Jump to content

Neopets

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Squids and Chips (talk | contribs) at 01:32, 6 November 2007 (+ cite). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article uses the word "Neopets" to refer to three different things: the website, the virtual pets, and the company.
For the company, see Neopets, Inc.
Neopets
File:Neopets logo.png

File:Neopets-homepage.png
Screenshot of the Neopets homepage as of April 26, 2007.
Developer(s)Neopets, Inc.
Publisher(s)Neopets Inc.; Viacom Inc
Platform(s)Cross-platform
ReleaseUnited States November 15, 1999
Genre(s)Fantasy
Mode(s)Single-player with multiplayer interaction.

Neopets (originally NeoPets) is a virtual pet website launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on November 15, 1999.[1] Six months after the web site was launched, Adam Powell and Donna Williams successfully sold a majority share to a consortium of investors led by Doug Dohring. On 20 June 2005, Viacom bought Neopets, Inc. for $160 million (USD).[2] Neopets consistently ranks as one of the top stickiest sites.[3]

Neopets is based around the eponymous virtual pets that inhabit the virtual world of Neopia. Visitors can create an account and take care of up to four virtual pets, buying them food, toys and other accessories using a virtual currency called Neopoints. Neopoints can be earned through playing games, investing in the stock market, trading and winning contests. Users can explore the world of Neopia with their Neopets and interact with each other through the NeoBoards, Neomail, and guilds.

In addition to the main site, Neopets also operates a free, simpler version called Neopets Jr. for users under the age of 8 and a pay-to-play version known as Neopets Premium, which offers additional features and benefits for a monthly fee of $7.99. Several issues with the site, such as immersive advertising, gambling-based games, and hacks and glitches have garnered criticism.

History

See also: Neopets, Inc.

Neopets was launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on November 15, 1999 from an idea Powell had in 1997.[1] By Christmas of that year, they were receiving 600,000 page views and found themselves running out of money trying to maintain the site.[4] The same month, Doug Dohring was introduced to the creators of the site[5] and, along with other investors, bought a majority share in January of the following year.[4] Neopets, Inc. was then created by Dohring in February 2000. The website was later made profitable after he brought in its first paying customers for an advertising method known as "immersive advertising",[5] touted as "an evolutionary step forward in the traditional marketing practice of product placement" in television and film.[6]

Media conglomerate Viacom later bought Neopets, Inc. on June 20, 2005 for $160 million.[2] The entire site was revamped on April 27, 2007, referred to as Neopets 2.0 in the Neopets FAQ.[7] On July 17, 2007, the NC Mall was launched[8] in a partnership with Korean gaming company Nexon Corporation.[9] On July 18, 2007 Viacom announced on their website that by the end of 2008, Neopets would be changing to NeoStudios, "which will focus on developing new virtual world gaming experiences online, while continuing to grow and evolve the existing ones."[10]

After the changes in ownership, the site still retained its British English spellings.[4] To date, since August 2003, the site has been translated into ten other written languages: Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Dutch.[11]

Gameplay

Visitors to the site can create a free account. After creating an account, a user creates a Neopet, choosing the name, gender, colour, species, and personality of the Neopet[12] and may own up to four Neopets per account. A newly created pet comes with randomly rolled stats, used for battling in the Battledome. Players need to feed and care for their Neopets, as Neopets can grow hungry and get sick, although they will not die if they are neglected.[13] New users start out with a newbie pack which includes various items. Users can get more items for their Neopets by earning Neopoints, the site's currency, through various activities including playing games and selling items.

Users can interact with their Neopets by reading books to them and playing with them. Players can train their Neopets to be fighters in the Battledome, customize them or collect items for their own collections. The Battledome is where a player's Neopet can fight against another player's Neopet or non-player characters (NPCs). Petpets also have a similar battle arena where only NPCs may be challenged. Each NPC has a different difficulty. Awards can also be won for fighting in the Battledome against NPCs. For instance, when going against Punchbag Bob a player will receive a trophy when defeating him.

A Neohome that can be customized

Players can also choose to build a Neohome for their Neopets. Neohomes can be built after a user buys a plot of land, which vary in price depending on the location.[4] Each room costs Neopoints to build, and furniture may be put in and arranged. Players may also build gardens and furnish them. Extensions such as lighting, flooring, and insurance can also be purchased. Players may try to win awards for their Neohomes or collections. The address of a Neohome can only be changed after demolishing all rooms and/or gardens and selling the address back to the bank.

Players can choose to collect certain virtual items and display them in a gallery. They may also collect collectible cards, trading cards (not to be confused with the actual Neopets trading cards), stamps, coins, and sea shells, and display them in albums. In addition to items, players can also collect avatars and site themes, although there is no function to display all of them.

Users found breaking the rules set in the Terms and Conditions may have their account suspended or "frozen", a temporary or permanent block.

Site content

The site itself includes a navigation bar along the top of the page with links to various sections of the site. The navigation bar also includes an in-game clock set to Neopian Standard Time. When logged in, there are pet and Neofriend modules on the left side of the page, which displays the current status of a player's active pet and which Neofriends are online, respectively. By default, the site theme is Neopets Yellow and users may customize this with other default site themes or site themes they unlock as they explore the site.

The content of the site is updated frequently, almost on a daily basis, with the addition of new games and items, weekly content, and other things.[14] In addition to the site content updated by Neopets, players also add to the content of the site. Player contributions come in the form of contests, spotlights, and editable content.

Environment

See also: Neopia

Neopets is set in the persistent world of Neopia that uses a Gregorian calendar set in Neopian Standard Time, a timezone concurrent with Pacific Time.[15] Neopia has its own economy and uses a currency called Neopoints and has its own stock market.[16]

File:Neocharge.jpg
The NeoCharge display (an April Fools' joke) along with discussion on the NeoBoards

As the world of Neopia has a calendar and the site is updated almost daily, Neopets also includes special days and events. These days include special days concurrent with and equivalent to special real world days and special days only found in Neopia, such as special pet days or holidays.[17] Special events include April Fools hoaxes, the Altador Cup, and the Christmas Advent Calendar.

The planet includes various worlds and mini-worlds with their own themes. Each of these worlds or regions has unique shops, games, and other activities based on its theme.[18] Each world may contain several different regions; for example, the world Terror Mountain has three parts: Happy Valley, Ice Caves, and Terror Mountain, each home to different attractions.

On June 24 2006, the map was updated so that players could access the previously unseen side of the planet Neopia.[19] However, not every world is accessible from the map on the site. Lutari Island, a tribal-themed world, is only accessible after signing up to Neopets Mobile, which is a pay service for accessing Neopets on a mobile phone. Jelly World[1] is the only world in Neopia inaccessible via the main world map, as the existence of Jelly World is consistently denied by the Neopets staff as a joke, despite its existence and all references to it.

Occasionally, players may interact with the happenings of Neopia through plots. Plots are storylines that revolve around events that occur in the virtual world of Neopia (as opposed to the site itself). Major Neopets plots usually are advanced in a comic book-style form, which is used as a springboard for player participation. This participation may include solving puzzles, playing games, and fighting opponents in the Battledome. Depending on the activity, players may find themselves working with or competing against other players in real time. Players receive prizes for their participation at the end of every plot. The time it takes to reward participants with these prizes has sometimes been considerable, as the scoring of varied steps for a large number of players is a complex task.

Neopets

Neopets are also the cartoon-like primary inhabitants of the world of Neopia. In total, there are 54 different species of Neopets, some of which may be limited edition or restricted.[20] Users can choose the name, gender, colour, species, and personality of the Neopets they create[12] and may own up to four Neopets per account. Neopets can also be abandoned or adopted at the Pound. Users can paint them different colours with the use of Paint Brushes, potions, or other means. They may also customise their Neopets with clothing, backgrounds, and other accessories. Users can interact with their Neopets in different ways, including feed them, play with them, and having them battle other Neopets or NPCs in the Battledome. During April Fools Day, fake Neopets might be added as a joke.

Neopets may own pets called Petpets. Like Neopets, Petpets have levels and can also be painted a variety of colours, albeit with their own Petpet paintbrushes. They are found in petpet shops all over Neopia. Some variations include Slorg, Feepit, Babaa, and the Meepit. Petpets are capable of doing some actions their Neopet owner cannot, such as waking up the Turmaculus (a giant Petpet that may eat a user's Petpet) and jump in the "Mysterious Symol Hole". Petpets were once able to assist users in Battledome fights, but this option has been retired. Occasionally, a petpet will appear of its own accord and assist its owner in a fight. However, Petpets now have their own battle arena, called the "Petpet Battle Arena". Petpets are also featured in various games, like Extreme Herder, Petpet Cannonball, and Hasee Bounce.

Petpets can have their own pet, called Petpetpets, bug-like creatures that live on the Petpet. They are found through rare random events and can be sold for Neopoints or attached to the main Neopets Petpet. Petpetpets cannot be removed from a Petpet but will disappear if the Petpet is removed from the Neopet. Petpetpets serve very little purpose other than to have fun, but some like the Mootix or Moach can give a user an Avatar. Some games on the site, such as "Mootix Drop" and "Cooty Wars", are based on Petpetpets.

Economy

The Neopian economy is a mixed economy with the Neopoint as its smallest denomination, but mostly a capitalist economy on the player's side with capital gains.[21] There are various other forms of currency used in-game that can be sold for Neopoints. Players can earn Neopoints through playing games, selling items, and other transactions.[21][22] Once earned, they can be saved in the bank, used to buy items from other players or NPC shops, used to buy and sell stocks in the Neopian stock market called the Neodaq, or used to buy various other things.[22]

Players can buy items from shops found throughout the world of Neopia, which are run by non-player characters that allow haggling. In addition to the regular shops, players can open their own shops to sell items, sometimes after obtaining those items at a lower price from sources, such as other shops. One may also exchange items at the trading post or use the auction house. The worth of an item is not only based on its use value, but also its rarity.[21] . Player-run shops have prices fixed by the seller and can only sell items up to 99,999 Neopoints; any items with a price over 99,999 Neopoints must be traded using either the Trading Post or the Auction House.

With the introduction of the NC Mall, players may also exchange real money for Neocash, used exclusively for the NC Mall. However, Neopoints cannot be exchanged for Neocash and vice versa. This was to keep Neopets fair.[23]

Games

There are over 150 active games on the website.[24] Many are similar to older existing games[25] — for example, "Meerca Chase" is very similar to Snake, while "Korbat's Lab" and "Frumball" are like Breakout and Arkanoid. Before November 22, 2006 the games were divided into three categories: Puzzle, Action, and Luck/Chance. On November 22, the Games Room was revamped and now games are divided into many more categories.[26] Various games and activities include Flash and Shockwave games, PHP games, a 3D Life Player game, contests and spotlights, and quests.

Players can earn Neopoints from games, some of which have a set maximum of earnings or playtime. Players may also earn trophies for their trophy cabinet from games if they score high enough for the Hi-Score Tables, which are reset on the first day of each month. In addition to this, players may also challenge another player or enter a "World Challenge", competing against random players for a prize piece, for certain Flash games. A monthly competition also exists for multiplayer PHP games with four week-long elimination rounds, but the winners are awarded trophies.

Neopets offers several different contests and spotlights, where winners are chosen by judges on the Neopets staff or voted on by members of the Neopets. Contests include writing contests, such as those for poetry and storytelling, puzzle solving and game contests, art contests, short film contest, and a "Random Contest". In addition to contests, spotlights are where users can showcase their pets, petpets, Neohomes, galleries, and user-made levels for certain games. Winners also receive a trophy and a reward, which varies with the contest or spotlight.

Quests are tasks where the user must retrieve certain items for a non-player character in exchange for a reward. Faerie Quests are given out through random events while browsing the site, while the user may volunteer for other quests.

User-generated content

Users also contribute to the content of the site in forms such as the site's weekly electronic newspaper Neopian Times and their own user lookup.[27]

Several contests and spotlights allow users to submit their own works. The content of these submissions are prescreened for appropriateness before placed on the site. Such contests include creative writing, visual art, and short films. Spotlights also include user-generated content.

In addition to prescreened content, players have several readily editable pages. Every user has a user lookup that they can edit with their own code. Descriptions for their Neopets are also editable and each pet has their own petpage, a homepage for the Neopet. Player-owned shops and galleries also allow customisation. As with other readily editable content viewable by other members of the Neopets community, such as NeoMail, these pages are filtered for inappropriate content.

Community

Neopets has a community in which users can chat with and contact each other by private "NeoMail" (on-site e-mail) or on public "NeoBoards", which are more like chat rooms than Internet forums. Users may also request other users to be Neofriends or block other users from contacting them. Players are represented by small icons known as avatars. Players cannot upload their own avatars and must use those provided by the website.

As with all Internet communities, there is risk in giving out personal information to strangers. Players under 13 years of age cannot access any of the site's communication features.[28] They must fax or mail a document stating parental consent, with the parent's signature, to the Neopets headquarters, to comply with COPPA.

Guilds

Users with similar interests can create or join a guild, which usually revolve around a theme, such as battling in the Battledome, or non-Neopets themes such as those for the fans of real-world celebrities or animal-lovers. Some guilds are dedicated to certain causes or goals, such as helping poor Neopians and/or new players, adopting the abandoned Neopets in the pound, collecting avatars, role-playing, and so on. Players are only allowed to be a member of one guild.

There are message boards inside the guilds, accessible only to their members. Some guilds are private, which makes the guild not show up in any guild searches, and a player would need an invitation from someone in the guild to join. Some guilds also have corresponding external websites (many times on petpages) to share information that usually includes their rules and other things about the guild. Other guilds will make an off-site guild page for everyone to access.

File:Neopetsplotboard.PNG
Screenshot of NeoBoards homepage. Note that this screenshot is taken on the 3rd of July, following the release of the new board layout.

NeoBoards

NeoBoards are public discussion boards. Discussions on these message boards must be Neopets-related and may not involve topics such as dating and romance, politics, and religion. 24/7 moderation is performed by paid Neopets staff members.[28] Users can help moderate the site by reporting messages they believe are inappropriate or offensive.[28] A filter also prevents users from posting messages with profanity or lewd content,[28] though the filter cannot capture typographical errors intentionally placed by spammers and scammers, and some questionable posts still appear. Premium users also have access to a private Premium NeoBoard.

Periodically, new boards will appear and disappear as new plots are developed. Once the plot is complete and prizes for the plot have been awarded the board is taken away.

On the NeoBoards, players can enter 'neoHTML' (Neopets HTML) in their Chat Preferences to use a font on the NeoBoards that is not the default font. These fonts can become very elaborate; designs such as a piano keyboard and a Mootix (a Neopets Petpetpet) are shows of players' creativity. Players often use fonts to match their avatar.

On July 3, 2007, the NeoBoards began displaying the active pet of a user with his or her post, and the heading of the page was modified in several ways, including the addition of a new advertisement.

The neoboards are off-limit to users under age 13, however they are allowed to have parents fill out a permission form allowing neoboards use. These have advantages as many users use it to advertise for their contest entries, lend/be lent items, haggle on trades, and much more.

NeoMail

NeoMail is a personal in-game communication system, much like regular email. Players can write messages to other players or make "Neofriends", to whom they can send items from their inventory or make private auctions for. There is an option for users to only receive Neomails from their Neofriends. For many reasons, Neomail messages are monitored, and players cannot write to another player who is under the age of 13. However, if the person under 13 has parental permission to play on the site, users are able to send them a Neomail. Users may also block people who they do not want to come in contact with.

The website automatically "censors" Neomails, and disallows foul and/or inappropriate language. If users include inappropriate language in their Neomail, it will not go through to the intended receiver. They are redirected to a page that explains why their Neomail is unacceptable, also giving them the option of going back to the Neomail and fixing it. Users are also unable to send any Neomails with the word "username", "password", or anything related.

Neopets also has a "limit" on the number of Neomails that can be sent in a day, or more so, in a certain span of time. This is to prevent the server from slowing down and spamming. Users can save up to 100 Neomails in their inboxes. Users may also save Neomails for up to ninety days in a save folder. This is to make sure the database can handle the amount of users and mail.

Pay features

There are certain features on Neopets that require a user to pay some amount of real money, including the Neopets Premium, Neopets Mobile, and use of the NC Mall.

Neopets Premium

Neopets Premium is an extended version of the site, for which members pay $7.99 (US) a month, or $69.95 (US) a year. Different packages may be purchased which include Premium, such as dial-up internet service. With Premium membership, external ads are removed and certain benefits are added, like extra Neopoints (2,500 NP for signing up and 1,000 NP for each additional month), a neomail.com e-mail address, a customizable portal, more random events, a special message board avatar that is unavailable to non-Premium members, Premium-only boards, a weekly "Space Faerie" scratch card, and access to beta versions of games. In addition, Premium users have access to a Super Shop Wizard that searches the entire site for the cheapest items in user-run shops instead of only a portion of the site, though they can only use it a certain number of times per hour. Premium users can also use 'price-only' searches, which show the average of the top ten items available, provided there are more than three on the shop wizard. Because of previous abuse from some users, 'price-only' searches are no longer unlimited.[29]

Neopets Mobile

Neopets Mobile is simpler version of the site. Initially released to Cingular, it allows access from a mobile phone for $2.99 (US) a month, where users get exclusive access to Lutari Island and other exclusive content.[30] It is a web-to-wireless application developed by IN-FUSIO.[30] Other service providers include T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint.

NC Mall

The NC Mall is a mall for buying items used in the customisation of a Neopet with Neocash. The Mall was created through a partnership with Nexon,[9] which also handles the sale of the similar NX Cash used in the analogous "Cash Shop" of MapleStory. It was initially released for beta on June 28, 2007 and then fully released the following month on July 17.[8] The items from the Mall are bought with Neocash, which is obtained by buying it with real world money through a PayPal account or by purchasing a NeoCash card, from Target stores in the US.

The NC Mall has a variety of wearables grouped into categories: Clothing/Shoes, Accessories, Backgrounds, Trinkets, Superpacks, and Other Items. All of these virtual items expire within a certain time period, so if a user wishes to keep the items, they must re-purchase the item. On September 20th, 2007 a new game, called "Qasalan Expellibox", was released. This luck game has a potential to give away Neocash along with Neopoints and virtual items.

Immersive advertising

Immersive advertising is a term trademarked by Neopets[4] for the way Neopets ran advertisements after Doug Dohring bought the site. Instead of running banner ads, immersive advertising integrates advertisements into the site's content in several forms, including games and items. Prior to the arrival of the NC Mall, it contributed 60% of the revenue from Neopets.[16] Companies that have bought into the concept include Disney, General Mills, and McDonald's. It is arguably the most contentious issue with the site. Consumer advocacy groups, such as Commercial Alert, argue that children may not know that they are trying to be sold something and that immersive ads should be clearly labelled as advertisements. Adam Powell stated that children are not required to play or use sponsor games and items,[25] and in a 2002 article, Dohring stated that advertisements are clearly marked as such.[16]

Reception

Since its inception, Neopets has been compared to the antecedent virtual pet fad Tamagotchi and the Pokémon franchise. It has been described as an online cross of Pokémon and Tamagotchi.[5][25]

A press release from Neopets in 2001 stated that Neopets.com led in site stickiness in May and June and the average user spent 117 minutes a week on the site.[31] Neopets also led in the average number of hours spent per user per month in December 2003 with an average of 4 hours and 47 minutes.[22] A 2004 article stated that Nielsen//NetRatings reported that people were spending around three hours a month on Neopets, more than any other site in its Nielsen category.[32] By May 2005, a Neopets-affiliated video game producer cited about 35 million unique users, 11 million unique IP addresses per month, and 4 billion web page views per month. This producer also described 20% of the users as 18 or older, with the median of the remaining 80% at about 14.[33] Neopets remains to be consistently ranked among the top ten stickiest sites by both Nielsen//NetRatings and comScore Media Metrix.[34][3]

Its popularity spawned real world plushies, a magazine, future film, book series[35], cereal, and merchandise in other media as well.[16][22][36]

Criticism

Off the website, issues have been raised about the site's immersive advertising methods[25] and gambling-based games.[37] Neopets has also been vulnerable in the past, including various security holes[38] and glitches[39]

Gambling-based issues

A cross-promotion with McDonald's in October of 2004, with McDonald's promoting Neopets plushies in their Happy Meals and Neopets featuring a McDonald's related content, led to a nationwide controversy in Australia. A story on the Australian tabloid television show Today Tonight that featured a nine-year-old boy claiming that the site requires one to gamble in order to receive enough Neopoints to feed one's Neopet, or else it would be sent to an orphanage.[37] While this is factually incorrect (gambling is not required, nor are pets ever sent to an orphanage if they are not fed), it is true that the website has a number of games of chance that are directly based on real-life games such as blackjack, poker, and even lottery scratchcards. Neopets has prohibited users under the age of 13 from playing most games that involve gambling. However, there are neither blocks to prevent a child over 13 from accessing gambling games, nor any safeguards to prevent a minor from creating an adult account.

References

  1. ^ a b "Neopets - About Us". Retrieved 2007-04-27. The site was launched on November 15th 1999.
  2. ^ a b "Viacom agrees to buy Neopets". Reuters. Retrieved 2007-04-27. Viacom Inc has agreed to buy children's web company Neopets, Inc in a deal valued at $160 million, the media reported on Sunday.
  3. ^ a b Gaudiosi, John (2006-11-10). "MTVN, Nexon team to grow Neopets site". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  4. ^ a b c d e Kushner, David (2005). "The Neopets Addiction". Wired News. Retrieved 2007-09-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b c Weintraub, Arlene (2001-12-12). "Real Profits from an Imaginary World". BusinessWeek Online. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  6. ^ "Immersive Advertising". 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  7. ^ "Neopets New Features for the week of April 24th". Neopets, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  8. ^ a b "New Features". Retrieved 2007-08-08. The NC Mall is now officially open!
  9. ^ a b Olson, Ryan (2007-06-20). "Neopets to Sell Premium Items". Red Herring. Paradigm Communications. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  10. ^ "Original Viacom News Article". Retrieved 2007-07-18. Scroll down to the final bullet in the list
  11. ^ "Global Expansion". Neopets Press Kit. Neopets, Inc. 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  12. ^ a b M. Baybak & Co. Inc. (2000-12-05). "NeoPets.com Launches Dramatic New Form of Internet Advertising, Results Far". Business Wire. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  13. ^ Matt Richtel (2006-06-26). "Skip the Sitter, and Feed Your Virtual Pet by Cellphone". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
  14. ^ "New Features on Neopets". Retrieved 2007-10-30.
  15. ^ "The Neopian Times, Issue 185, Editorial". Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  16. ^ a b c d Wingfield, Nick (2005-02-22). "Web's Addictive Neopets Are Ready for Big Career Leap". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  17. ^ "The Neopian Calendar". Neopets, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  18. ^ "Neopets at Virtual Environments". Virtual Environments Info Group. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  19. ^ "New Features on Neopets". 2006-07-20 - 2006-07-24. Retrieved 2007-05-06. A brand new Explore Map! Now is your chance to see the other side of Neopia, and we have a feeling much more will be revealed very, very soon. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ "Neopet Popularity". Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  21. ^ a b c Ito, Mimi (2006-11-16). "Neopoints, and Neo Economies: Emergent Regimes of Value in Kids Peer-to-Peer Networks" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ a b c d Myers, Jack (2004-03-18). "Neopets.com Fulfills Promise of Immersive Advertising" (PDF). Jack Myers Report. JACK MYERS, LLC. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  23. ^ "Editorial". Neopian Times. Neopets, Inc. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  24. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Neopets Press Kit. Neopets, Inc. 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  25. ^ a b c d Headon, Martin (2002-10-31). "Pet Hates". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  26. ^ "New Features on Neopets". 2006-11-21 - 2006-11-23. Retrieved 2007-05-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ "Neopets Company Information". Neopets Press Kit. Neopets Inc. 2006. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
  28. ^ a b c d Rosen, Craig (2005-04-14). "It's a Whole Neo World; Neopets.com is a Raging Success. But Some Find It Inappropriate and Even Scary". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  29. ^ "Premium Neopets FAQ". Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  30. ^ a b "Neopets.com Goes Mobile with Groundbreaking Web-To-Wireless Application, Exclusive Launch with Cingular Wireless". AT&T Knowledge Ventures. 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  31. ^ "NeoPets.com Continues Stickiness Leadership". Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  32. ^ Eckstein, Sandra (2004-05-13). "The next generation of toys play with interactivity". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2006-08-04.
  33. ^ Gamespot interview, see "Neopets: The Darkest Faerie Developer Interview 1" video
  34. ^ Hefflinger, Mark (2005-06-17). "MTV Acquires "Virtual Pet" Youth Online Community NeoPets". Digital Media Wire, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  35. ^ Maul, Kimberly (2007-07-26). "HarperCollins Joins with Online World of Neopets". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  36. ^ Afan, Emily Clair (2007-07-01). "Neopets get animated on Nick". Brunico Communications Ltd. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  37. ^ a b Wenn, Rohan (2004-11-13). "Parents not McHappy over pokie toy" (PDF). Today Tonight. Gambler's Help Southern. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  38. ^ http://www.neopets.com/nf.phtml?nf_date=2004-04-05
  39. ^ http://www.neopets.com/newfeatures.phtml?arr=2006-06-19
Wikinews has related news:
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neopets&oldid=169507967"