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For the company of Neopets, see Neopets, Inc.
Neopets
File:Neopets.svg

File:Neopets-homepage.png
Screenshot of the Neopets homepage as of 3 December, 2007.
Developer(s)Neopets, Inc.
Publisher(s)Neopets Inc.; Viacom Inc
Platform(s)Cross-platform
ReleaseUnited Kingdom 15 November, 1999
Genre(s)Fantasy, Digital pet
Mode(s)Single-player with multiplayer interaction.

Neopets (originally NeoPets) is a virtual pet website launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on 15 November 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 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, clothes, and other accessories using a virtual currency called Neopoints. Neopoints can be earned through playing games, investing in the stock market, trading, winning contests and making your own shop. 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 pay-to-play version known as Neopets Premium, which offers additional features and benefits for a monthly fee of $7.99 (USD). Several issues with the site, such as immersive advertising and gambling-based games have garnered criticism.

History

See also: Neopets, Inc.

Neopets was first concieved from an idea Powell had while studying at Nottingham University in 1997. Adam Powell started UK-based advertising company Shout! Advertising in 1997, which grew to be the third largest click-through program on the Internet by 1999. He also co-founded Netmagic, an online banner advertising design and sales firm and Powlex Ltd., a web site design firm.[3] Donna Williams was a marketing manager for Shout! Advertising from September 1997 to July 1999 responsible for internet advertising, sales and services, graphic and web design.[4] He and Williams started creating the site in September 1999 and launched the site two months later on 15 November 1999.[1] Powell was responsible for the programming and database, and Williams the web design and art.

By Christmas, they were receiving 600,000 page views daily and decided to seek investment to cover the high cost of running the site.[5] The same month, Doug Dohring was introduced to the creators of the site[6] and, along with other investors, bought a majority share in January of the following year.[5] Neopets, Inc. was then created in February 2000 and began business in April. The website was later made profitable due to the first paying customers for an advertising method known as "immersive advertising",[6] touted as "an evolutionary step forward in the traditional marketing practice of product placement" in television and film.[7]

Media conglomerate Viacom later bought Neopets, Inc. on 20 June, 2005 for $160 million.[2] The entire Neopets site was revamped on 27 April, 2007, referred to as Neopets 2.0 in the Neopets FAQ.[8] On 17 July 2007, the NC Mall was launched[9] in a partnership with Korean gaming company Nexon Corporation.[10] The next day, 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."[11]

After the changes in ownership, the site still retained its British English spellings.[5] 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 and French.[12]

Gameplay

A room in a Neohome that can be customized

Users of the site are free to choose their own path in the world of Neopia, from collecting things to battling against other users. Visitors can create a free account. After creating an account, a user creates a Neopet, choosing the name, gender, colour, species, stats,where the pet likes to live and personality of the Neopet[13] 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.[14] New users start out with a newbie pack which includes various items. They 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, feeding them, grooming 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. Players can choose to collect certain virtual items and display them in a gallery or album. In addition to items, players can also collect trophies, avatars, and site themes, although there is no function to display the latter two.

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.[5] 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, wallpaper, and insurance can also be purchased. Players may try to win awards for their Neohomes or collections.

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 display the current status of a player's active pet and which Neofriends are online, respectively. By default, the site theme is "Neopets Basic" 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.[15] In addition to the site content updated by Neopets, players also add to the content of the site.[16] Player contributions come in the form of contests, spotlights, and editable content.

Environment

Neopets is set in the fictional persistent world of Neopia, which includes the planet Neopia and its surrounding space. Neopia itself has several worlds, similar to continents, which have their own themes. Within each world, users will usually find unique shops, games, items, and activities based around that world's theme. Larger worlds may have several regions or levels.[17] Neopia has its own economy based on a currency called Neopoints.[18]

Neopia uses its own Gregorian calendar, and its own time system called "Neopian Standard Time". Neopian Standard Time, or NST, is a fictional timezone that runs concurrent with the real-world Pacific Time.[19] Neopia has special days and events, some with equivalents to special events and holidays from the real world.[20] Special events that tie to the real world include April Fools' Day hoaxes and the month long Christmas Advent Calendar.

Neopets

The site takes its name from its core feature, Neopets, the cartoon-like inhabitants of the fictional world of Neopia. There are fifty-four different species of Neopets, some of which are limited edition or have special criteria for creation.[21] Users are allowed to have up to four Neopets per account. To obtain a new Neopet, users can either create a pet, allowing them to choose its name, gender, basic colour, species, and some personality options,[13], adopt another user's unwanted pet through a adoption or transfer in a system called "The Pound." Once a user has a Neopet, they can use special items, such as paintbrushes, morphing potions, and a special area called the secret laboratory to change their pets colours and/or species. They can also customise their Neopet by purchasing wearable items for them, such as clothing and backgrounds. Users can feed their Neopet, play games with them, and use them to stage battles with another user's Neopet or a non-playable character in the Battledome.

Neopets may own pets called Petpets. Like Neopets, Petpets have levels and can be painted a variety of colours using Petpet paintbrushes. Petpets can be found in petpet shops, in random events, and through combining items and other petpets at the Mystery Island Cooking pot. Petpets can be used to perform a few actions pets can not do, such as attempt to wake the giant petpet Turmaculus (at the risk of having one's petpet eaten) and jump into the Mysterious Symol Hole. Petpets also have a battling area called the "Petpet Battle Arena". Taking the concept of pets owning pets further, petpets can have their own pets called petpetpets.

Economy

The Neopian economy is a mixed economy with the Neopoint as its smallest denomination, but it is mostly a capitalist economy on the player's side with capital gains, as players try to earn Neopoints to buy things.[22] 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.[22][23] 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.[23]

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.[22] 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 (items known as "unbuyables") 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 policy was intended to keep Neopets fair.[24]

Games

There are over 250 active games on the website.[25] Before 22 November, 2006 the games were divided into three categories: Puzzle, Action, and Luck/Chance. After that date 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, 3D Life Player games, contests and spotlights, and quests to retrieve items.

Players can earn Neopoints from games, most 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.

A cross-promotion with McDonald's in October of 2004, with McDonald's promoting Neopets plushies in their Happy Meals and Neopets featuring McDonald's related content, led to a nationwide controversy in Australia regarding Neopets' luck/chance games. A story on the Australian tabloid television show Today Tonight 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 a pound.[27] 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, betting on race animals, and even lottery scratchcards. Neopets has prohibited users under the age of 13 from playing most games that involve gambling.

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.[28]

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 automatically filtered. 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 that are provided by the website, as players cannot upload their own.

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.[29] 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 public or private 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 and role-playing. 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.

File:Neopetsplotboard.PNG
Screenshot of NeoBoards homepage. Note that this screenshot was taken on 3 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,[29] and users can help moderate the site by reporting messages they believe are inappropriate or offensive.[29] A filter also prevents users from posting messages with profanity or lewd content,[29] 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.

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.

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 send Neomail, users are able to send them a Neomail. Users may also block people who they do not want to come in contact with.

Exclusive content

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 and Mobile both allow access to areas of the site otherwise restricted. Purchase of NeoCash allows use of the NC Mall to purchase items to customize a user's Neopet.

Neopets Premium is an extended version of the site, for which members pay for monthly or yearly subscriptions. With Premium membership, external ads are removed and certain benefits are added, like extra Neopoints and access to beta versions of games. Neopets Mobile is a simpler version of the site using a web-to-wireless application developed by In-Fusio.[30] Initially released to Cingular/AT&T, it allows access from a mobile phone where users get exclusive access to Lutari Island and other exclusive content.[30]

The NC Mall allows players to buy items for customizing their Neopets using Neocash. Players much purchase Neocash with real money through PayPal. Customers in the United States can also buy Neocash cards at Target stores, the Target website, and at selected Wal-mart stores.[31] The Mall was created through a partnership with Nexon,[10] 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 28 June 2007 and then fully released to players on 17 July.[9] Most Neocash purchased items remain with the buyer permanently, but can not be transferred or sold to other players. A few items have expiration times, after which they disappear from the buyer's accounts.

In February 2008, Neopets announced that Key Quest, a new feature to be introduced in the spring, will engage users by having them buy Neopets merchandise at Target and using a virtual code to redeem tokens for their user accounts.[32]

Immersive advertising

Immersive advertising is a term trademarked by Neopets for the way Neopets ran advertisements after Doug Dohring bought the site.[5] Instead of running pop-up and 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 to 60% of the revenue from the site.[18] Companies that have bought into the concept include Disney, General Mills, and McDonald's.[33]

With approximately 40% of its users under the age of 13, it is arguably the most contentious issue with the site. Consumer advocacy groups argue that children may not know that they are trying to be sold something, as it blurs the line between site content and advertisement, 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.[34] Dohring has said, "We're not trying to be subliminal or deceive the user. We label all the immersive ad campaigns as paid advertisements."[33]

Reception

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.[6][34] The website maintains high "stickiness" rankings, which is a measure of the amount of time a user spends on the site. Its popularity spawned real world plushies, a magazine, book series,[35] cereal, and merchandise in other media as well.[18][23][36]

A press release from Neopets in 2001 stated that Neopets.com led in site "stickiness" in May and June, with the average user spending 117 minutes a week.[37] 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.[23] 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.[38] 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.[39] Neopets remains to be consistently ranked among the top ten "stickiest" sites by both Nielsen//NetRatings and comScore Media Metrix.[40][41]

Neopets: The Official Magazine

Neopets: The Official Magazine, published by Beckett Media was released in 2004. The magazine was sold through a subscription service and in stores, with back issues available for order on the magazine web site. The magazine's features included Neopet games, stories, guides to the Flash games on the Neopets site, news on upcoming site events and merchandise, and drawings for readers. It also regularly offered games tied to the site that allowed the reader to receive a prize on the Neopets site. After 26 issues, Beckett sent a notice to subscribers announcing that the January 2008 issue would be the final issue of the magazine and that Beckett would replace the issues remaining in the subscription with their new magazine Beckett Plushie Pals, which would still include some Neopets news, but also news related to various other companies, including Ganz Webkinz, Disney's Club Penguin, TY Beanie Babies, and Kookeys.

References

  1. ^ a b "Neopets - About Us". Retrieved 2007-04-27. The site was launched on November 15 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. ^ "Neopets Press Kit: Biography". Neopets, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  4. ^ Neopets Press Kit
  5. ^ a b c d e Kushner, David (2005). "The Neopets Addiction". Wired News. Retrieved 2007-09-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "Immersive Advertising". 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  8. ^ "Neopets New Features for the week of April 24th". Neopets, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  9. ^ a b "New Features". Retrieved 2007-08-08. The NC Mall is now officially open!
  10. ^ a b Olson, Ryan (2007-06-20). "Neopets to Sell Premium Items". Red Herring. Paradigm Communications. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  11. ^ "MTV Networks' Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group Commits $100 Million to Its Online Casual Games Business" (Press release). Viacom. 2007-07-18. Retrieved 2007-07-18. Neopets (www.neopets.com) will be transformed into Neostudios, which will focus on developing new virtual world gaming experiences online, while continuing to grow and evolve the existing ones. The first of these will launch at the end of 2008 with a goal to launch a new one every other year.
  12. ^ "Global Expansion". Neopets Press Kit. Neopets, Inc. 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "New Features on Neopets". Retrieved 2007-10-30.
  16. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Neopets Press Kit. Neopets, Inc. 2006. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  17. ^ "Neopets at Virtual Environments". Virtual Environments Info Group. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  18. ^ a b c Wingfield, Nick (2005-02-22). "Web's Addictive Neopets Are Ready for Big Career Leap". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  19. ^ "The Neopian Times, Issue 185, Editorial". Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  20. ^ "The Neopian Calendar". Neopets, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  21. ^ "The Most Popular Neopets". Neopets. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  22. ^ 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)
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ "Editorial". Neopian Times. Neopets, Inc. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  25. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Neopets Press Kit. Neopets, Inc. 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  26. ^ "New Features on Neopets". 2006-11-21 - 2006-11-23. Retrieved 2007-05-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ Wenn, Rohan (2004-11-13). "Parents not McHappy over pokie toy" (PDF). Today Tonight. Gambler's Help Southern. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  28. ^ "Neopets Company Information". Neopets Press Kit. Neopets Inc. 2006. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ a b "Neopets.com Goes Mobile with Groundbreaking Web-To-Wireless Application, Exclusive Launch with Cingular Wireless". AT&T Knowledge Ventures. 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  31. ^ "Neocash Cards". Neopets. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  32. ^ "Nickelodeon, Viacom to launch slew of products based on Neopets". Indian Television Dot Com Pvt Ltd. 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
  33. ^ a b Fonda, Daren (2004-06-28). "Pitching It To Kids". Time.com. Time Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  34. ^ a b Headon, Martin (2002-10-31). "Pet Hates". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  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. ^ "NeoPets.com Continues Stickiness Leadership". Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  38. ^ Eckstein, Sandra (2004-05-13). "The next generation of toys play with interactivity". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2006-08-04.
  39. ^ Gamespot interview, see "Neopets: The Darkest Faerie Developer Interview 1" video
  40. ^ Hefflinger, Mark (2005-06-17). "MTV Acquires "Virtual Pet" Youth Online Community NeoPets". Digital Media Wire, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  41. ^ Gaudiosi, John (2006-11-10). "MTVN, Nexon team to grow Neopets site". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-10.

External links

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