Neopets & You

[Yuiina]

Hello everyone! 
I'm not sure if there is a topic about this already, and if so I'm sorry (for what I searched I saw nothing)

This post is for you to share with us all about your story with neopets! 
Don't know what to write? I'll give some keypoints to make you start:

When did you first heard of neopets? What made you try it? 
What kept you playing? 
What fascinates you the most about it?
What annoys you about it? 
What was the best thing that ever happened to you while playing? 
How many times were you on hiatus and why did you come back? 

 

So, in resume, tell us about your story in neopets! 
 

[jellysundae]

I don't have the brain power to write loads, but I WILL tell that I joined Neo because of an ad on AOL, that's dates my sign up, doesn't it?

[Trea]

My children got me interested in Neopets, in 2001, I believe.  I was out of work due to disability and bored, so they said, "Hey, Mom, try this new game online!" So I created my first Neopet; Linaert, a blue Kougra.  I have played on and off ever since, the longest break was about 2 years.  I had other pets as well, a Faerie Aisha which I lost when my account was locked, for some reason.  I never found out why, and even though I created a ticket on the issue, never heard back from anyone.  I really loved that pet.  A Faery Aisha is the only plushie I have from Neopets.  I got her as a Christmas present along with a gift card for NC! I have a new Faerie Aisha now.  For years, I mostly played at Advent Calendar time, because I loved the Advent Calendar and all the little stories for each day.  I created my Neohome on Terror Mountain when the 2.0 version came out because I always loved the Advent Calendar. Eventually all my pets on my main account became Christmas, even the petpets! (Obsessive? Maybe!) After I became fully disabled nearly three years ago, I have made it a habit to play every day.  And my 5-year-old grandson loves to help me choose what to feed everyone at the movie theatre. I am still discovering things on Neopets I had never done before!  It is an escape from the real world for a while each day. I love dressing my pets and fixing up their home.  I just did a complete home makeover last fall! I recently discovered Dress to Impress and have a lot of fun with that as well.  I like the fact that you can have side accounts now, and I am very careful to follow the rules. I have one with a home in Faerielanc and one with all pirate pets on Krawk Island.  I've gotten my husband into it too. I do have a few annoyances with the site, such as too many glitched items for Neohome 2.0 and not enough of the items have been converted for use in both versions. (I need curtains and appliances!) I wish they would add the walls, doors and windows to Neohome 2.0. Also, the prices on some items are simply astronomical. (But I'm a persistent shopper.)  And I wish that if you adopt a pet from the Pound, you would be able to change the name.  Ultimately though, I truly enjoy Neopets and I hope it continues for many years to come.

[Angeló]

When did you first heard of neopets? What made you try it? 

in 2000 .. i was still a first year medical student . Young , lonely and abroad. I was watching cable and I had an English-speaking Korean channel called Arirang. I loved their soaps haha. Then this TV show about technology came on and they talked about Neopets being the best virtual pets site. I remembered owning Tamagotchis a couple years earlier. Internet was still dial-up back then. I logged-on and found the site. I've been playing since then. 

What kept you playing? The whole Neopets experience has been positive in my opinion. I joined a guild, made friends, the site was growing ... new species and colors being added all the time ... and the plots started happening ... they kept me hooked. 

What fascinates you the most about it? it's a whimsical world where u have your own pets ... what's not to be fascinated about ?

What annoys you about it? Cheaters .. hackers .. the DOWNTIME RED PTERI :( 

What was the best thing that ever happened to you while playing? 

Sloth giving me a Draik Trans .. meeting friends .. finding this site (TDNF) .. winning contests (Neopian Times , Gallery Spotlight , Caption Contest , Poetry etc)

How many times were you on hiatus and why did you come back? I went on Hiatus two times .. in 2003 but it didn't last long .. then from 2006 to 2008 bcz of my account getting frozen then life issues took over .. i came back in 2008 when my life became a little bit more stable ... 

[rntracy1]

I love this topic.  My 9 yo son got me into Neopets.  He found it on the Nickelodeon site.  I thought it was cute so I made an account too.  We did his the correct way and I gave parent permission etc etc.  We did not fake his birthday.  He loved to challenge me in battledome and I HATED it!  lol.  I am soooooo glad he did that now because I wouldn't have the battledome veteran avatar and trophy if it weren't for him.  It is a bronze trophy, because that's the only time I really battled, but that's ok.  Other than that, I was very naïve as far as neopets.  I had no idea what avatars were, how to display them, that there were plots and events.  It makes me sick to think about all them going on, that I had no idea about, while I was playing games and feeding my pets, thinking that was the extent of neopets.  lol.  I put items in my shop, not knowing about the SW, and probably WAY undersold them.  lol.  If they had no use to me, they went bye bye.  I saved neopoints quite quickly though as I was pretty good at games.  I won a few trophies in the beginning, not really understanding HOW I did it.  I did take some hiatuses, but I guess I logged in just enough to save my account from the BIG PURGE.  

Now, I think I am most fascinated by the battledome, go figure, right.  The thing that bothers me the most is the lag, and when the site goes down at the MOST inopportune times.  

The best thing that has happened I guess was getting some good items in REs.  Off the top of my head, the best one may have been the wraith PB.  But I have gotten very good items in REs while playing NQ2, solitaire, pyramids.  Finding this site was great too. That's when I found out about the great things NP has to offer.  I made some great friends and became part of a fabulous team of very dedicated people.

[sajixx]

When did you first heard of neopets? What made you try it? 
I first played in elementary school, and all my friends were playing it. 

What kept you playing?
I stopped playing in middle school as I got into different games and then got too busy with school and other hobbies. With my new account, I found a great guild that has really helped the site stay alive for me!

What fascinates you the most about it?
How some people can have soooo many neopoints! I'm not any good at restocking, so I'm just slowly saving up from dailies and stuff. Almost to 7 mil. When I was a kid I would have thought that's so much, but nowadays people spend 80 mil on one item!!

What annoys you about it?
When I see people on the boards being mean and angry and negative. It seems so ridiculous to me for such a lighthearted game.

What was the best thing that ever happened to you while playing?
Within the first month of making my new account, I got an FFQ and was able to get my childhood dream pet - a shadow xwee!

How many times were you on hiatus and why did you come back?
Just once - a long hiatus from middle school till I was 22 (2 years ago) and made this account. I made my new account because I had a lot of time to kill at work, and also I was playing a lot of more intense video games and I wanted something more laid back and relaxing. 
 

[altargoblin]

When did you first heard of neopets? What made you try it?: my cousin showed me a neopets magazine when i was in third or fourth grade. i thought it seemed cool, and the rest is history.
What kept you playing?: i think the site is fun. really i just like collecting avatars and restocking. also if you find the right people i think the community can also be really fun to be part of. even though it's a lot smaller now than it was before, i don't think the boards/members are worse in quality for it. it's also a pretty convenient escape from life troubles.
What fascinates you the most about it?: i think i already covered that. i think the collecting aspect of the site is really cool. also, there's just so much to do. i avatar collect, feed kadoaties, write submissions for the neopian times, chat on the boards, and restock occasionally. that's not even close to everything available. i know i'm missing out on huge parts of the site by not participating in any pet-related stuff, for instance
What annoys you about it?: a few things. uhh the idea of people cheating and scamming annoys me. it's not something that i lose sleep over but it just seems kind of sad. i don't get why you'd play if you just wanted to cheat. filters can also be a headache, as can the character limits. after thinking about it for a while, i feel like the site would be less enjoyable overall if people could swear, but i'd be in favor of relaxing the filters a bit for actual item names and stuff like “uncle” or “analyze” or “basement”, you know what i mean? the 400/1400 char limits for the boards/nms also seem really small, but i guess they keep people like me from writing essays like this hahaha.

i also don't like the part of the userbase that's condescending toward people, especially when they're trying to push an argument or make fun of someone who doesn't get something. it almost never makes you look smart or funny or cool. it's usually just mean and kind of puerile.
What was the best thing that ever happened to you while playing?: that's actually tricky. i restocked a golden shell once. that was lit. as for things that have just happened, i don't know. i don't have amazing luck. i got the snowager avatar in 2006 or something on an old account that's since been purged. i also got a magical thornberry chia pop once which was really cool
How many times were you on hiatus and why did you come back?: only once, really. i stopped playing the site for a year once when i was too young to chat on the boards and imo the site's much less fun if you can't talk to other people, but the only actual hiatus i've taken was in mid-/late-2010 or so where i stopped enjoying neopets and just self-iced. i came back in 2017 because i wanted to play neoquest (i'm serious). then i got wrapped back into the site. i'm pretty sure i'm going to leave again for good sometime this year, but i'm not sure when.

[Duma]

When did you first heard of neopets? What made you try it? 

I heard of neopets around the year 2000. My parents never had any dial up internet and around that time we were able to go online. My siblings and me just wanted to have fun playing games. I think it was one of them that told me about neopets, but it's been so long ago! I know we wanted to find a place with lots of different games and Neopets provided that to us. We didn't understand most of it, since we didn't speak English and the site was only available in English back then, but the games were self explaining. I've been a silent player for years, just going online whenever I was bored to play some games. I had no idea what else was there. I never bothered to look.

How many times were you on hiatus and why did you come back? 

Lots of times in the beginning, like I said, I only came online when I was bored. Sometimes I didn't come online for months. But it was my "escape from boredom" site. There were fun and cool games so I never forgot about it. A while ago I had a bit of a prolonged hiatus because of real life stuff happening. I came back again because I missed it really. I don't think I'll ever stop playing entirely. Another hiatus might happen, depending on real life things happening, but I don't see myself ever quitting and not returning.

What kept you playing? 

The sheer amount of games! Later, after telling a friend about the site, my friend basically showed me how much more the site had to offer (I had never participated in any event, didn't read the news or did any dailies). Since then I really got into Neopets, I think that was about 10 years ago. I also found TDN and TDNF and made an account. My friend stopped playing (except for the occasional time, usually when I tell about events/plots) but I enjoy it more then ever! Except for TDNF I'm still a silent player though, collecting all kinds of stuff and just having too many goals to actually be close to completing even one of them
 

What fascinates you the most about it?

I have no clue really. I think the variety it has to offer. There are so many things to do, it doesn't matter what you like or in what period of your life you're in, there will always be something you like doing at that time. It really is a site that gives both young, middle aged and older people entertainment!

What annoys you about it? 

I have to say hackers and dishonest people. The filters are annoying at times, but I wouldn't want them gone. I love how "light" the site is because of them. No swearing or filthy jokes but just decent conversations (mostly anyway). I dislike the unfriendly people that ruin other peoples fun times. My account had been stolen in my latest hiatus and I just can't believe there are people that do that. I'm glad I got it back though!

Thank you TNT for believing me!

What was the best thing that ever happened to you while playing? 

many good and cool things have happened to me, but I think the thing that I will never forget is the time I got a Rock petpet from the wheel of mediocrity. That was around the time that petpets were new. I was SO happy. Since then, to this day, I love Rock petpets!

Other than that I think the best thing that happened to me was finding TDN. It opened a whole new world for me!

 

[Yuiina]

@jellysundae I actually started this topic because of you! I wanted to know more about your story in neopets and then I decided to expand my idea! 
Bit by bit you can do it. 
For example answer one question each week!

 

Hello @Trea, thank you for sharing your story :) 

You're a veteran! Congratulations! 

Sorry that you had your account frozen, that is one thing that I'm terribly afraid of! Even if I don't break any rules, there are people that get frozen for no reason at all and we don't have a fast response from TNT. 
Obssessive? I don't think so! Everyone has a theme they like the most. Some people have only dark/spooky/halloween related pets, some have only babies, some have only maraquan!

 

@Angeló also another veteran!!! 
You heard of neopets from the TV? :O How cool! 
Wow a Draik Transmogrification Potion? That was very lucky!

@rntracy1 unfortunately I do not share your love for Batlledome :( 
But it is sweet that you joined neopest because of your son and played it with him! 

@sajixx well people that have A LOT of free time can restock good items all day, so it is natural to have lots of money! Even though I am as well fascinated by it. I don't really have much money xD 
A FFQ on the first month from a Random Event or from the Faerie Event? 
 

@altargoblin 
Filters and those captchas to visit other people lookup or pets, right?  I would like a more organized forums as well... more than 90% of time, they're a mess. 
Ahh you're gonna leave again? :( 

@Duma There are maaaaany things to do indeed! 
I mean you can have galleries, you can dedicate your time to Shop/Trades/Restocking, you can Battle, you can write, you can feed Kadoaties, you can collect avatars/stamps/decks, you can customize your pets.. you can play games.. and so on! 
You got your account back! Congratulations! I don't find many people that can say the same :( 

 

As for my story, I'll write it another time after someone else replies! 
The post is already huge as it is!

[Hanso]

When did you first hear of neopets? What made you try it? 

Back when Neopets was at its peak everyone at my school started playing it. I wanted to play so bad (after all the concept of owning a "virtual pet" was fascinating to me) but my family didn't own a computer at the time, so all I could do was hear everyone gushing over the site. The Neopets craze died down pretty quickly, however.

Fast forward 3 years, I'm at an Internet café  when I suddenly remember this pet site everyone used to talk about. I find it, but I don't understand how the heck I'm supposed to play (partially because I was technologically illiterate back then :P) so I just forget about it for a while. I believe that was in 2008 'cause I remember seeing a marquee with King Roothless in it.

 A year later I decide to give it another try and what do you know, I succesfully create my first account.

What kept you playing? 

The worldbuilding and the immense variety of things the site had to offer. There was always something to do and there were tons of updates that kept me hooked. Now I just play out of habit. Nostalgia is another big factor too.

What fascinates you the most about it?

That it's still alive. That's no small feat, although it's all thanks to the loyal userbase and not because of JS/TNT.

I also love the old artwork. I'm a sucker for artwork.

What annoys you about it? 

The lack of new original artwork.

How many times were you on hiatus and why did you come back? 

I think just once. My account had a fake birthday and one day when I was trying to log in I was asked for it but I couldn't remember it, so I just stopped playing for a few months. I didn't mind at first since I was bored with the lack of updates, but eventually I sent a ticket and got my account back.

 

 

[altargoblin]

@Yuiina true on captchas, forgot about those. they're really annoying. wow i never thought about that but more organized forums would be a cool idea. i don't like the current neoboard layout. what do you imagine with that? like, what specifically would you change?

and yeah, i think i'm going to leave before the year's over. i don't enjoy neopets that much anymore, or at least not right now. i pretty much stay on to talk to friends and occasionally write nt articles. but every time i say that, i end up wavering and staying on at the last minute, haha. so i'll see before i actually commit to leaving. i'm at least staying on until the plot's over, so people will (unfortunately?) have to deal with me until then :~p

[jellysundae]

Ok, I need to try and get my brain to behave and let me share something in here, lol.

*sits and stares at screen*

I'm trying to remember what I did on Neo back then. I know I didn't explore a whole lot. I used to play Neggsweeper a lot, I won a magical Poogle toy from that and played with one of my pets with it and found out why they were called magical toys, oops! I didn't know about the fan sites back then so I didn't know to investigate items to find out what they did!

I know my Nimmo used to get depressed if I made him fight in the BD so I only ventured in there a few times.

I spent a lot of time looking for an 18+ guild because I didn't want to deal with a load of 11 year olds, lol, so I joined the Purkle Couch and met a big bunch of awesome people and had a lot of fun. Incidentally, whilst stalking the Money Tree recently I spotted a donation from one of the people I knew from the Couch and sent her a NM and we have a very nice chat

The Couch as a whole started drifting away from Neo after a few people in the guild discovered Gaia and signed up over there. The main draw wasn't the avatars but the forum set up, being able to have a separate thread for each conversation was just amazing! lol. Once the majority of us has joined Gaia a few investigated other avatar sites (which were springing up like weeds during the noughties) and while we were still playing on Neo, we were communicating on these avatar sites because it was so much easier, and dressing up avatars was fun! This being before your pets could be customised.

It was around this time (I'm gonna say 2005 or 6 maybe) that I lost access to my Neo account, my password stopped working from one day to the next. I couldn't reset it because I no longer had access to the AOL email that I'd signed up with. I can't remember what I did then, maybe I just shrugged it off because I was far more into the avatar sites by then. I did send a ticket at one point, but I didn't have an account to send it from so I don't understand how I managed that! But nothing came of it anyway so. *shrugs*

I came back to Neo a few years ago because of my MS, really. It's very hard for me to learn new things now, so it seemed a good idea to come back to something I already knew, and playing the games and so on is exercising my brain and highly recommended for people in my situation. It's certainly not much fun when I can no longer manage a lot of games that I used to be pretty good at before, for ones like Shapeshifter that I was VERY good at before and now I can't even understand how to play it it's particularly tough, but I still find a lot to keep me occupied (Neo is basically all I do) so I'm super glad that I came back.

Even more glad that I signed up here and met you guys because you're basically the only people I have any contact with these days.

[Yuiina]

@altargoblin The layout is very outdated and there are too many posts about the same thing! They could stick to one. It's more than natural for that to happen without moderators and rules. 
In my opinion it is bad because, for example: one person that is asking for help for something in particular makes a post and if other 5 people post at the same time it'll be easily forgotten. 
So no help for that fellow! 
Hard to explain why I don't like it. I just don't like it. 

I think that your friends will love to have to deal with you for a long time

 

As for my story, 
it started around 9 years ago. 

I received a phone for my birthday and there was a game already installed similar to mario! It was a lutari instead  I enjoyed the game so I went looking for more games from that brand. I discovered then the site itself! 
I created a female Uni as my first pet and my goal was to paint it Faerie ... I just had no idea HOW back then ahahah 
Created another Uni as her brother and started to develop a story for them. 
I don't really remember what happened.. but I think that I wanted another name for my pets and I had no clue that you could trade or pound pets.. so noob back then , that I created my current main account!
I was on a looooooooong hiatus, around 5-6 years! I decided to check neopets back because of nostalgia mainly. 
All these modern things... cartoons, games.. so much "digital" that I felt the need to come back. 
I, luckily, was able to enter my account! And I've learned soooo sooo soooo much since I came back around 1 year ago. I can tell that now I'm truly enjoying neopets! 

What I like to do the most ... hmmm ... neopets have lots of things to do. I think that creating my pets and giving them stories and personalities is what I like the most! 
I also am trying to finish my neoHome since I'm back, shameful that it's taking more than a year  But few variety of items to work with and glitched things doesn't help at all. 
And after I'm done with the house, who knows when , I'll dedicate my time improve my gallery dedicated to my favorite faerie of them all!

I'm very attached and caring to my pets so NO BATTLE, NO TRADE, NO POUND! 

Things that I don't like in neopets:
- Shortage of NP wearables / There could be at least simple pieces with several colors like Shirts, Pants, Hats but not even that.
- Habitarium is no longer available / I loved that game so much
- Late news and few contact from TNT with the community / 8 years back was very different from now
- Glitched items 
- Old accounts not getting deleted / Or at least they could make the names available again by sending the pets to the pound 
- Those filters and captchas 

[sajixx]

@Yuiina The FFQ was a grey faerie reward from the faerie event, and I actually ended up getting a second one as well, because I rejoined right at the beginning of the event, so I was able to get a faerie xwee too. I couldn't believe my luck!

[evervast]

ah, i love these =D
((woops i wrote a ton. as usual)) xp

 

When did you first heard of neopets? What made you try it?
when it was just beginning, back when i was 9 and they were still preparing to release the site, they sent out a bunch of emails to people advertising it so theyd have an audience once it did release. my mom was one of those people who got the email, and showed it to me because ive always loved pets and this type of thing was interesting to me. it looked like revolutionary concept ((well, 9-year-old-me just said 'that sounds awesome!')) and once it released and i joined, and made my first pet, i was immediately hooked. thereve been a ton of long hiatuses since then, and boy a ton of other petsites too, but i keep coming back here.
What kept you playing?
...... my characters, at first. i felt such an immense connection to my first pet, shriek the yellow wocky ((ive since lost him and the other originals -weeps-)), i ignored school for a while and could think of nothing else lol. many more pets would come after that. i dont think i understood at the time, but i think thats when i discovered my innate love of character creation... i remember sitting at the screen one day and staring at that yellow 'adopt a pet!' button on the original sidebar, yet again, and thinking to myself 'dont do it... dont do it... this must be what addiction feels like.' lol i knew i had a problem even way back then XD
its always been the characters, but i think since its rooted in such an early stage of my brains development, i also grew to associate impressive neopets things with my own self-esteem ((among other things, dont worry lol))... i keep coming back to make cool CSS, build my wealth painfully slowly lol, and now ive gotten pretty invested in NC customization. =)
i USED to spend all day with my habitarium, but, you know. -salty- B(
 

What fascinates you the most about it?
the character creation! tho i think its the ultimate form of self-expression, i actually dont really like that part for myself lol, im pretty reclusive, but i still appreciate it more than most things in life. even moreso than self-expression, i think its the ultimate method of growing and learning vicariously through the characters' experiences. i really, really, really, really, really love seeing all the different characters people come up with, and what they do with them. its one of my favorite things in the world. ^o^
What annoys you about it?
...... the death of it. =(
the coding is so broken, so many aspects of the site are just clunky and awkward and outdated almost as if its been abandoned ((which is frightening)), and the censorship rules are so ridiculous they defeat their own purpose and make me scared to be part of the forums ((not to mention i am NOT g-rated usually, i wish neopets appreciated the rougher things in life more)), and the website is notorious for bad 'customer' service and im always afraid ill be frozen for no reason ((like many people have been)) and lose everything forever, and they took away the habitarium... things like that. its sad. =(
on a lighter note, a thing that annoys me about it is how tedious and slow it is to make money. maybe im just doing it wrong, but it takes me FOREVER to make money. if it werent for trudys surprise id be in the gutter, even if i didnt like the gutter. ive gotten pretty far with it by now, so im starting to get my snowball rolling, but still, dang. XD
 

What was the best thing that ever happened to you while playing?
woah, ever?? uuuuh, almost 20 years is a long time lol....
uuhm, well when i was a roleplaying kid i had some ((irl-))character-building adventures with other roleplayers... but thats pretty vague and, you know. there was one time i was completely stupid and decided to put my second-ever pet in the pound so i could get a pet with a 'better name,' but afterward i felt like serious garbage and changed my mind, but by then he was already adopted, so i absolutely hated myself, but then i managed to get him back. i had spent that night crying ((i really love my charas dont judge me lol)), and then i was so relieved i vowed to never to do that again. it was traumatic at the time haha. man i miss them... my floppy disc that had all my passwords saved on it got corrupt one day so i ended up losing them all in the end, which was gutwrenching, but theyre still in my mind. ='p sentimental fool xp
OH!! i dunno if this counts for you but it counts for me lol... i was always invested in making my pets profiles look good, even before css was technically allowed ((lol im glad TNT didnt see me trying)), so im always fiddling with them... then one day i came up with a layout i was absolutely in love with, and slaved for ever ((sometimes losing sleep for it, sleep i needed for college classes the next days lol)), fighting the insane neo-coding to get it to work just right, and finally it was perfect... but then i realized it was all for nothing because id never be able to actually use it because there was a character limit on pet profiles. it was a terrible feeling. but then i did some even craftier tinkering and finally it WORKED. it was literally a childhood dream come true. tho theyre ultimately nothing of real significance, i am SO proud of their profile layout <3
((tho im aware cryptophasia's really... really needs some better color-scheming. yeesh. i was going for fresh and cheery but jeez.))
edit..OH! this is another thing that was really special to me how it happened. blackbolts eyes! im addicted to the wonderclaw machine ((when i have money for it lol)), and one day i chilled out and used up all my tokens on the various machines, getting lots of cool stuff, but then i found the stormy ombre contacts, and they were PERFECT for bb, and they were available in the wonderclaw machine too... but by then i was completely out of tokens. i was like feh. but then i hopelessly checked my SDB for more, and i just happened to have a pack in there, so i went and played it and it was the most beautiful machine with the most beautiful music and the air in my room was cool and breezy and beautiful, and everything was so peaceful... and i put the token in, and on my very first try i got the eyes. i felt blessed haha. x'3
i know this makes my post obnoxiously long but... it was a very nice moment, it was like everything was aligned just right. i wanted to include it. BP
and thats how blackbolt got his eyes. =)
How many times were you on hiatus and why did you come back?
lol, lots of times. sometimes i lost some accounts due to lost passwords and the like, but also you just sort of drift away from things. the mind and spirit just wanders sometimes. needs to experience different things every so often, or else its like a tiger in a tiny cage. but, again, probably because it took root in my mind at such a young age, i just sort of associate this place with self-esteem and a sort of home... i rather grew up with the place afterall. literally, in many cases. i just sorta find myself coming back sooner or later. =p
and i also always just sort of assume itll always be here... im scared for neopets future, i hope its owners dont just dump it like a forgotten old used-up disney franchise, but i still dream of like, spending my old age being able to just chill out and be epic-1337 on neopets still. imagine what another 30 or 40 years would accumulate here, man. =p

Edited February 14, 2018 by evervast
wanted to add something xp

[deboratibi]

I've been meaning to post here! I really enjoyed reading everyone's stories  So, here's mine:

When did you first heard of neopets? What made you try it?
It was in 2005, after reading about it in a blog. I tried it because I was obsessed with Dress Up games at the time, as well as any kind of simulation or create-your-own-whatever games.
 
What kept you playing?
I thought the pets were really cute, and when I found out you could make them even cuter with certain paint brushes, I felt motivated to try and obtain one! (Remember when paint brushes were such a big deal? Sometimes I miss being a newbie, lol. I would actually take the time to groom my pets and select what I was going to feed them. I thought it was wrong to feed them nothing but omelettes )

I also enjoyed the flash games, and slowly discovered other things the site had to offer. 

What fascinates you the most about it?
I'm fascinated by how much there is to do on it. If you get tired of one thing, there's always something else. But also, like someone said, the fact that it's still alive also fascinates me xD

What annoys you about it?
In general, I'm annoyed by the neoboards. Especially when there's drama and/or trolling. But more recently, I've been annoyed by the current management. So that means the glitches, the lack of professionalism, the TWR plot in its entirety, and the terrible graphic design:

*dies inside*

What was the best thing that ever happened to you while playing?
It's hard to say! Some of the most memorable things to me were: buying my first paint brush (a Spotted one for my Xweetok); getting my first FFQ (it was on my side account, and I got myself a Pirate Hissi - back when the Pirate PB and MPs were still a big deal); restocking my first unbuyable, which was a stamp worth a few million NPs (I only managed that thanks to the lag, lol); finding out that certain things weren't impossible (for example: kadding and earning game trophies). Oh, and finally being accepted into the Caption Contest!

Edit: I remembered one more thing! Winning the userlookup spotlight. I was so proud of myself! lol
 
How many times were you on hiatus and why did you come back?
I can't remember exactly... I know I took a few hiatuses, but those never lasted too long (the longest one probably lasted a few months). I came back because I never actually thought about quitting. Even when I self froze my first account, I wasn't going to quit - I just wanted to start over.

[Ruffimutt]

How I discovered Neopets is a bit odd to say the least. Instead of finding Neopets through the site, I discovered it simply by being exposed to the merchandise. When I was around 6 years old, my mom got me a starry Gelert toy as well as a voice-activated Scorchio. I had no idea what Neopets was, but my older brother who was 11 probably did and that's how I assume my mom found the toys. The starry Gelert had been one of my favorite toys throughout childhood, and sometimes I still wonder if it is in storage or I sold it with many of my other toys. As I grew into a small child (8-11) I was exposed to the Nickelodeon era of Neopets, so it was impossible to go into a toy store without seeing the merchandise. I remember I bought a rainbow Wocky and Chomby with a code on their tag, and that's when I made my first Neopets account. I probably ended up making 10 different accounts over the years playing off and on, each time after about a month I would get bored and forget about it.

The reason I am into Neopets as much as I a am now is due to a post I saw on an anthropomorphic facebook group. Someone posted “What is your favorite Neopet species?” It felt like I had a lightbulb go off in my head, I hadn’t heard that name for so long I honestly figured it died out. I googled “Neopet star dog” and found a Starry Gelert. I commented saying Gelerts was my fave, and then I started to think. Why not try Neopets again? I have a lot of spare time now since I am healing from a foot surgery and my classes are online.. I can just play it when I do not have work due. I did a password reset on one of my old accounts and as I started to play, I realized that Neopets was actually pretty fun. It wasn’t just for kids, in fact, many things in Neopets would anger parents today.

Funny thing is about this whole story.. is now that I regularly play Neopets, Jetsam and Hissi are my favorites!