Neopets at the New York Comic-Con 2022

[♥ Dita ♥]

I can’t believe they suggested getting a plug in? Are they referring to ruffle (which is pretty shit btw) or the extensive https workaround with a full program? Are they even aware the flash games all broke with the switch to https? Do any of them even test the site out every now and then? I’m so confused how they could be so out of touch to make this comment.

For real! Like please explain to me how this will work out. I wonder if these staff actually have even played neopets or at the very least as of recent to know the current state of affairs.

[Unown]

Omg reading all these comments just makes me so disappointed.. It really seems that the online web is just being left to a few back end devs and the rest of the staff have been deployed to other projects.

[kizzielee]

I was at the Neopets booth at the con this past weekend. They were nice but they had no clue about the website. Then they looked at my young son who was with me and started talking to him about mobile games and all of a sudden, they sounded like they knew what they were talking about. I was like, just give me my free faerie PB pins/prize codes and get me outta here

[Unown]

The way I see it, Neopets has been split into more things.

The new people who are hired are all dispatched into creating new sources of income targeting newer markets for larger growth opportunities.
The very opinion that we have that "there's a large database of users willing to spend money" might not be as true as what we think.
They probably have the database, the proper analytics, and the statistics to back this change of direction into making new apps.
To be frank, no new kid/gen-z would ever come onto neopets, create an account and a pet and stay, because of all the lack of features and old-style website functionalities.

The only reason we're on is because we're living for the nostalgia. Remove that aspect and we'd all probably move on to something new.

We're always complaining about the site, hoping for change, hoping for something different, and hoping that it'll get developed. But I believe that there are less than 10 people on the payroll of Neopets Website that are working tirelessly to make changes and it's just too little people to create a fast and big change. The people who are now dispatched to events such as comic-con and all are from the newer teams, staff that are hired to promote the newer aspects of the brand such as merchandise, applications, games, and the metaverse.

I think we all just have to realise that it's a matter of time before the site gets shut down. Because one day the database will just keep dwindling to a point where the company will deem it to be unprofitable and choose to shut it down. :\

Sorry to sound so negative but coming from a marketing agency background, the moment you stop seeing the marketing team talk about something, it just means that the company is not putting it as a priority, or even worse, thinking of shutting it down.

[Buizel]

Even their Metaverse aspect of the site is flopping along with the site. Supposedly, a whopping 5 people participated in that Turmac Roll contest, and some of those 5 were he admin people for the MV lol...just a sad way to see this site slowly die

[Diacetylmorphine]

The way I see it, Neopets has been split into more things.

The new people who are hired are all dispatched into creating new sources of income targeting newer markets for larger growth opportunities.
The very opinion that we have that "there's a large database of users willing to spend money" might not be as true as what we think.
They probably have the database, the proper analytics, and the statistics to back this change of direction into making new apps.
To be frank, no new kid/gen-z would ever come onto neopets, create an account and a pet and stay, because of all the lack of features and old-style website functionalities.

The only reason we're on is because we're living for the nostalgia. Remove that aspect and we'd all probably move on to something new.

We're always complaining about the site, hoping for change, hoping for something different, and hoping that it'll get developed. But I believe that there are less than 10 people on the payroll of Neopets Website that are working tirelessly to make changes and it's just too little people to create a fast and big change. The people who are now dispatched to events such as comic-con and all are from the newer teams, staff that are hired to promote the newer aspects of the brand such as merchandise, applications, games, and the metaverse.

I think we all just have to realise that it's a matter of time before the site gets shut down. Because one day the database will just keep dwindling to a point where the company will deem it to be unprofitable and choose to shut it down. :\

Sorry to sound so negative but coming from a marketing agency background, the moment you stop seeing the marketing team talk about something, it just means that the company is not putting it as a priority, or even worse, thinking of shutting it down.

I'm assuming you mean userbase, by database. The large userbase willing to spend money is definitely true, we know that Neopets' userbase is sustained largely from the old playerbase, so it's an aging playerbase. Dota 2 is another game that is known for an aging playerbase. Despite dropping playernumbers on it, they keep making record profits/sales. This is because with an older playerbase you have more people who have disposable incomes, and users become cheaper for you. Neopets has a lot of these users, but also lost a lot because of their poor management. Neopets was *insanely* big and there won't be as big a pull of Gen Z, but to many people it's still in their heads and they could be pulled into it from knowing it from the past. The path to success in that regard is pretty obvious.

You might assume that their decision to go for Metaverse/NFT is based on analytics they have, and a lot of people assume companies make decisions like that. But it's often very different in reality, I've worked in business and interacted with a lot of execs and business-like people, and their decisions can be much more erratic than you think. Right now there's a massive tech trend into Metaverse and NFT, with many having little understanding of *what* it even is or researching the market potential that much. There's often just a very arrogant mindset of "Neopets is OLD! Peolpe don't like old things! They only like new things, stop making the Neopets website!" and that is more likely exactly what happened here. Just another boomer exec who is insistent people shouldn't like this thing, and need to move on, and when it doesn't work out they hire more marketing people! Because all you need is market research! They'll just say "people don't KNOW what they want" or more quickly blame the players than themselves for these choices. Or they neglect the site so hard it finally loses players, and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where they can say "look, I was right! Nobody cares!". But despite all that the playerbase has been so loyal and resilient which shows how great of a userbase this is. It's a companies dream userbase and the CEO is being extremely incompetent with it and the obvious path to success.

It's easy to think they know it all and have it figured out, they have a plan and that there's a reason for what they're doing. Just like when we're kid, we think adults always know what they're doing, "they're the adults! They always know everything!" but then you turn 18, 30, 50 and realise how arbitrary that is and nobody *truly* just knows everything or suddenly everything makes sense. CEOs and execs aren't some super smart people who always make their financial decisions by analysis and rational though. It's often very spearheaded decisionmaking based on feelings. You can see how many companies go bankrupt from making the wrong choices.

[Unown]

I'm assuming you mean userbase, by database. The large userbase willing to spend money is definitely true, we know that Neopets' userbase is sustained largely from the old playerbase, so it's an aging playerbase. Dota 2 is another game that is known for an aging playerbase. Despite dropping playernumbers on it, they keep making record profits/sales. This is because with an older playerbase you have more people who have disposable incomes, and users become cheaper for you. Neopets has a lot of these users, but also lost a lot because of their poor management. Neopets was *insanely* big and there won't be as big a pull of Gen Z, but to many people it's still in their heads and they could be pulled into it from knowing it from the past. The path to success in that regard is pretty obvious.

You might assume that their decision to go for Metaverse/NFT is based on analytics they have, and a lot of people assume companies make decisions like that. But it's often very different in reality, I've worked in business and interacted with a lot of execs and business-like people, and their decisions can be much more erratic than you think. Right now there's a massive tech trend into Metaverse and NFT, with many having little understanding of *what* it even is or researching the market potential that much. There's often just a very arrogant mindset of "Neopets is OLD! Peolpe don't like old things! They only like new things, stop making the Neopets website!" and that is more likely exactly what happened here. Just another boomer exec who is insistent people shouldn't like this thing, and need to move on, and when it doesn't work out they hire more marketing people! Because all you need is market research! They'll just say "people don't KNOW what they want" or more quickly blame the players than themselves for these choices. Or they neglect the site so hard it finally loses players, and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where they can say "look, I was right! Nobody cares!". But despite all that the playerbase has been so loyal and resilient which shows how great of a userbase this is. It's a companies dream userbase and the CEO is being extremely incompetent with it and the obvious path to success.

It's easy to think they know it all and have it figured out, they have a plan and that there's a reason for what they're doing. Just like when we're kid, we think adults always know what they're doing, "they're the adults! They always know everything!" but then you turn 18, 30, 50 and realise how arbitrary that is and nobody *truly* just knows everything or suddenly everything makes sense. CEOs and execs aren't some super smart people who always make their financial decisions by analysis and rational though. It's often very spearheaded decisionmaking based on feelings. You can see how many companies go bankrupt from making the wrong choices.

xD I really hope you're right and one day they'll wake up to it. Because if not, we're just going downhill.

[♥ Dita ♥]

My order from What's Your Passion shipped today I can't wait to see them. I'll post once they get here for people curious what they look like irl.

[♥ Dita ♥]

Yay~ the pins will be here tomorrow guys I can't wait to see them all. I just want to see that little baby xweetok. Why are they so cute?

[Alister]

I'm super unobservant and didn't notice I received a shipping notification but what a nice surprise in my mail box!

(you need an account to see links)

the second nice surprise is these look MUCH nicer in person than I was expecting. I kinda regret not getting that Zomutt pin now.