Only On Neopets! - Part 2

My earlier article, "Only On Neopets!," garnered a lot of fan mail, and I was inspired to write a second article about more of our zany habits on this wonderful website. What are some weird idiosyncrasies that us Neopians have, that exist on no other game site?

So here is a fresh, new list of our eccentricities on Neopets! I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it!

As I stated earlier, only on Neopets are people willing to spend hours and hours on a game that they dislike. With other game sites, you simply play what you like to play, whether it's fighting bad guys, gathering treasure, solving puzzles, or chatting with your fellow players. Only on Neopets is it possible to slave over, and obsess over, something that you actually dislike! I have to admit, after I got the Carnival of Terror avatar, I never once played that game ever again, even though I'm proud to flaunt my avatar on the Neoboards!

And only on Neopets is it possible to have a magnificent profile that we can customize ourselves! Our User Lookups are a valuable and indispensable aspect of Neopets, and they show other people our values, our goals, and most importantly, our pwnful coding skills! With other sites, you simply fill out a form listing your age, your gender, your country, etc., but with Neopets, you can be as creative with your User Lookup as you please! I love this aspect of the site!

Several players wryly noted that dressing up our pets so that they look ridiculous is a fun aspect of Neopets that occurs on no other game site. With other game sites, you simply equip your character with armor, weapons, and spellbooks. On Neopets, we have fun dressing up our Wraith Draiks in Purple Feather Boas, no matter how grumpy it makes our pets look! How hilarious!

Several players mentioned that they're not United States citizens, and that they learned a lot about American holidays through the site. I was interested to learn that their own countries don't have certain holidays like Valentine's Day and Thanksgiving, and I was glad that Neopets brought these holidays into their lives!

When I was brainstorming a Neopian Times article about dung, I bemoaned the lack of dung wearables on this site. So far we have Pile of Dung (always good for a laugh), Dung Cave Background (what a mess!), and Molten Pile of Dung (a prize during the Atlas of the Ancients plot in 2009). These items are really creative and fun, and I wish there were more! Only on Neopets would such disgusting items have such a hold on my heart!

One player admitted that she has a very close-knit circle of friends in real life who share her values and life experiences. They're all around the same age, with similar tastes and goals. However, on Neopets, she has such a wide range of Neofriends that she smiles every time she views her Neofriend list! They range from teenagers wrestling with exams and acne, to married moms, to dads who initially signed their kids up to Neopets but then got addicted to the site themselves. I nodded and agreed that only on Neopets is it possible to meet so many diverse people in the span of mere minutes, especially on the Neoboards!

Someone posted that only on Neopets do we have PINs on all the most sensitive areas of the site. With other game sites, you have to change your password regularly and cross your fingers that your account is safe. With Neopets, the added security of having PINs on our bank accounts, user lookups, and shops makes us all sigh with relief. I look forward to the day that TNT implements PINs on the Trading Post, petpages, and many other areas of the site!

One person posted that we're lucky to have a news page to read every day. With other game sites, the players are lucky to get an update once a month. On Neopets, we get a sparkling and interesting New Features page every evening! People swarm the New Features page by the thousands, eager to learn about the latest site events, items, contests, clothes, and more. Only on Neopets do people find such joy at 5 pm, getting newly energized, instead of relaxing after their work or school day!

Some game sites have no monitors on the boards. That means people can be as cruel and vindictive as they want, behind the anonymity of the internet. I always thank my lucky stars that TNT monitors are awake at all hours of the day, warning and silencing people who post annoying and disgusting spam on the Neoboards. Only on Neopets is my sanity assured. Thanks, monitors, for making everyone's lives a little brighter!

I had to mention something humorous. Only on Neopets do items get occasionally glitched! The Petpetpet Comb, for instance, is an item that could once be mistakenly attached to a pet as its Petpet. People were LOL-ing for days, flaunting their new "Petpets" and declaring that they'll never remove them. I was laughing too! TNT later fixed the glitch, but it just goes to show you how silly the site can be sometimes. Only on Neopets would we find such merriment in glitches!

One player admitted that only on Neopets would she slave over a project that will never earn her awards or trophies. She's obsessed with perfecting her original Neohome (not Neohome version 2), and though she'll never win the Neohome Spotlight (which only judges version 2), her original Neohome is the primary reason why she logs in every day. Only on Neopets would a person slave over a project that is purely personal, and doesn't help her to advance in anything!

A lot of people that I spoke to admitted that they're not competitive in the least. They play games for the Neopoints, dress up their pets, and chat on the Neoboards. I think it's magical that we can enjoy the site in these gentle and harmless ways, instead of being cutthroat competitors all the time! Only on Neopets can we achieve total satisfaction without pitting ourselves against each other. With other game sites, you're battling against every other player, all the time. With Neopets, you can opt out of this kind of behavior by avoiding contests. I love the fact that Neopets is whatever we make of it!

Many people said that Neopets helps them to think creatively. Through this site, they've learned to code with HTML and CSS, draw pictures for the Art Contest, enter stories in the Neopian Times, and develop other imaginative projects. Neopets is a creative outlet that is sorely missing in their real lives, and I had to nod and agree! Only because of Neopets would I spend 2 hours drawing a Koi in my sketch book for the Beauty Contest, and only because of Neopets would I spend 4 hours coding a Site Spotlight entry. I can't think of any other real life hobby that would utilize these skills! Only on Neopets do many of us blossom and bloom!

And finally, the number one quirk about Neopets is…it's FREE! I've had my account for 9 years, and except for a brief 2-week trial, never purchased Premium. Only on Neopets could a person own a decades-old account without having to pay a dime! (Though I do try to support the site by buying items from the NC Mall on a regular basis). With other game sites, you get a free 1-month trial before deciding whether you want to go ahead and charge your credit card for future gaming. With Neopets, it's possible to play for free for as long as Neopets exists! How awesome is that?

Only on Neopets would it be possible for me to write this article in 33 minutes! The ideas simply flowed out of me, and into my computer. I adore Neopets with all my heart and soul, and I love to celebrate the ways in which it differs from other game sites. Neopets is truly a unique site, full of interesting players and interesting goals, and it's no wonder that I've been addicted to this site for 9 years. I hope to be a member for 9 more!

Thanks for reading my article, dear readers! Stay tuned for more articles from yours truly, and have a spectacular week!