TIL: Adam & Donna tried to tank Neo on the way out?

[Bexxie]

Honestly, from all the shit I read written by Donna and Adam, they lived, breathed, and shit Neopets for the period of their life they were a huge part of it. Seems the same with a lot of the other staff members. They had tons of shit going on behind the scenes that we never found out (that same AMA talks a little about Fyora being a god damn alien if I remember right), they constantly thought up new background and ideas for it. IDK, as an artist I've lovingly put out ugly shit because it's fun. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the snot color, which is waaay more heinous than custard, and one of my all time favorite neopets colors for its nastiness and how ugly-cool it looks!

IMO Adam and Donna loved Neopets a lot and it was their baby. As a petty creator of bullshit myself I can understand them creating content that's basically a middle finger to the people who owned the site they made popular. I doubt they intended on sabotaging the site, only making something ugly to watch Viacom pass it off as the Next Big Thing.

Then again if I was gonna make custard an uglier color and more of a fuck-you to higher ups, it'd look more like jizz.

I actually really like my snot grundo I'm not a fan of custard though.

[Ariella]

Interesting topic. I read that whole AMA.

I guess you just kinda have to read between the lines, because I doubt anyone that has true inside knowledge about what went down is going to be hanging around a cheating forum to comment.

I doesn't seem like they would outright try to sabotage Neopets on their way out, no. They were burnt out, frustrated, admitted both sides could've handled it better, but if making Ogrins and Custard brushes was a serious insidious attempt, it would've been a pretty weak attempt. Much more "hideous" things by those hindsight standards were created during their time that cannot be blamed on a middle finger exit.

It comes across as a passive aggressive joke. Given how pissed they were about being forced to lay off their employees over the FB game, they don't seem like the kind of petty people that would've passed on the consequences of their indignation or ambitions to the staff the remained when Viacom took over. I just don't see it.

As for the other questions did they pass on all the knowledge needed to run Neo as best as possible? Is this why the site continues to be a shaky mishmash of coding that is only patched, never truly fixed?, I think one poster said it best when they said Viacom/Nickelodeon only cares about spongebob. They market the shit out of that show. They don't know how to handle any other IP besides spongebob. D&A seemed to be all about content. They were dropouts who liked to be creative. I don't think they were geniuses in an artistic or programming sense, despite taking credit for Neopets being "cutting edge" at the time. They've basically admitted to having a spotty track record of decision-making, including hiring/management. The crap coding is probably the way it is because D&A's content-driven ideas outpaced their ability to elegantly implement the coding, and Viacom just didn't really give enough of a shit to keep up with it either.

I'm quoting your entire post because it's a really thoughtful and eloquent assessment of the situation, and I appreciate the time you took to wrote it. I agree with this perspective. What's that old saying, life is 10% what happens, and 90% how you react to it? It feels applicable to how Neo went -- history is littered with excellent ideas that were poorly managed or executed. It's still a great site, of course... but imagine the potential if it hadn't been turned into a cash cow. To dream of what could have been!

On a tangential note: Luminosity pisses me off. Neopets games still kick my ass, and were there long before anyone thought to monetize internet "brain games" and target advertising at adults: Math's Nightmare anyone? Shapeshifter? Even Typing Terror was educational for me. Hell, I learned so much just from coding petpages and playing Food Club. I mean, imagine if Neo had tried to capitalize on this market, during those crucial years where us kiddos were spending more and more time online... "Play games alongside your kid, keep your brain sharp!"

[Greenleaf]

I saw someone posting on the PC boards about it! I find it weird and fun because xwees and ogrins are my favorite pets! I just love how different and weird Ogrins are xD

[Urbex]

On a tangential note: Luminosity pisses me off. Neopets games still kick my ass, and were there long before anyone thought to monetize internet "brain games" and target advertising at adults: Math's Nightmare anyone? Shapeshifter? Even Typing Terror was educational for me. Hell, I learned so much just from coding petpages and playing Food Club. I mean, imagine if Neo had tried to capitalize on this market, during those crucial years where us kiddos were spending more and more time online... "Play games alongside your kid, keep your brain sharp!"

I'd have to strongly agree with the part I bolded. I learned a ton from coding petpages, hell, I started when I was maybe 8 years old with coding basic pages and lookups. Eventually in 2-3 years time, I was coding and designing lookups for people, shop layouts, and petpages. I did less food club than most, but I did the stock market a ton. I think we're also overlooking the economics it taught us. When I was younger I was always thinking of ways to make more NP (buying low, selling high, sniping, reselling, making/joining malls, etc). Simple stuff like this made Neo have a large potential to be marketed as an educational tool, but they missed that opportunity

[Ariella]

I saw someone posting on the PC boards about it! I find it weird and fun because xwees and ogrins are my favorite pets! I just love how different and weird Ogrins are xD

You mean recently? LOL... Hello there PC lurkers.

I think we're also overlooking the economics it taught us. When I was younger I was always thinking of ways to make more NP (buying low, selling high, sniping, reselling, making/joining malls, etc). Simple stuff like this made Neo have a large potential to be marketed as an educational tool, but they missed that opportunity

I completely agree. Like I said... oh, what Neo could have been!

[CaptainNight]

Xweetoks are adorable and many people's fave pets. If their goal was "hideous" they are failures at that.

The Ogrin is a bit silly/weird looking but many people like them? Quiggles, Nimmos, and I would argue Flotsam are far far far worse than Ogrin. Basically shit designs. Ogrin has effort at least.

and Xweetok is perf. I loved them when they came out.

[Ariella]

Honestly I thought Xwees were kinda gross when they came out, the UC faerie one being the only tolerable color for me, personally... but those Pomeranian-based unreleased Ty Xwees on that artist's page are definitely adorable.

[Bexxie]

Honestly I thought Xwees were kinda gross when they came out, the UC faerie one being the only tolerable color for me, personally... but those Pomeranian-based unreleased Ty Xwees on that artist's page are definitely adorable.

Where could I find this unreleased Ty Xwee???

[Ariella]

Where could I find this unreleased Ty Xwee???

A former TNT artist recently (you need an account to see links) that Adam and Donna were attempting to sabotage Neo as prepwork for their (defunct) (you need an account to see links). ((you need an account to see links).)

Near the bottom of the third link

[Bexxie]

Near the bottom of the third link

OMG!!!!! Gimme, I want!