Will Neopets survive the 2010s? And how?

[Sannah]

I guess most of us are aware that Neopets has been steadily losing (active) members and hasn't been able to engage many new players for a while.

 

JumpStart introduced the survey of course (I hope we'll hear back from that soon), but that was about what we, the loyal users, wanted to see Neopets become. A mobile app. Plots. More Habitarium levels. Better customer service. My answers to the questionnaire certainly did not include tips on how to win over a new generation to Neopets. But I've been thinking about it for a few days and this is what I've come up with so far:

 

1) Accessibility

 

I have been playing Neopets almost since Day 1 - that is fifteen years. I enjoy all the privileges of a longstanding loyal user. I got to choose whether to convert my pets. I have some pretty retired avatars. If I want something I can usually buy it. I know my way around the site and all its features because I was around when they were introduced bit by bit: treasure maps, guilds, battledome, job centre. A new player would have to play non-stop for at least a year to even have a hope of catching up to me, and I'm a very casual and lazy player. There are accounts and records out there that will never be attainable for a newbie. I imagine that being all kinds of discouraging.

 

Neopets has done a lot to keep its longterm faithful users happy. Allowing for unconverted pets, Hidden Tower, transfers… but also retiring certain super awesome items (of course, they have also done the opposite at times. Like with Pirate Krawks and Draiks).

 

But should Neopets at some point try to level the playing field? For example, another MMORPG I played, Diablo II, had a ladder system. Every so often, all characters would be purged and reset to level one so that resources would never end up in the hands of a privileged few forever and ever.

 

What would work in Neopets? Having Neopets age and die (eek!)? Paying taxes? (ho hum). I have no answer to this yet, but I'm pretty sure something needs to be done… which brings me to part two.

 

2) Interaction

 

Neopets are static, a bunch of stats and pixels, and bonding with them requires some willingness and imagination on the owner's part. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it's getting outdated. Imagine being able to walk around Neopia central with your pet, queuing for a concert, elbowing people out the way to enter the shops at restock times. When Neopets was first launched, that type of game still seemed impossible. But that hasn't been true for a while. And in its basics, Neopets has not changed since the late 90s: there are more features, yes, but no more interaction.

 

What would help and would be fairly simple technically speaking? Perhaps introduce a basic plot or storyline for all beginning Neopets players where they are gradually introduced to the world of Neopets through the eyes of their newborn pet. I'm thinking of something super simple. For example, Heroes of Might and Magic III (very old school RPG) had various maps to conquer. One map was framed as a Greek mythology map and every new in-game day you'd get a prompt that furthered some mythological storyline (that had very little to do with the game itself, but you can't have everything). It made the map 10x more entertaining to play through than any other and required the programming skills of a ten year old.

 

New users wouldn't feel so lost and by the end of the little plot they'd have a fair idea about the possibilities and features of the site, and the start of a bond with their pet.

 

---

 

I'd love to hear your ideas about how Neopets can survive the 2010s and start engaging a new generation of users! Or perhaps you guys completely disagree about their being any crisis or changes needed at all.

 

Disclaimer: no, I'm not a Neopets employee (though I'd happily consult on the above ideas, Jumpstart. Just drop me a line). ;-)

[Secre]

I'd never really thought about it like that...

 

In terms of your ideas on accessibility; if neopets got old and died they would lose the members who have put one hell of a lot of effort into their pets over the years for little real value in terms of gaining new members. It would be a pointless trade. Likewise if they reset members that would be hugely damaging. They may need to introduce new members but isolating old members would just destroy him.

 

Interaction is a very valid point though - when neopets was created there wasn't the sheer amount of interactive game play around. Neopets hasn't moved with the times and therefore is perhaps stale to anyone who doesn't already have a vested interest in the site/their pets. Interactivity doesn't matter to us because we've put millions of neopoints into making them what we want but that isn't going to cut the ice with newer players.

[the_lady_j]

I agree that the interaction has become a little outdated. I kinda thought that's why they extended Neopets into Petpet Park. You get the MMORG feel without straying too far from the idea of Neopets - and then of course, the NC connected the two. But I don't know if I'd want Neopets itself to travel too far in that direction. There's too many things I don't like about Petpet Park. It's reliance on a lot of real money being spent only one of them.

 

At least when they revamped the Battledome, they gave it a little more interaction than the mere text of the old BD -- about on par with a Pokemon game. But I agree that they are going to find difficulties attracting the younger audience the site is meant for without doing something.

 

I'm only familiar with a small amount of JumpStart's older software, but they seem to understand the age ranges they're catering to. Let's just hope they don't forget they have a lot of us old geezers still on here. :D

[HomuraAkemiTheHero]

I don't think Neopets is losing players but I'm not sure although I'm fine if more people play but perhaps advertising might help since some kids I talk to don't even know what it is and I think there used to be a tv commercial about the NC mall although it's costly some form of major advertisement might help them gain new players. They also could increase interactivity with the neopets because it would be hard to get the newer users to actually care about their neopets and not just abandon the account after a day.

[lovedwallflower]

Excuse my ignorance here, but what do you mean when you say interaction? Do you mean between players, or between player and pet - and if it's the latter how are other sites doing it that Neopets is not?

[Hert123]

I agree with you that neopets hasn't gotten much new users over the years, but resetting old accounts isn't a good idea. Old accounts are rich and wealthy for a reason: they worked for it. When I started playing in 2006, those accounts were the accounts I looked up to and said: I wanna be like that. (Still not achieved that, though) Getting new players is pretty hard, because there are so many other games with better graphics and different gameplay. Maybe some new advertising helps. Another difficulty is time zones! As an European I kinda feel left out at Neo because everything is focused at America and Canada (nothing wrong with those countries) and in my country I can't even buy Neocash cards or merchandise, even if I wanted to! The worst thing about Neopets is the fact that you have to pay NC aka real money for almost every cool thing to dress your pet up. They really want to take every penny you can get :(

 

About interaction: I think a guide would be a fantastic idea! You could invent a complete plot around it, showing the ropes and showing much of Neopia (not too much), together with their pet! In a lot other games like RuneScape or even World of Warcraft you get a guideline. You need a guideline in Neopia as well because it's pretty big and can be overwhelming.

 

We should tell JumpStart!

[lovedwallflower]

I can't even buy Neocash cards or merchandise, even if I wanted to! The worst thing about Neopets is the fact that you have to pay NC aka real money for almost every cool thing to dress your pet up. They really want to take every penny you can get

 

 

 

Surely that has little to with the number of players neopets has? I mean almost all games and entertainment platforms require some monetary investment - if you play on consoles there are the games and the consoles themselves etc. and that doesn't seem to have set any of those types of games back

[2_crazyman_2]

I love the fact that Neopia is more of a text-adventure than a 3D world. There is pokemon, countless apps, and even WoW (with their new battle pets) for that kind of gaming...Neopets offers something different and I think that makes it unique. Because of its text-limitations, Neopets (atleast used to be) super funny, culturally relevant, ect ect. I do miss that.

 

I think the move to an app is a great way for Neopets to get connected to a younger generation of new players. When I was a kid 12 yrs ago just started to play Neopets, all of my friends used to go on the computer after school. We used to go on MSN chat or ICQ, play games like Neopets, Alien Adoption, ect ect. And when one kid found out about a site, it spread like wild fire. Now, I see my nephews and they are rarely on the computer, opting instead to play on their cellphones. Apps spread the way websites used to spread. My nephews only seem to go to the computer with specific tasks they want to do (like Video creation). Maybe having an app will reach younger new players and bring them into the world of Neopia?

 

Though it is a scary question...can Neopets survive the 2010s? I'm not sure if they can.... :(

[coryldork]

I definitely think Neo will have to move toward mobile apps. I have a feeling they'll do ones with in-game purchases rather than paid ones. Personally, I'd love to see games unique only to apps, or at least available as an app (Sutek's Tomb, anyone?) I can't imagine why they WOULDN'T go in that direction. They'd be able to have another stream of revenue, albeit they'll have to support more programmers for app development and maintenance. But if Neo can't keep up with the transition to mobile gaming as opposed to its current browser-based one, it won't survive through the years.

 

I have seen a decline in players over the years. I've been playing since 2005--right when Viacom had acquired Neo--and, though I enjoyed it, I slowly saw the numbers dwindle. I'm hoping that JumpStart won't focus so heavily on Neocash, since I know that turned a lot of people away from playing. I know that people enjoy it; I'm not hating on it, but it's not my cup of tea, and the fact that such a large number of site features changed to include NC really, really bothered me.

 

Honestly, it would just be nice to be able to play games on my iPad when I'm bored. I get stuck with PHP games when I'd rather be playing Flash games. I have a strong feeling they WILL take that approach. They'd be making a huge mistake if they didn't.

[Azurablue]

If I may, let me to start with point #2 (interaction) first. I love the idea. Simply love it. Is it practical? Not in the least. The sheer amount of coding and graphics to go into a world like that would raise the cost into the stratosphere. Games like Diablo, WoW and Elder Scrolls Online cost millions to develop and it's a huge gamble. If they bomb, they bomb big. It can put a company out of business or seriously damage them. Look at Final Fantasy 11. What a disaster. Square Soft is STILL trying to recover from it and they have one of the most popular RPG franchises going. When people think of RPGs, Square Soft is one of the companies everyone thinks of (besides Bethesda and Blizzard, of course). Yet they put multi-millions into FF11 and got next to nothing out of it. So.... as much as I would adore your idea of walking around a 3D real-time Neopia with my pet(s) at my side in high-resolution graphics, that's not going to be realistic.

 

Point #1 (accessibility): I came to NeoPets over 8 years ago. For 6 of those years, I was a so-so player that only messed around with it when I had some spare time. In the last 2 years, I've been trying to be on every day when possible. I have only been available for a very few "plots": Battle For The Oracle, the Spooky Food Contest and the most recent one, The Coincidence. I didn't even know about plots for the first few years. Hadn't a clue. I deeply regret missing them, especially the Lost Desert, since I'm crazy for things Ancient Egyptian. I asked in the survey if there was some way to re-open them for one month a year so that newcomers and those who simply couldn't be around at the right time would have another chance at them. The answer to that will be a resounding no. It's been addressed many times in the Editorials. They simply haven't the space to do this in. They also are of the opinion that it wouldn't be fair to those who were able to be the the first time. Those players, like you, have a somewhat unique experience. TNT seems to think that no one wants to go backward in time and get a re-do. (I totally disagree with that. I figure most people do.) In real life, you can't go back in time and you can't always get what you want. Sadly. It is very discouraging and means that certain things, like avatars, are forever out of reach. Unfair, but that's how the world runs.

 

So, though I love your thoughts, none of them can come to be, no matter how much we want them. there will always be too many people who want to keep their exclusivity, there will never be enough server space, and there's never enough money or staff to make any of it happen. If they tried, none of us could play for free and none of us could afford the membership fees.

 

What I would like to offer is a suggestion that I should have put in the survey, but didn't think of it until later: a cross-over/time-travel event that is new, yet old as well. Something that could give everyone a shot at the avatars that were exclusive to past plots and items that cannot be bought and sold at all. All the old plots could be revisited without actually having to do the original games and puzzles. New ones would be used instead. The time machine could be a standard feature that only opens once a year for one month and takes you back in time to a past event to play through new puzzles and games related to it. At the end of the month, the score is tallied up and you can choose from a prize menu using prize points that are awarded for completing the month-long game. If they can do the Negg Festival, this can't be that much harder to code.

 

That's my thoughts. Sorry for taking up so much space. :)

[missjustina]

This also worries me /:

I'd love to see a neopets app, and more advertising. I'd love to see merch back into the stores, or Mcdonalds or Burger King toys. I think something like that would definitely bring in more players.

[paperdoll66]

 

 

TNT seems to think that no one wants to go backward in time and get a re-do. (I totally disagree with that. I figure most people do.)

 

I think that a lot of the suggestions people have made about opening up old plots is really overestimating TNT's resources. People would probably be furious if TNT actual did this, because it would mean that a lot of things that they're working on, like the new battledome and new plots, would have to be put on hold. I'd like to play old plots, too, but I just can't see them being able to do them any faster than maybe one a year, and I wouldn't want it in place of new content.

 

One solution to the uncustomized thing that I wish they would implement is purging unused old accounts and giving the pets away through a lottery, kind of like the yearly dream pet giveaway. If they did it anonymously, like by not announcing the pet's name or the name of the winner, I think they could pull it off without too much chaos.

 

A mobile site is something that they definitely need to do.