Xepha Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Online magazine The Escapist has focused this week on pay-to-play games online, and Christina González has written a fairly indepth peice charting the development of Neopets' implementation of financial gain - from banner ads to the NC Mall. It's quite an interesting peice, and includes some quotes from Neopets Senior VP and General Manager Kyra Reppen about how they hope to make money from the various things implemented over the last few months. To have a read, just head on over here. - TDN's December Scavenger Hunt Prizes - On another note, we would like to thank everyone who participated in The Daily Neopets December Scavenger Hunt... However, we have some bad news: our donations account was frozen and we've lost all of our prize items and neopoints. Therefore we're sorry to say, we are going to have to cancel the prize portion of the hunt. We hope you had fun hunting for those petpets, but we can no longer support our funds. Please do not send any items or offer to donate anything, we have been asked by Neopets NOT to collect donations any longer and we would like to respect that. Again, thanks for participating, we hope this isn't a major inconvenience. Users are being contacted by Neomail with this same message, this is just a general announcement for everyone and those who couldn't receive the Neomail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruto Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 :O Oh no! What rule was that account violating? I thought I remember TNT saying that donation accounts for a guild was fine. What's the difference when it comes to fan sites? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superfly Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Not sure exactly. =/ But we are respecting their decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest xintolerance Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Well the scavenger hunt was still fun. That is a bummer about the prizes though. :guiltysmiley: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superfly Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Yea, our full apologies to everyone. :( Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike. Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Gah. I just finished reading the article. I hate Viacom. I wish we could do something about their little tyranny, but we can't. Oh well. xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOOM Bringer Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Ah well, as long as everybody had fun then I guess that's what really matters. I didn't complete it anyway :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest xintolerance Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 It was fun no matter what. They can't take that away! :laughingsmiley: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strategos Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Actually, they like us to have fun. Otherwise, we'd all be in Iceland, since we always have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Good point. And Viacom is a big company... big companies are almost always the cocky, arrogant type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannerz Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Well the sad part is, commercialization is inevitable for a site expanding as Neopets has. While Adam and Donna originally did promise no banners/paid services, the amount of prospective revenue such a site can generate is rather staggering, and it would take a saint to resist cashing in. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Maybe even more than a saint. Another problem is that it takes a big company's resources to support something as large as Neopets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejsfifield Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 I actually don't know how they could run this site for the most part as free anyway. I don't blame them for having to charge for some stuff or run banner ads in the very least. It's a real shame that the tdn donations account was frozen though. That just doesn't seem right. However, I don't feel so bad for not finding that very last petpet though. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HBK Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Yup, I decided to read the article, and here are my conclusions: A company as big as Viacom cannot afford to lost revenue, so they are introducing products, be them virtual or real, into the Neopets website. The NC Mall is an example of a virtual investments. They hope that the emotional investments made by us (the players) will convert into financial gains - which is a quote from 'The Escapist'. Sure, people are whining and complaining, but the truth is, since Viacom purchased Neopets, the site has been going downhill a bit. Oh well. Let's hope 2008 brings some good investments. Regarding TDN's frozen account, it's another example of TNT injustice, unless the donation account was used for something illegal, which I doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike. Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 What I don't like is that we were frozen for something that could happen. We haven't done anything wrong in the past nor will be ever. TNT really needs to edit this donation/contest rule for big sites or something of the sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Maybe they should clarify their Terms & Conditions? Or am I one of the few people who actually bothers to read them? :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOOM Bringer Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I've read the T & C, but only after TDN_Donations got frozen. I only checked to see if we really had broken the rules :D I gathered the rules from common sense and from editorial answers. When I read the T & C, nothing surprised me in there, I knew it all already... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Although you're supposed to read the T&C as soon as you join the site. :P But still, I don't think they were justified in freezing the donations account. Oh well, life goes on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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