department).

It was a very odd situation. Our role within the company was utterly downplayed publicly. I think the management would rather we were just regular employees rather than the actual founders and the people who were up until god knows when fixing things when they went wrong. We were extremely naive and our only focus was what we thought was best for the site. If we could do it again, there would definitely be things we did differently.

There may have been other companies, but we weren't told about them. I know we had a couple of companies interested in film rights, but I can't remember there being multiple businesses interested in the actual sale. We could probably have vetoed the sale or at least made it difficult to go through, but it isnt like we were able to put any special terms in for ourselves or anything.

This lack of control was part of the reason we wanted to leave. We knew what would be best, but were not able to take the company in that direction. After years and years of fighting a losing battle, you just give up.

Sorry that makes it all sound so miserable. We really loved the creative side, and the community aspect. There were just a lot of very frustrating elements.

And some real life goss from me:

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[Flordibel]

I imagine content would be spectacular. But a lot of the technological updates like code refactoring and mobile-friendly updates wouldn't have happened.

[mixednuts]

I can imagine it would have been updated to mobile, but way sooner obviously, like idk neopets at the time loved trying new content and lots of it so I don't think they would have never not gone in a more mobile direction but it prob wouldnt have looked like the one we got lol

[CattHead]

I happened to wander across this forum. I think about this occasionally! I know Donna did an AMA on reddit many years ago that was very interesting.
I'll leave the link!
(you need an account to see links)

EDIT:
I know Adam hopped in on some of the questions as well which was insightful and entertaining.

DOUBLE EDIT: Apologies as I did not see the link to the reddit already posted above *embarrassed*

[Synth Salazzle]

And some real life goss from me:

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[carrottea]

Who knows. Most likely the site wouldn't have suffered art-wise but I think at some point it became a complete behemoth too big for a group of small but passionate staff members to handle. Add to that the evolution of coding, the death of flash, etc. I feel it's possible the site would have died without some kind of external support. Personally I don't mind the customization because I see how much fun people have with it, but the art style really took a turn for the worst, and it's a little sad to see the remnants of the little passion projects that started the game out back in the early years. Staff involvement also used to be a little more personal, I remember the staff webcam and how a staff member used to frequent the kadoatery boards back in '08, just for fun. I'm not sure that's something that could/would happen nowadays.

Also this is just a personal nostalgia gripe but the Advent Calendar animations used to feel cozy, and the new ones feel kind of empty. Adam/Donna definitely brought some soul to the site, but who knows if under their rule it would have shut down a decade ago.

[DrSloth]

that'sa though one!! I honestly have thoughts going both ways, either that would be way better plot and content wise but i dont know if they would be able to manage it all for so long with passion. Not that current tnt has passion for neo, but it gets me thinking

[Wormjaw]

Who knows. Most likely the site wouldn't have suffered art-wise but I think at some point it became a complete behemoth too big for a group of small but passionate staff members to handle. Add to that the evolution of coding, the death of flash, etc. I feel it's possible the site would have died without some kind of external support. Personally I don't mind the customization because I see how much fun people have with it, but the art style really took a turn for the worst, and it's a little sad to see the remnants of the little passion projects that started the game out back in the early years. Staff involvement also used to be a little more personal, I remember the staff webcam and how a staff member used to frequent the kadoatery boards back in '08, just for fun. I'm not sure that's something that could/would happen nowadays.

Also this is just a personal nostalgia gripe but the Advent Calendar animations used to feel cozy, and the new ones feel kind of empty. Adam/Donna definitely brought some soul to the site, but who knows if under their rule it would have shut down a decade ago.

Yep.. I highly doubt Neo would have survived this long without all the support pillars Viacom put in. Customization and the site redesign is what has kept it alive past the 2010s... and now.

And yeah they outsource those more recent advent calendar animations completely in like the middle of the summer to get them done for the advent calendar. I think its tough because Flash was a dying program and finding artists who could use and animate for it and churn out a wholes month worth of animation on a budget is hard...

[Ganymede]

As much as it pains me to say, I don’t think it’d still be around. Wish it could’ve been handed over to people with the same passion and drive for Neopets, but that would probably be quite difficult to find.