The Current State of Neopets

[Cocobutter]

Oh, but I do think Neopets' potential is really squandered of course. The management is clearly bad, and the teamwork probably isn't great either. Basically it could be handled way better imo, and Neopets would really benefit from some changes like that.

Also I don't think it's wrong to shit on TNT at all, I was just talking about extreme cases where people are kinda unfair towards the workers on the boards, just my opinion!

[Ice]

I agree with what Andrew said regarding fixing things to be much easier said than done - I'm not sure what (if anything) has changed with the team makeup since moving to Fluffy Dog Studios(?) but under JS TNT was literally running with 1 or 2 devs, total, for the entire site... just thinking about the legacy code Neo was built on and how the internet and its protocols have changed over the past 20 years, I couldn't imagine just suddenly being plopped down and asked to take things apart and put them back together in a functional way. To me looking from the outside it seems trying to bandage and/or straight up introduce new, simple features (like all the Negg Fest/Faerie Fest clickable shit) is way more manageable than larger undertakings such as full on site events or even tackling the BD (although iirc they have talked several times about how it is something they really want to address). I don't think we will sadly ever see any new "game" features the likes of KQ/Habi because at that point you need a full on app development team to create something like that and in no way is there budget to do something like that unless hm... an outsourced team making mobile apps that have on-site account linking and rewards...? Gee... where have I heard that before? >.> But either way it's absolutely frustrating to see NC releases (aka cash grabs to keep NetDragon invested in funding TNT) be the bulk of the site "updates" these days but it does give me a bit of a happy feel whenever the newest change log is released and even just being superficial fixes like html5 maps or wheel conversions because in my eyes they wouldn't even go that far to update the maps if there were truly NO future of Neopets...right? Regardless I'm thankful for the people on TNT (not support, yall can gfy lmao) who willingly chose to do this as their job and maintain a passion for the game/advocate for the players however they can. They are the real Gs.

[BryanCranston]

do we know how much profit Neopets makes? I'm super curious now that you mention it. I'd love to know what their margin percent is...I would guess it to actually be pretty high given NC sales and Premium probably have excellent margins depending on how well the artists are compensated (which I assume is unfairly low)

If NetDragon had ~1b in revenue, Neo is less than 1% of that. So less than 10m in revenue.

[Lazuli]

I agree with Joe and Ice here

Like the rest of us I've been playing since very young. 2002 is when I started lol and honestly yeah I did take breaks every so often but never for TOO long. So for me it isn't just the nostalgia.

Like Joe mentioned, it's about collecting things. For me anyway. Cuz I personally have hardly played any of the flash games in all my years on the site. (I am bad at anything that doesn't have "Pokémon" in the title lmao) so it doesn't bother me much that the games room isn't as bumping as it used to be. I understand this is a bummer for a lot of others though but again, there is a work around if ppl really care enough

Sadly I can't do as much as I want to on the site atm cuz I'm almost exclusively mobile at this time in my life (literally I don't even do my dailies lol just Trudy's, FC, and NC) but once I'm able to I'm definitely gonna be much more active than I am now

Neopets holds a lot of good memories for me and even if it does explode one day, well, at least we have the fan sites ;p

[birdies]

Firstly, I do think the people who work on the site care about it. A lot of the recent wearables have been really special, and there have been inclusivity efforts, and more reaching out to chat to the playerbase than has gone on for a while. There was a period where we just got the most basic art and no real effort to connect, and I do think they're working hard to do better.

I personally work remotely for a start up company that runs a 20 year old website and has about 20 staff with 2 devs managing the whole unwieldy thing so... I feel a lot of empathy for the team (I also know all the ways we use to trace multiple/duplicate accounts which is always helpful). Our members write in daily with 'helpful feedback' which is basically 'why can't you do what XYZ site can do?' -- and the answer is because we have 20 years of ancient code being held together by string, while the newer sites were created with all this stuff inbuilt.

It's frustrating for us as well as our members but changes can be real slow. We're working on changing the user states for the whole site and it's been a 2 year project so far but once it's done it will enable us to modernise more easily.

That said, there are changes TNT could make, and areas they could focus on that would make a big difference. Just managing to work out how to hold a plot would be amazing. I still think fondly of spending half my life digging in lost desert pyramids.

I too believe that Neo would really need to be bought by a company willing to invest in increasing the playerbase, not just wringing NC money out of the current players, to really progress. It's such an internet legacy site by now, I really think they could reinvent it and make it a big deal again, but personally I feel like not letting it completely go under might be the most we can hope for, at least for now.

I'm there for nostalgia reasons. Because I've been there for 20 years and because no matter what breaks I take I seem to end up circling back to it when I need an escape. occasionally I think about how much money I could make if I sold my pets and moved out - but... they have real meaning to me. I just couldn't do it.

- - - Updated - - -

I have nostalgia about Neo's old days and ridiculous pet roleplays and being in guilds and such, things I haven't done in over a decade. What I love most about Neopets hasn't ever changed though, it's a fun forum for making creative content. I've always been so enamored with the idea of people taking these blank slate pets and creating characters for them. I used to fucking LOVE drawing my pets, even though I wasn't particularly good at it, and it was a very prominent hobby of mine from middle school through college because Neo gave me a forum to show my characters to other players. Once I got in the professional workforce I abandoned Neo altogether until a friend pestered me to come back during the pandemic. I'm so grateful she did because I hadn't realized how much I missed drawing until I picked it back up again. It's an amazing mental health thing for me, drawing feels like the complete mental opposite of my day job. Neo is still the same enticing empty canvas that gets its hooks into my brain and gets me excited to just make stuff that it was when I was a kid. I bought a pet from someone this week with a name I *love* and my brain has been buzzing with character and design ideas so I'll be writing and drawing instead of binging TV or something equally unfulfilling (for me)

I just love this, and it really makes me wish I could check out your pets. The creativity some people bring to their pixels is another reason I love the site.

[kalez]

I have fond memories of the characters I made for a few of my pets. My ideas have changed and shifted over the years, but it was fun coming back mid-pandemic to see what was up with the site on a whole.
I'm a very isolated player and I enjoy just doing things more or less off in a corner by myself, so I don't really have a good scope on the economy of the site and the like, but I think it's "shambling on as it always has".

While some things not changing is a comfort, there are things that certainly could be better as a ton of issues it has are directly tied to its age and initial design principles from that time.
Even Pokémon games, a franchise known for basically not changing (lol) has slowly been making alterations to its formula in recent games, changing the flow and structure of progression, so I think neopets in a similar vein just needs to find a direction it wants to go in. There are a ton of systems in neopets that could be modernized and reworked under a more unified vision, but it currently seems (to me) that the site as a game for players is lacking in a distinct direction. However, as a hub for social interaction and collecting, it still works as it always has.

I'm not sure what the future of neopets would be, but I think it's cool that we still have it at all.


tl;dr I think neopets lacks vision and is held back by its age, but at the same time I like it the way it is.

[Crooked]

Others, particularly @(you need an account to see links), have already made some of the points I wanted to make, so I won't do much rehashing. A lot of the changes and updates people want require Viacom levels of money and resources, but those days are over, and I don't really anticipate Neopets getting that kind of support any time soon. The current members of TNT honestly have a raw deal. They were brought in to a lot of animosity because of layoffs they had nothing to do with and were completely out of their control, the site's code is held together by duct tape and a prayer, and they have kind of taken the blame for decisions and policies that they were grandfathered into. I think it's really apparent that the public facing members of the staff really do care about Neopets— a lot of them grew up with the site! Although they're not comparable to the plots of yore I think that the recent site events were thoughtful and cute, and the new items have been nice. I think there has been a genuine effort made by TNT to connect more with the playerbase. Do they always make the best decisions? Definitely not. But I think they're doing the best with what they have.

We also aren't beholden to the logistics and demands of their parent company. There could be a lot that they want to do that they're preposing, but Netdragon isn't interested in funding. The things that have really pissed people off, like the NFTs, were most certainly Netdragon's idea and had nothing to do with Neopets themselves, and I'm sure a lot of these various failed side projects followed a similar route. Tally admitted in the newest Nosy Neopians episode that the brand has not been focused on the right things, and that she wants that energy and attention to be rerouted to improving the core site.

For me, Neo has been a lifelong hobby, and I will most likely be playing until it ceases to exist. I enjoy the games, I enjoy the collectables, I like restocking, but the creative components are always what drew me in. A lot of my own experiences and fondest memories fall in line with what @(you need an account to see links) has described. I love creating characters, coming up with stories, and drawing my pets. Neopets guilds and boards are what introduced me to roleplaying. If it hadn't been for the path Neopets sent me down, I may have not met some of my closest friends, and I don't think I'd be the same person I am today. I am sad that the site has as many problems as it has, and I miss how things were in its prime, but I'm also still enjoying myself.

[Corliss]

I miss the games for sure, especially the Hannah series. I would say it’s the game that made me feel like I would enjoy games. But I stayed because of all the character creation and thankfully that’s all still possible! I so wish there was a way to get them more resources - imagine crowd sourcing the restoration of all the games? - but there are security issues you have to think about too so it won’t happen.

[Jesuslovescats]

I really appreciate what a lot of you guys have said, particularly that comment about the glass half full or half empty.

I can sit on my resentment of tnt sometimes but these reminders are really good to have. I've been playing neopets almost since it started and I remember being so angry when they changed the layout that I quit for a few years before I even considered coming back. I'm really honestly really glad I have. There are certainly a lot of issues, but I think overall for me the good outweighs the bad.

I find myself genuinely looking forward to hopping on, even if all I have time for is my dailies. I get stoked when I when in the FC, my heart still races when I feed kids. I am actively working on several avatars and I am really enjoying the chase, even if I get annoyed.

Now that I am older and in the workforce, it's easier for me to separate "tnt" from the actual employees. They're almost certainly just doing their jobs to the best of their ability under the constraints placed on them by management. I would be willing to bet that a lot of them are frustrated themselves with a lot of the same stuff we are.

Oh another great thing is I am actively working on opening up and participating on CK instead of just buying stuff here. Neo does have good community on and off site.

When I when the lottery I'll buy neo and fix it lol (and by god I'm bringing back KQ).

[Rebel_Minx]

I am hoping and putting out the energy in the world that they do come back and I want to have my bank stocked up and as many high-price items as I can just incase the site does come back and I can be one of those re-sellers. For me, I come to Neo for my guild and NBs. I used to be super into the beauty contest, that's where everyone could find me on the NBs. I also enjoy the card games! I enjoy NC trading and customize my pets. I want to get back into BC though!