Totally Irrational Things That We Do!

In the end, I pounded the pet, but that experience has stayed with me forever, and is the inspiration for this article. Why do we sometimes do things that are totally irrational on this site? To gather information, I canvassed the Neoboards for the opinions of my fellow players. They posted some very interesting habits of theirs, habits that are totally irrational, yet totally universal as well!

So here is a list of our strangest irrational habits! I hope you enjoy reading it!

1. Zappers And…Keepers?

Many people agreed with me, and said that they too sometimes fell in love with their foster pets. They'd adopted those pets and zapped them into cheap colors, but instead of simply pounding them, they fell in love with them instead! I was so intrigued by the fact that I wasn't alone!

2. Avatar Confusion

We've all had those late nights when we're tired from work or school and have difficulty reading properly. A lot of people admitted that when they see someone else using the same avatar as them, they get confused, and think, "Wait, I didn't post that, what's going on? OH, that's another player. Never mind." I thought this was an interesting habit!

3. Shop Till Addiction

Many, many people admitted to the same addiction -- that they need to see their shop till fill up to the brim. They get a kick out of seeing 5 million NP in their shop till, and though it would be more sensible to move all of that money to the bank to collect interest, they refuse to move it. It's a universal addiction, and one that I too share! I don't let the amount rise to 5 million, but I do love to see it surpass 500k. I wonder what fuels this shared obsession?

4. Hoarding

There are so many hoarders on this site! People openly admitted that they're not even hoarding for future Charity Corner events or Coincidence donations. They said that they purposefully collect weird and unimportant items, such as Shiny Obsidian and Rockfish. One person that I spoke to said that she has over 15,000 Old Boots, which fascinated me. What inspires hoarders to hoard? Are these players also hoarders in real life? I asked them this question, and surprisingly, everyone said that they were NOT real life hoarders! I wonder what it is about the Neopets website that brings out the hoarding instinct in all of us?

5. Nothing To Do, Yet…

A few players admitted that the irrational thing they do is continue to navigate the Neopets website even when they have nothing to do on Neopets that day. They'd done all their dailies, they'd read the New Features page, they'd finished chatting with Neofriends, and now they were officially done with their Neopets day, yet…they continued to navigate around the site for an extra hour or two, rather than do anything productive like washing the dishes or doing the laundry in real life. This made me laugh! We are such addicts!

6. Altador Cup Glee

One habit that a player had was so cute that I just had to list it here. She said that every time she scores a goal in the Altador Cup, she makes her character twirl. She considers it a victory dance, and my heart melted when she posted!

7. Pet Fatigue

One player that I spoke to is an active pet trader, and admitted something that was indeed totally irrational. She said that she spent months and months trading her pets to get her dream pet, a Royalboy Krawk, and then gave the Krawk away to a close Neofriend because she wasn't inspired by him after all. She had tried to write stories for, and draw pictures of, the Krawk, and her imagination kept fizzling out. I thought this phenomenon of pet fatigue was totally irrational (the Royalboy Krawk had been a dream pet of hers for 2 years), and yet I totally empathized with her as well! I suffered from pet fatigue a few weeks ago, and gave away a Royalgirl Peophin to a Neofriend. I'm now happier to have the extra space on my side account, instead of harboring a pet I don't truly love.

8. Hating Dailies

I nodded when someone posted that she hates doing her dailies, but grits her teeth and does them anyway. I happen to feel delight when doing my dailies (what interesting prizes I get every day, especially from the Battledome!), but I can understand why a person would feel bored by the repetitiveness and lack of variety. She said that she procrastinates so much that she often does her dailies at nighttime with an hour to spare before the clock rolls over to the next day. I didn't realize there were people on the site who hated their dailies so much, considering how profitable the dailies can be!

9. Playing Games We Hate

This topic makes me laugh, and I'm not alone. Many people loathe the games on here, but play them anyway to get record scores and coveted avatars. I myself am atrocious at games, but managed to get a few difficult game avatars that I'm really proud of. It's totally irrational to spend 100+ hours mastering a game that you hate, but on Neopets, the avatars are totally worth it!

10. Decide To Leave

A lot of players said that they regretted their decision to leave the site, because they inevitably came back. They'd given away UC pets, donated all of their wealth, said goodbye to their Neofriends, and self-iced their accounts. Yet they always returned! I saw a lot of people with newbie accounts who admitted that they were actually 10-year veterans. They said that quitting in the first place was a totally irrational act, and one that they will forever rue!

11. Omit Our Favorite Species

This situation makes me sad. I happen to be a rabid fan of Grundos, but I'll never own one. I have 16 favorite Grundo colors, and can't choose between them, so right now, I have zero Grundos to my name. It's totally irrational -- Neopets is all about collecting pets, after all -- yet I will never own a Grundo, despite my love of the pudgy, adorable little species. I just live vicariously through other players who own lots of Grundos, and I exult in the fact that they cherish each one!

12. Projects That Will Never Win

A lot of people admitted that they have projects that are purely personal, rather than ambitious. They're not looking for trophies or awards. They decorate their original Neohomes, add to their galleries, create interesting petpages, and complete other unique projects that will never be entered into the contests on this site. I thought this was interesting, since it never occurred to me to do anything that doesn't result in a congratulatory trophy! Some might think that making projects like these are totally irrational, but I was mesmerized instead, and wished these people much luck with perfecting their wonderful projects!

13. Never Keep Records

I must admit, I have a black-and-white composition notebook where I record all of my Neopets information. I think it's totally irrational for people to NOT keep their information safe and recorded in a real life notebook or binder. I was positively agape when people admitted that they haven't changed their passwords for an entire year or more, and urged them to change their passwords right away. I think it's totally irrational to endanger your account by not recording and changing your Neopets information regularly, and I hope I managed to influence these people to be more vigilant about protecting their accounts!

14. Putting UC Pets In The Neolodge

UC pets will not change color when they're angry or sad or hungry. They can no longer be affected by color-changing random events. Their faces are static, and will not frown or cry when they're neglected or sick. And yet, there are so many UC pet owners who continue to stick them in the Neolodge! I count myself amongst those people. I just don't think it's fair to put only some of your pets in the luxurious Neolodge every month, rather than all of them. And it appears I'm not alone! How endearing, yet also irrational, of us all!

15. Discuss Real Life

On other game sites, chatting is strictly restricted to game issues, such as glitches during battle or problems with spell casting. It's not an actual rule, it's just the way the players themselves function. On Neopets, though, the players are a little more relaxed! For instance, someone might post a topic all about her rotten day, and how it was uplifted by a positive color change on her lab rat. Talking about things other than Neopets might seem totally irrational to outsiders, but it's the norm for Neopets players! The social aspect of this site is really what brings me back day after day, and I love chatting with my fellow players about their jobs, their families, and even their countries!

16. Clothes First, Then Pets

In the early days of Neopets, people selected their favorite species, and then proceeded to collect the best painted pets of that species. The new generation of Neopets players does the opposite! They search for the coolest species clothes, like the Bone Print Gelert Sweater, and then proceed to create the pet that corresponds to those articles of clothing. It's a brand new way of looking at our pets! To the veterans, it's a totally irrational way of collecting pets, but to the newbies, it's quite fun and exciting!

17. Have 500 Neofriends

Honestly, there's absolutely no reason to have hundreds of Neofriends. If you spoke to each one every day, you'd be spending hours and hours on the site! And yet, many players have the irrational need to have hundreds of Neofriends, and I don't know why! I happen to have around 20 Neofriends, and it's all I can do to keep up with our Neomails back and forth from each other. I've no idea why people strive to collect Neofriends the same way they collect pets -- as some kind of sport. The more, the merrier, apparently!

18. Dote On Our Fosters

Zapping-and-pounding is my favorite activity on Neopets. As of right now, I've given away 99 painted pets, and I look forward to reaching 100 soon! That said, I've recently discovered a tight-knit community of people who zap and pound their pets as well, and they add a lot of finishing touches to their pets before pounding them.

For instance, one tenderhearted player attaches Petpets to her labbies before dropping them off at the Pound, so that the labbies "won't get lonely." She also makes sure to place her labbies in the Neolodge for 20 days, for no particular reason except that it makes her feel better. Other zappers only give away their pets through safe transfer, believing that people who are willing to spend their monthly transfers are more likely to be true aficionados of the pets. All of these extra touches are basically irrational, since there's really no way to control where the pet eventually ends up, but I thought my fellow zappers were charming and sweet!

19. Branch Out

I think it's absolutely delightful every time someone branches out of their comfort zone. For instance, one player admitted that he has zero artistic skill, yet he's working on a JubJub picture for the Beauty Contest because he wants the Beauty Contest avatar. Hilariously enough, this is the first picture he's drawn since the second grade, so his artistic skills are nil. But he's having a lot of fun drawing his JubJub anyway, and though it might seem irrational to some people to draw a pet when one has no artistic skill, I congratulated him instead, and wished him much luck with winning first place!

20. Spend Real Life Money, Hoard Neopoints

One player made me laugh out loud. He admitted that he freely spends hundreds of real life dollars at the NC Mall, but hoards Neopoints with a parsimonious mind. It should be the other way around, for sure! It's totally irrational to be spending real currency and hoarding fake currency, and yet, that is what most Neopets players do!

21. Spend Hours Customizing

I swear, I spend more time coming up with my pets' customizations than I do with dressing myself every morning. It takes me 10 minutes to come up with an awesome real life outfit, but takes me 2 hours to customize my Yurble. It's totally irrational to be more obsessed with my pets' looks than with my own, and yet, I can't help myself! Neopets truly brings out the creativity in me! (Besides, when will *I* ever wear a pair of Jhudora Wings?)

22. Downsize

On other game sites, it's the norm to collect as much wealth, experience points, weapons, and spell books as possible. Everything you do, must be done by only you. Every accomplishment has to be personally achieved, level by level. However, Neopets is different! On Neopets, people happily downsize their wealth, their items, and even their pets, in order to live a carefree, joyful life. They give away all of their possessions, and many newbies have benefitted from their altruism. Only on Neopets is such generosity possible, and it's just one more reason why I love this site! Outsiders that play on other game sites would think all of this generosity is irrational, but Neopets players are noble, charitable, and different! And I love them to bits!

23. Help For No Reason

Many people will jump through hoops to help people they've just met, and I think this is just one more endearing aspect of my fellow players. I saw one person help another person find an item they desperately needed for an Illusen quest, for no other reward than to see the quester succeed. It's totally irrational to spend 20 minutes of one's busy day just to help someone find a virtual item, and yet, that is what many players do! And I commend them for their kindness!

24. Dream Of A New Plot

Many veterans declare that the age of Neopets plots is over, and that in the future, we'll probably only get a few mini-events to pique our interest in the site. But there are a few stalwart players who believe that a new plot is genuinely in the works. It's totally irrational to agree with either side, since there's really no way of knowing whether or not the new Neopets Team is making a plot, but people continue to choose sides. Which side do YOU choose?

25. Anything

One person sardonically posted, "Anything. Anything. Doing anything without checking the Help Neoboard everyday is irrational." I totally agreed with him! My first stop every day isn't my list of dailies, or chatting over Neomail with friends. My first stop is the Help Neoboard, where I can figure out if there are glitches or problems with the site that day, especially during special events like the Daily Dare or Altador Cup. Right now there is a glitch with Trudy's Surprise (which isn't rewarding NP when it should be), and instead of panicking, I sagely smile and acknowledge that my fellow players are experiencing the same problem. No worries! TNT will fix the glitch soon.

Conclusion:

These were some of the odd, totally irrational things that we do on the Neopets website! I had a lot of fun collecting this list, since I love any excuse to chat with my fellow players on the Neoboards. Thank you, everyone, for your effusive and intriguing posts! It's so cool to read about your various idiosyncrasies, and amusing to see that I share so many of them myself!

Thanks for reading this article, dear reader! Stay tuned for future articles from yours truly, and have an amazing week!